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Theodore Dreiser: An American Tragedy (Library of America No.140) Hardcover – March 10, 2003

by Theodore Dreiser (Author), Thomas P. Riggio (Author)

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This Library of America volume contains the novel that is the culmination of Theodore Dreiser’s elementally powerful fictional art. A tremendous bestseller when it was first published in 1925, An American Tragedy takes as point of departure a notorious murder case of 1906—one among many that Dreiser studied in preparation. He immersed himself in the social background of the crime to produce a book that is a remarkable work of reportage, a monumental study of character, and a stunning jeremiad against the delusions and inequities of American society.

Few novels have undertaken to track so relentlessly the process by which an ordinary young man becomes capable of committing a ruthless murder and the further process by which social and political forces come into play after his arrest. In Clyde Griffiths, the impoverished, restless offspring of a family of street preachers, Dreiser created an unforgettable portrait of a man whose social insecurities and naive dreams of self-betterment conspire to pull him toward act of unforgivable violence. The murder that he commits on a quiet lake in the Adirondacks is an extended scene of overwhelming impact, and it is followed by equally gripping episodes of his arrest and trial. Throughout, Dreiser elevates the most mundane aspects of what he observes into emotionally charged, often harrowing symbols.

Around Clyde, Dreiser builds an extraordinarily detailed portrait of early twentieth-century America, its religious and sexual hypocrisies, its economic pressures, its political corruption and journalistic exploitation. The sheer prophetic amplitude of his bitter truth-telling, in idiosyncratic prose of uncanny expressiveness, continues to mark Dreiser as a crucially important American writer. An American Tragedy, the great achievement of his later years, is a work of mythic force, at once brutal and heartbreaking.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

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Review

A work of mythic force, at once brutal and heartbreaking.

About the Author

Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 27, 1871. After a poor and difficult childhood, Dreiser broke into newspaper work in Chicago in 1892. A successful career as a magazine writer in New York during the late 1890s was followed by his first novel, Sister Carrie (1900). When this work made little impact, Dreiser published no fiction until Jennie Gerhardt in 1911. There then followed a decade and a half of major work in a number of literary forms, which was capped in 1925 by An American Tragedy, a novel that brought him universal acclaim. Dreiser was increasingly preoccupied by philosophical and political issues during the last two decades of his life. He died in Los Angeles on December 28, 1945.

Product details

Hardcover: 960 pages
Publisher: Library of America; 1st edition (March 10, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1931082316
ISBN-13: 978-1931082310
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 300 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #690 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Lawyers & Criminals
- #965 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Self-Help & Psychology
- #1030 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Classics

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Phyllis Rader Eisenstadt

A Real-Life American Tragedy

August 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

"An American Tragedy," is a tale of conflicts, conscience, and polarized socioeconomic classes, from stark poverty to ostentatious luxury and opulence. It is narrated by an omniscient author, which makes it as believable as if the readers were eye-witnesses. It is also the personal story of Clyde, the protagonist -- a selfish, self-absorbed social climber who places more value upon wealth and luxury than upon human feelings.

The characters in this novel are so clearly portrayed that the reader feels s/he would recognize them if seen in person. Each character's words and actions are consistent with the picture Dreiser had previously painted of them. Nothing is out of place in their demeanor.

The courtroom scenes were dynamically descriptive, with the prosecuting attorney's brilliant piecing together of the nefarious incident. One could easily say the construction and presentation of his case were not only a tribute to the justice system of that time, but also to human intelligence. Marvelous!

The author, Theodore Dreiser, is a master of writing and story-telling -- so much so that this was my second reading of the book. He observes many details, from the smallest and (seemingly) most insignificant to the most important and major events. Yet another reason the descriptions of background, places, and mores come to life for the reader.

At times, it may seem that the tale goes on and on without end, but be assured there is nothing superfluous about the details. They all serve to place you right there in the middle of things, seeing what the narrator sees..

Whether the outcome of this novel is to your liking or not, it is still worthy of profound appreciation.

So pleased I decided to read it again!

Phyllis Eisenstadt

6 people found this helpful7 people found this helpful

American Classic

August 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

I will start by saying I will not provide a summary of the book here as I do not wish to give any spoilers. I find it difficult to review books sometimes because I do not want to give anything away or take any of the enjoyment out of reading a book for the first time. This book is well written and allows you to follow the life of a young man and his journey from innocence and a sheltered life to struggles and dark times. It is a bit on the dense side and at first the reading goes a bit slow as there is do much information and you do not see how it all comes together until the end, but keep reading because it all comes together in the end.

9 people found this helpful10 people found this helpful

Patience Needed

October 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

When confronted with a novel of 934 pages one naturally has to ask oneself: Is it worth it? Several stumbling blocks initially seem to suggest a negative answer. Listed by some critics as the "worst-written great novel of the world," the first stumbling block for many readers is Dreiser's English. Dreiser, son of German immigrants and initially educated in German, seems to have had a life-long love affair with the kind of overextended German sentence structures that--for the patient reader--usually create beautiful arches to final conclusions but also often just drift away half finished. English readers beware! And the word choices--also often criticized? I'm not an expert in the words choices of the early 20th century, but I must confess that several of his adjectives and verbs strike me to be unnecessarily stilted, at times even a bit silly. And the plot? Well, the title tells you up front that there will be no happy end. But is it a tragedy? Not by classical standards. The hapless, shallow, feckless hero is not of tragic stature and the unavoidable choices he has to make are certainly not choices between moral goods of equal value. Still, this is a haunting and beautiful novel. What makes this a convincing American tragedy is, in my view, that it shows tragedy in a most peculiarly American costume: A boy of extremely strict religious upbringing, breaks away from its confinements, wants to enjoy the easy pleasures of modern life and a quick rise in social standing--but does so without either the knowledge nor the patience, discipline and energy needed in the process. What we follow is the wobbly, pathetically selfish rise and quick demise of a young man who is victim as much as victimizer. Yes, this is a long novel because Dreiser spares us no details. His long journalistic career has given him a sharp eye for social, commercial, political, and legal details of the early 1900s. He loves to heap it on and on and on. Be prepared for an exhaustive exploration. At the same time, it is a novel of surprising psychological subtlety. Its long, convoluted sentences serve Dreiser well in his connection. Often a sentence starts from one psychological insight and morphs into its opposite before the sentence is concluded. I don't remember any other author who uses this effect as successfully. This is not an easy novel to read through. Particularly the first adolescent love affairs of our immature hero are given too much space for my taste. (My reason for only four stars.) But once one has waded through these, the rest is spell-binding in its relentless increase of pressure on a hero unable to understand his own actions and motives, the complexities of his surroundings or the predicaments he faces as a result. This is an American tragedy in no small part because for Dreiser true tragedy seems no longer an option in this happy-unhappy country of limited people confronted on all sides with seemingly unlimited opportunities. A sobering assessment.

10 people found this helpful11 people found this helpful

Aptly Named - "Tragedy"

August 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

It's difficult to write a review of this novel without including a plot spoiler. Indeed, the title of the novel itself gives away the fact that a tragedy will occur. Clyde comes from a very poor background, but a more prosperous uncle gives him a job in his shirt factory, and Clyde becomes "upwardly mobile". He befriends Roberta, one of the young female workers in the factory, and has a somewhat illicit intimate relationship with her and she gets pregnant. In the meantime, he meets a more presentable young woman, Sondra, a vivacious socialite from a rich family who teases and dangles him on a string.

Then we are subjected to hundreds of pages of torturous back and forth negotiations and correspondence between Roberta and Clyde. He has left her in an untenable position for a young woman at that time, but can't fully commit to making an "honest woman" of her since he still hopes to gain the affections of Sondra. At each turn, you can't help hoping that he will do the "right thing", while at the same time knowing that he won't... He piles on one stupid mistake after another until his situation really becomes hopeless.

Dreiser's prose is stilted and drawn out, yet somehow I couldn't put down the novel until the final heartrending scenes. It was like driving by the scene of an accident on the freeway - though you try to will yourself not to look, you can't help it. Resist the temptation to put down the book halfway through and just plow on - you will be rewarded with a memorable experience.

14 people found this helpful15 people found this helpful

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