Theodore Dreiser Recalled

Theodore Dreiser (18711946) has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in twentieth-century American literary and cultural history. His fiction played (and still plays) a major role in the vigorous debate over the relationship of art to social reality and political purpose, and his complex and compelling personality has always attracted much attention. From about 191215 to his death he was often considered the greatest American writer of the period. Theodore Dreiser Recalled collects for the first time commentary on this literary giant by those of his own time who knew him well. The book includes seventy-six recollections by friends, lovers, and literary associates, ranging in time of publication from 1912 to 1995. Presented with both expert and general readers in mind, the book not only clarifies and extends our knowledge of many aspects of Dreisers life and career but also makes excellent reading. In their various waysfrom H. L. Menckens acerbic accounts of their friendship to one of Edgar Lee Masterss most powerful poems to Kirah Markhams bittersweet memories of their affair and to Esther McCoys compelling narrative of Dreisers deaththe recollections demonstrate Dreisers ability to move others to recall him not only in full detail but with panache.