"My Literary Passions" is a literary critic of various works by the American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, William Dean Howells nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". The book is written in an autobiographical flow in terms of his introduction to and appreciation of the various writings. Howells admits that various authors have shaped his own writing career profoundly. Among the authors he critiques include: Cervantes, Goldsmith, Byron, Dickens and Chaucer.