Customer Reviews

The Financier

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must point out that Mr. Dreiser is one of my favorite authors. Sister Carrie, Jeanne Gerhardt (sp?) and An American Tragedy are the finest books on American society in the same manner that Anthony Trollope's works on Victorian England are the finest of their ilk.

The Financier takes the reader to Philadelphia just prior to and around the time of the civil war. Mr. Cowperwood starts small,dreams bigger and free-falls gigantically. The power plays and court trial are fascinating studies of human nature and a treatise on Dreiser's nature -vs- nurture views.

But far deeper in the story lies the its heart- Coperwood's love for one of his financial partner's daughters. The lengths they go to keep the relationship going matched with the lenghts her father goes to stop it (she is much younger and he is married) is a fine a redition of love against the odds as you'll read.

Its amazing how a sophmoric book like "Martin Dressler" can win a Pulitzer Prize while the journalistic genius of Mr. Dreiser remains on the fringes of mainstream of American Literature.

Theodore Dreiser writes a towering novel in The Financier. It would be a grave oversimplification to state that this is a novel about "business". Rather, he is among the very first American writers that dealt with realism. Frank North was certainly another. Between them they mark an inflection point in writing. They wrote about the world as they saw it, somewhat akin to journalism. They didn't mind, but rather relished, getting "dirty" in the world of commerce. Men toiled in this world - why not write about it and the troubles and ethical delimas created therein?

This work is about a man's drive, his inability to satisfy himself, relationship destruction, identity loss and society. It demonstrates in very real terms how high one can climb and then fall. It is a book that deals with ethics and ponders about whether needs can ever be truly met by the most driven.

This book clearly belongs up there with the great ones. It shows a writing style and a mind of a genius. It also began to set the pace for some great writing in the 20th Century.

Ah, Theodore Dreiser... Even though I don't really enjoy reading him at times, I can't stay away. This is the third Dreiser book I've read (The other two: The Titan, and Sister Carrie). I would certainly recommend Sister Carrie over The Financier, but I would recommend this book over its succesor, The Titan.

The Financier is the by now familiar tale of the rise/fall/rise of an aspiring financial tycoon. The only difference between Frank Cowperwood (protagonist of The Financier) and the Gordon Gecko of 80's "Wall Street" fame, is that Cowperwood is working in the 1860's , not the 1980's and he lives in Philly, not NYC.

Cowperwood is the son of a bank vice president. He posseses a preternatural gift for finance and an, ahem, well developed, sense of self interest. Cowperwood is the sort of Spencerian/ Darwinian/Nietchzian "super man" that is as common in early twentieth century American fiction as the self obsessed yuppie has become in early twenty first century American television.

Cowperwood's catch phrase during this book is "I satisfy myself." Personally, I found that phrase a tad redolent of omanism, if you know what I mean, but I'm sure Dreiser had the purest of intentions at the time.

The plot of the book concerns machinations involving Cowperwood and his handling of city bonds. I know, it sounds dry. Well, it is dry, and boring, especially for the first hundred and fifty pages, where Dresier seems intent on teaching the readers all about the operation of financial markets in Philly in the 1860's.

The story picks up when a fire hits Chicago, and Cowperwood's shenanigans are detected. Cowperwood is then tried, convicted and sent to prison. It's a good time. Makes for fun reading.

Of almost equal importance is Cowperwood's penchant for the illicit affair. His courtship of Aileen Butler, the daughter of one of his patrons, absorbs a good forty percent of the book. In "The Titan", Butler becomes his wife when they move to Chicago.
Overall, I'd say the book is worth checking out if only for Dreiser's reportage. You can practically taste the 1860's. Also notable is his expert discussion of financial markets in that period, and I might add, his lovely descrption of conditions at the Eastern Pentitentiary.

Check it out.

If you like this book, you might also want to check out the Titan, Sister Carrie, Frank Norris's "The Pit" and that same author's "The Octopus", for similarly themed work.

Every person has a talent, Frank Cowperwood had a talent to deal with finances. Theodore Dreiser's book Financier is deserving of a five-star rating, because it depicts the life of a fearless person with a strong spirit, great strength of will; a person who can bring his dreams into reality. Dreiser narrates about Frank's success and failures during his life. In my opinion, many people would like to be more like Frank Cowperwood. The author reveals all aspects of reality of financial world in 1800s through four stages of the life of the protagonist of his novel: childhood and adolescence, the beginning of his independent career, success, and bankruptcy.

Frank Cowperwood was born in the middle class loving family. He was interested in finances from his childhood and was always surrounded by people who dealt with money. His father was an example for Frank Cowperwood, who was a born financier, and started to develop his talent from the early age. After he left school at seventeen with the help from his uncle he worked in a few companies and showed himself as a valuable employee. His bosses offered him the best terms to work in. But he preferred to start his own business. In this stage of his life he got married and had two precious babies.

He tried to surround himself by people who were influential in business world. Frank was trying to involve as many people as he could who was possible to put the money into the business. From the beginning he knew that everything is going to be his way, because he was sure in himself and worked for it really hard. Sometimes Frank went to his father for the advice. His father was the only person he could trust and tell everything about his plans. From this stage he began his independent career. Frank met new people who opened a big path in the financial world and then he began a new life of success and triumph.

Frank Cowperwood became one of the influential people in the United States. Many businessmen asked his opinion and advise on variety of financial topics. He was very knowledgeable in all financial operations, besides his intuition helped him to find a way to success and profit. Frank Cowperwood had unlimited loans in all banks, as he was a valuable and trustworthy customer for them. The success of his business helped him to buy a new house for him and his parents. Frank Cowperwood achieved his goal to have a lot of money. But he needed those money not just for having them, he used money to satisfy his desires and desires of his close people.

Unfortunately, the life of Frank Cowperwood was not a smooth and easy at all times. Due to the fire in Chicago in 1871 his business had to cope with a lot of problems. After publication of the article in the newspaper about the disaster in Windy city people did not feel safe. Other businessmen who had dealt with Frank Cowperwood requested that he returned their money right away. He tried to use different ways to protect his company from bankruptcy and stay in business. But he was not able to succeed. He had to face a bankruptcy and experienced all aspects of that crisis. Creditors took his house and all valuables, he was thrown in the jail as he was accused in stealing money. Financier was able to cope with this misfortune, he did not lose his hope for the better. Frank Cowperwood moved to Chicago where he was able to start a new life of success and fortune.

I was astonished by this book as the author illustrated a person who was ready to face all storms of life in strong spirit and hope for happy future. Dreiser was able to give a vivid picture of powerful business and people who were able to succeed in it and those who failed. Dreiser showed a reader that every human can achieve his/her goal if a person can find his talent and develop it in the right channel.

The Financier says as much about the importance of the conjugal nuclear family (the Butlers and the Cowperwoods) and its struggle to put up just the right airs, as it does about America's love for building up its giants, tearing them down and rebuilding them. Through Frank Cowperwood's financial acumen and sheer grit, he raises his family's (father's) humble beginnings onto Philadelphia's loftier social fabric. But the railroads and city treasurer shennanigans are only part of his story. Determination, focus and most of all hubris make Cowperwood one part angel, three parts beast: providing the finer things for his parents and immediate family but sentencing his wife, Lillian, to a life replete with rumors, a city's preoccupation with his mistress and love compromised.

It is astonishing how many figures from recent headlines--Donald Trump, Michael Milkin, Bill Clinton and even Michael Jackson--come to mind by The Financier's end. More than a century later, Dreiser's commentary rings hauntingly true.

This book is not for everybody. If you have an above average IQ and executive ability to read between lines, you will learn a lot. About REAL dynamics of society, about world of high-profile players and politicians... the truth is striking. And most important of all - little (if anything) has changed since this book was written.

Hoosier novelist Theodore Dreiser published "The Financier" in 1912. It was the first of his trilogy dealing with American business. Subsequent volumes are "The Pit" and "The Genius." "The Financier" has been published in a new edition by Penguin with a useful introduction by Lazer Ziff. It is a long and slow moving novel which will bore some readers.

The novel is a fictional account of a rutless financier who ascends the financial Matterhorn only to lose it all due to his criminality. Frank Copwerwood is born to a Philadelphia banker. He has a knack for business who charms and schemes his way to a million dollars and a beautiful home.

Cowperwood is a is a keen judge of men, the market and how societal events affect the stock market. He weds a nice but dumb widow; sires two children and carries on a long affair with another woman. Aileen Butler is the beautiful and bright daughter of an Irish businessman. When her father learns of the affair with the older Cowperwood he seeks his ruin.

Cowperwood spends over a year in prison for taking money from the City Treasurer in cahoots with the repulsive Uriah Heep-like Philadephia City treasurer. He emerges from prison undaunted; quickly regains his fortune and heads for Chicago with Aileen. He had earlier divorced his longsuffering wife Lillie making sure she and the children are provided for in Philadelphia comfort. The Chicago fire of 1871 plays an important role in bringing Cowperwood's criminal behavior to light.

Dreiser's novels are naturalistic in their description of dirty dealings, sexual escapades and the amorality of American business. Ehicks are a missing component in the life of the Type A personality of Cowperwood. He is always alert on how to make a buck and wield power.

The book is an example of gritty naturalism. It does, however, become tedious as Dreiser goes into incredible detail on the financial scene. The best parts of the book, deal with Cowperwood's private life. He emerges as a Nietzchian superman figure who conquers life through is forceful personality, strong financial acumen and complete lack of morality. Dreiser refuses to judge Cowperwood using his authorial voice.

Dreiser's is an awkward writer whose sentences lumber along. What makes him readable is an ability to tell a good story. He manifests

the reality underlying the hpyocrisy of American society. This is a book which is not for everone. It is a classic which demands time and thought.

I have read this book twice, the first time in Russian the second time in English with 5 years and one BS in between however my opinion of the book remained the same, "This is beyond a doubt one of the best books that have ever been written". P.S. Don't tell anyone tell you otherwise.

Talk about prescience. On the second page of my 2008 Penguin Classics paperback edition Dreiser writes - "There was a perfect plague of State banks, great and small, in those days [i.e., the Jackson era], issuing notes practically without regulations upon insecure and unknown assets and failing and suspending with astonishing rapidity." Dreiser wasn't attempting to predict the future, he was merely observing the way human greed manifests itself in the world of finance.

I won't go into a long dissertation about the novel and what it means. Suffice it to say that reading Dreiser always pasy dividends. Yes, his prose is clunky in places, and he's a bit predictable, but he is a realist par excellence -- every bit as good, if not better, than Zola, Howells, Norris, et al. Reading him with Nietzsche and the Stoics in mind is particularly illuminating (it's not for nothing that Frank Cowperwood's uncle is named Seneca.)

This book is a must read for any investor. It makes clear that economic bubbles and financial crises have the same causes in all centuries: excessive debt, secured by speculative assets. Once the collateral falls in price, the lender requires to repay the debt or add more collateral. Since the borrower have used excessive leverage, he is unable to handle the debt and goes bankrupt, which leaves the lender with illiquid assets. Here are some examples:

1871: Frank Cowperwood have used stocks of Philadelphia's railroads as a collateral to huge loans, and when the Great Chicago Fire sparked a financial panic, he could neither repay the debt nor add more collateral, thus became insolvent.

1929: Widespread use of margin, of up to 90% was one of the reasons of the Great Depression. The investor could buy $100,000 worth of stock with $10,000 of own cash, borrowing the remaining $90,000 from the broker. The sharp drop of the stock price made the investors unable repay the debt, they became insolvent. The brokers were left with cheap stocks and became insolvent also.

2007: The dot-com bubble of 2000 contributed to the housing bubble. Once stocks fell, real estate became the primary outlet for the speculative frenzy that the stock market had unleashed. The families were buying houses when they knew that they cannot afford the mortgage for a long time, they were buying only to sell it to later at higher price. The rise in home prices was very attractive for construction industry: the number of newly built houses have significantly increased. When the prices of the houses have fallen due to the balance between the supply and demand, the speculators who run out of cash to repay the mortgages could no longer sell the houses at a price they bought. This essentially led homeowners to foreclosures. The great amount of foreclosures have caused huge losses to the lenders, made them insolvent or put under Government's conservatorship, when the shareholder value was diluted if not wiped out.

Although "The Financier" by Theodore Dreiser is not a skilled picture of smallest traits of a human soul when it comes to love and feelings, the financial aspects are very well covered. I recommend the sequels: "The Titan" and "The Stoic", in addition to this book.