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Lew Wallace's literary reputation rests solidly on the brawny shoulders of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). While exact sales figures are unknown, in 1944 Harper, the publisher, estimated the book had sold more than two million copies. If to that is added an extremely popular stage production that opened in New York on 29 November 1899, touring annually until 1920, and two epic motion-picture versions, the latter frequently shown on television, then the total number of people who have encountered Judah Ben-Hur and his rivalry with the noble Roman Massala, culminating in the famous chariot race, is quite staggering, perhaps more than any other work by an American author. Yet Wallace's influence on American literature, with one exception, is minimal at best. That one exception, however, is highly significant. Carl Van Doren credits the popularity of Ben-Hur with breaking through the moral opposition of rural America to the novel as a literary form, thus creating a far larger audience for future writers.
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