Theodore Dreiser is indisputably one of America's most important twentieth-century novelists. An American Tragedy, Sister Carrie, and Jennie Gerhardt have all made an indelible mark on the American literary landscape. And yet, remarkably few critical books and no recent collections of critical essays have been published that attempt to answer current theoretical questions about Dreiser's entire canon.
This collection is the first to appear in twenty-four years. The ten contributing essayists offer original interpretations of Dreiser's works from such disparate points of view as new...