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

Format:

Book

Contributor:

West III, James L. W., Editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945. Jennie Gerhardt--Criticism, Textual.

Aufsatzsammlung.

Cultural Studies.

Literature.

Local Subjects:

Cultural Studies.

Literature.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (238 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2014]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

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.

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

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jun 2020)

ISBN:

9780812291551

0812291557

OCLC:

933515802