Jennie Gerhardt

"For Dreiser, Jennie Gerhardt was a good career move. Now, with this Pennsylvania edition, we know that it is also a great novel."—New York Times

Booknews

Dreiser's second novel as published by Harper and Brothers in 1911 was substantially cut and edited to modify its subject matter and moral stance, changing it from a blunt work of social realism to a love story merely set against a social background. Editor West has restored the guts to the work in this unexpurgated version. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James L. W. West III is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Penn State University. He is the author of many books, including The Making of This Side of Paradise, both available from the University of Pennsylvania Press. His most recent books are William Styron, a Life (1998) and The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginevra King (2005).