The Rise of Silas Lapham
E41213
The Rise of Silas Lapham is an 1885 realist novel by William Dean Howells that explores social class, moral integrity, and the American business ethic through the story of a self-made paint manufacturer in post–Civil War Boston.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Rise of Silas Lapham canonical | 12 |
| The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885) | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T319648 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Rise of Silas Lapham Context triple: [William Dean Howells, notableWork, The Rise of Silas Lapham]
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A.
The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp is a 1951 novella by Truman Capote that tells a lyrical, bittersweet coming-of-age story about misfits who retreat to a treehouse, blending Southern Gothic atmosphere with themes of individuality and belonging.
-
B.
Poor Richard's Almanack
Poor Richard's Almanack is a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin in colonial America, famous for its witty aphorisms, practical advice, and wide influence on early American culture.
-
C.
Shirley
Shirley is a small town in north-central Massachusetts served by commuter rail on the MBTA Fitchburg Line.
-
D.
Shirley
Shirley is the given name of Shirley Ann Jackson, a prominent American physicist and trailblazing academic leader.
-
E.
Shirley
Shirley is an English surname of Old English origin that has also become a common given name.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Rise of Silas Lapham Target entity description: The Rise of Silas Lapham is an 1885 realist novel by William Dean Howells that explores social class, moral integrity, and the American business ethic through the story of a self-made paint manufacturer in post–Civil War Boston.
-
A.
The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp is a 1951 novella by Truman Capote that tells a lyrical, bittersweet coming-of-age story about misfits who retreat to a treehouse, blending Southern Gothic atmosphere with themes of individuality and belonging.
-
B.
Poor Richard's Almanack
Poor Richard's Almanack is a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin in colonial America, famous for its witty aphorisms, practical advice, and wide influence on early American culture.
-
C.
Shirley
Shirley is a small town in north-central Massachusetts served by commuter rail on the MBTA Fitchburg Line.
-
D.
Shirley
Shirley is the given name of Shirley Ann Jackson, a prominent American physicist and trailblazing academic leader.
-
E.
Shirley
Shirley is an English surname of Old English origin that has also become a common given name.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
novel
ⓘ
realist novel ⓘ |
| adaptation | stage adaptations ⓘ |
| author | William Dean Howells ⓘ |
| centralConflict | Silas Lapham’s moral choices in business and society ⓘ |
| containsCharacterType |
Boston Brahmin family
ⓘ
self-made businessman ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| depicts | a self-made paint manufacturer ⓘ |
| examines |
consequences of speculative business practices
ⓘ
interaction between nouveau riche and established elite ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn | The Century Magazine ⓘ |
| focusesOn | conflict between business success and moral duty ⓘ |
| genre | realism ⓘ |
| includedIn | American literature curricula ⓘ |
| laterPublishedAs | book ⓘ |
| literaryMovement |
Realism
ⓘ
surface form:
American realism
|
| literarySignificance |
key novel in William Dean Howells’s career
ⓘ
major work of American realism ⓘ |
| mainCharacter |
Anna Corey
ⓘ
Bromfield Corey ⓘ Irene Lapham ⓘ Penelope Lapham ⓘ Persis Lapham ⓘ Silas Lapham ⓘ Tom Corey ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | third-person narration ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| protagonist | Silas Lapham ⓘ |
| publicationForm | serial ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1885 ⓘ |
| publisher |
William D. Ticknor & Company
ⓘ
surface form:
Ticknor and Company
|
| setInPeriod | post–Civil War era ⓘ |
| setInPlace |
Boston, Massachusetts
ⓘ
surface form:
Boston
|
| settingFeature |
Back Bay
ⓘ
surface form:
Back Bay Boston
Boston business world ⓘ |
| theme |
American business ethics
ⓘ
ethical responsibility in business ⓘ family relationships ⓘ moral integrity ⓘ old money versus new money ⓘ rise and fall of a self-made man ⓘ romantic love ⓘ social class ⓘ social mobility ⓘ |
| timeOfAction | late 19th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Rise of Silas Lapham Description of subject: The Rise of Silas Lapham is an 1885 realist novel by William Dean Howells that explores social class, moral integrity, and the American business ethic through the story of a self-made paint manufacturer in post–Civil War Boston.
Referenced by (14)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
William Dean Howells
this entity surface form:
The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885)
this entity surface form:
The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885)