Jennie Gerhardt - Theodore Dreiser Audiobook

Written by Theodore Dreiser
Read by Lloyd James
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Release date: May 10, 2016
Duration: 13:19:39

Jennie Gerhardt is the tragic story of an innocent, caring, beautiful young girl from an extremely poor family who throughout her life is drawn into affairs with two different men from a much higher social class. How members of her family, the family of one of the wealthy men, and society in general react to her situation is the basis of this classic story. Jennie Gerhardt was Theodore Dreiser’s first true commercial success and is generally regarded as one of his best novels.

PUBLICATION DOES NOT ALWARS RUN SMOOTH——

“As submitted to Harper and Brothers in 1911, Jennie Gerhardt was a powerful study of a woman tragically compromised by birth and fate. Harpers agreed to publish the book but was nervous about its subject matter and moral stance. Jennie has an illegitimate child by one man and lives out of wedlock with another - but Dreiser does not condemn her for her behavior. As a requirement for publication, Harpers insisted on cutting and revising the text. Although Dreiser fought against many of the cuts and succeeded in restoring some material, Harpers shortened the text by 16,000 words and completely revised its style and tone. These changes ultimately transformed Jennie Gerhardt from a blunt, carefully documented work of social realism to a touching love story merely set against a social background. Passages critical of organized religion and of the institution of marriage were reduced and altered. Perhaps most important, Jennie’s point of view - her innate romantic mysticism - was largely edited out of the text. As a consequence, the central dialectic of the novel was skewed and the narrative thrown out of balance.

In the tradition of the University of Pennsylvania Dreiser Edition, James L. W. West III recaptured the text as it was originally written, restoring it to its complete, unexpurgated form.”

There has been only one earlier recording (2008) according to WorldCat so I assume this is a Dreiser Edition.