Dreiser's "Jennie Gerhardt" : : New Essays on the Restored Text / / James L. W. West III.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn eBook Package Archive 1898-1999 (pre Pub)
• HerausgeberIn: West III, James L. W.,
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2014]; ©1995
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (232 p.) :; 9 illus.

In 1992 the University of Pennsylvania Press published a new edition of Theodore Dreiser's second novel, Jennie Gerhardt. The original published text was altered significantly from the author's intentions: its sexual energy was short-circuited, its criticisms of organized religion were blunted, its language was smoothed and sentimentalized, and, most important, Jennie Gerhardt was reduced to a less thoughtful, less womanly character. The restored edition brings back the sexual charge, reinstates the social and religious criticism, and makes the language Dreiser's again.This volume brings together 19 fresh readings, together with an introduction, of the Pennsylvania edition by three generations of Dreiser critics. The volume includes general assessments, analysis of main characters, treatments of the autobiographical roots of the narrative, views of various traditions (realistic, sentimental, ethnic) on which Dreiser drew, and investigations of historical contexts that inform his story.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Janus-Faced Jennie -- 2. The Biographical Significance of Jennie Gerhardt -- 3. Jennie Gerkardt: Naturalism Reconsidered -- 4. Chill History and Rueful Sentiments in Jennie Gerhardt -- 5. Jennie One-Note: Dreiser's Error in Character Development -- 6. Dreiser's Ideal of Balance -- 7. Triangulating Desire in Jennie Gerhardt -- 8 Jennie Gerkardt: A Spencerian Tragedy -- 9. Jennie Through the Eyes of Thorstein Veblen -- 10. Labor and Capital in Jennie Gerhardt -- 11. Dreiser and the Genteel Tradition -- 12. "Housework Is Never Done": Domestic Labor in Jennie Gerhardt -- 13. Self-Sacrifice and Shame in Jennie Gerkardt -- 14. Jennie, Maggie, and the City -- 15. Jennie Gerhardt and the Dream of the Pastoral -- 16. How German Is Jennie Gerkardt? -- 17. Samuel E. [G]ross: Dreiser's Real Estate Magnate -- 18. The Hotel World in Jennie Gerhardt -- 19. Death and Dying in Jennie Gerkardt -- Checklist: Criticism of the 1911 Text -- Contributors -- Index -- Backmatter