Library of America, New York
972 pages. ISBN 978-1-931082-310.
This outstanding novel is based on the true story of the Gillette murder case of 1906. But it's much more than a crime story.
Clyde Griffiths is a young man from a poor family who seeks to rise in society by attaching himself to people of wealth and power, including his rich uncle. In sharp contrast to his wealthy friends, his impoverished parents are itinerant street preachers who are "wrapped up in evangelizing the world." Yet he has no sense of right and wrong to guide him.
Published in 1925, certain aspects of the story will seem dated to contemporary readers. But for me that was more than balanced by Dreiser's occasional powerful messages about religion, class, wealth, capitalism (he was a committed socialist) and, most importantly, personal responsibility.
Dreiser on the religious beliefs of Clyde's parents: "...in some blind, dualistic way she and Asa insisted, as do all religionists, in disassociating God from harm and error and misery, while granting Him nevertheless supreme control."
Dreiser on capitalism: "There had to be higher and higher social orders to which the lower social classes could aspire. One had to have castes....It was necessary when dealing with the classes and intelligences below one, commercially or financially, to handle them according to the standards to which they were accustomed. And the best of these standards were those which held these lower individuals to a clear realization of how difficult it was to come by money... It informed and strengthened the minds and spirits of those who were destined to rise. And those who were not should be kept right where they were."
The latter part of the novel seems to shift gears into more straightforward storytelling, with courtroom scenes as compelling as any I've read. Yet here again, Dreiser manages to insert some pointed observations about how law enforcement can be swayed by political considerations. After all, district attorneys are elected officials.
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