Jennie Gerhardt (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) - Softcover

West, James; Dreiser, Theodore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140187103 ISBN 13: 9780140187106

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1994

Synopsis

Jennie Gerhardt is a working-class girl whose harsh German father forces her to leave home when he discovers she is pregnant. Left in a lurch by the Ohio senator who dies before he can fulfill his promise to marry her, Jennie becomes the mistress of Lester Kane.

About this title

About the Author

Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945) was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. 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.

From the Back Cover

Focusing on Jennie Gerhardt, a poor young girl in Columbus, Ohio, Theodore Dreiser's novel depicts her inadvertently defying a host of conventions-of class, gender, family, and religion. Over a quarter of a century she is repeatedly victimized by circumstance, temperament, and most particularly the fact of her sex. Yet the triumph of the book lies in her incorrigibly loving nature. Cast out by society as well as by her family, she none the less fosters a far deeper understanding of relationships than anyone else. It is no surprise that she was her author's favourite heroine.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0140187103
• ISBN 13: 9780140187106
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 448