Product Description

A master of naturalism, Theodore Dreiser brought the American novel into the twentieth century. Fascinated by the city street, its parade of fashion and its threat of poverty and degradation, his journalistic eye lets us see as they were first seen the now familiar realities of modern living. "Sister Carrie" traces the fate of a small-town girl drawn into the brutal metropolitan worlds of Chicago and New York, and Sinclair Lewis called it "the first fresh air since Mark Twain and Whitman." "Jennie Gerhardt"'s vital but naive heroine emerges superior to the succession of men who exploit her. With honest emotion and respect for unvarnished truth, "Twelve Men" muses on the exemplary lives of ordinary men in search of lasting values with which to face the new century. Together, these three works exemplify the energy, originality, and genius of one of the great modern American writers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #702024 in Books
• Published on: 1987-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1168 pages

Review
"Jennie Gerhardt" is the best American novel I have ever read, with the lonesome but Himalayan exception of "Huckleberry Finn." -- H.L. Mencken

From the Publisher
The Library of America is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project is the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic).

About the Author
Richard Lehan, editor of this volume, is emeritus professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of "Theodore Dreiser: His World and His Novels," and of studies of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Customer Reviews

unclear
These novels of course represent the best in literature, but LOA has left it unclear whether their version of Sister Carrie and Jennie Gerhardt are the unexpurgated or heavily edited, tamed-dowm versions, the former recently released by Penguin Books. If not, this volume would be of little interest.