Other editions of book Theodore Dreiser - The Genius

The insistent theme of Mr. Dreiser's work is desire, perennial, unquenchable. No matter how badly Mr. Dreiser might do his work, he would be significant as the American novelist who has most felt this subterranean current of life. Many novelists have seen this current as a mere abyss of sin from which the soul is to be dragged to the high ground of moral purpose and redemption, but this will not quite do. The great interpreters see life as a struggle between this desire and the organized machinery of existence, but they are not eager, as we are, to cover up and belittle the desire.

The gritty, controversial story of a life devoted to art and sensuality from the Nobel Prize–winning author of Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy. Driven to experience life beyond the small Illinois town of his youth, Eugene Witla makes his way to Chicago, where he is immediately drawn to the buzz of the city and the sexual freedom of bohemian life. At the Chicago Art Institute, he studies painting, soon making a name for himself as a gifted urban realist. Throughout his life, Witla’s commitment to his art is rivaled only by his need for erotic adventure. In love and marriage, and from Chicago to New York to the cities of Europe, Witla finds himself at odds with convention and pays a profound cost for his struggle. First published in 1915, The “Genius”, Theodore Dreiser’s most personal and provocative novel, was declared obscene by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and under threat of legal action, it was recalled from bookstores. Rereleased in 1923, it went on to establish Dreiser’s reputation as a writer ahead of his time, giving unparalleled insight into the mind of a prodigy. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

The "Genius" concerns Eugene Witla, a talented painter of strong sexual desires who grapples with his commitment to his art and the force of his erotic needs. Young Eugene escapes the confines of the small town in Illinois where he has been raised to make his way in Chicago. There he studies painting and enjoys the excitement of the city. Eugene becomes engaged to a young woman named Angela, and the couple move to New York City, where he makes a name for himself in the art world, but finds his marriage with the increasingly conventional Angela painfully limiting. Eugene finds it difficult to remain faithful as life based on monogamy seems beyond him.

Theodore Dreiser heavily invested himself in The Genius, an autobiographical novel first published in 1915. Thoroughly immersed in the turn-of-the-century art scene, The Genius explores the multiple conflicts between art and business, art and marriage, and between traditional and modern views of sexual morality. Despite heavy editing, The Genius was deemed so shocking that its sale was immediately prohibited by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. It was not released until 1923, and thereafter the episode confirmed Dreiser's status as a writer ahead of his time.

"The Genius" is a controversial story of a life devoted to art and sensuality from the Nobel Prize–winning author of "Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy".First published in 1915, "The Genius”, Theodore Dreiser’s most personal and provocative novel, was declared obscene by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and under threat of legal action, it was recalled from bookstores. Rereleased in 1923, it went on to establish Dreiser’s reputation as a writer ahead of his time, giving unparalleled insight into the mind of a prodigy.Driven to experience life beyond the small Illinois town of his youth, Eugene Witla makes his way to Chicago, where he is immediately drawn to the buzz of the city and the sexual freedom of bohemian life. At the Chicago Art Institute, he studies painting, soon making a name for himself as a gifted urban realist. Throughout his life, Witla’s commitment to his art is rivaled only by his need for erotic adventure. In love and marriage, and from Chicago to New York to the cities of Europe, Witla finds himself at odds with convention and pays a profound cost for his struggle.

Theodore Dreiser heavily invested himself in The Genius, an autobiographical novel first published in 1915. Thoroughly immersed in the turn-of-the-century art scene, The Genius explores the multiple conflicts between art and business, art and marriage, and between traditional and modern views of sexual morality. Despite heavy editing, The Genius was deemed so shocking that its sale was immediately prohibited by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. It was not released until 1923, and thereafter the episode confirmed Dreiser's status as a writer ahead of his time.

The "Genius" is a semi-autobiographical novel by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1915. The story concerns Eugene Witla, a talented painter of strong sexual desires who grapples with his commitment to his art and the force of his erotic needs. The book sold 8,000 copies in the months immediately following publication but encountered legal difficulties when it was declared potentially obscene. Dreiser's publisher was nervous about continuing publication and recalled the book from bookstores, and the novel did not receive broad distribution until 1923. When The "Genius" was reissued by a different publisher, the firm of Horace Liveright, it immediately sold more than 40,000 copies.

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist. He pioneered the naturalist school and is known for portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. Also available on Dreiser: Sister Carrie (1900) Twelve Men (1919) The Financier (1912) Jennie Gerhardt (1911) The Titan (1914) An American Tragedy (1925)

The "Genius" is a semi-autobiographical novel by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1915. The story concerns Eugene Witla, a talented painter of strong sexual desires who grapples with his commitment to his art and the force of his erotic needs. The book sold 8,000 copies in the months immediately following publication but encountered legal difficulties when it was declared potentially obscene. Dreiser's publisher was nervous about continuing publication and recalled the book from bookstores, and the novel did not receive broad distribution until 1923. When The "Genius" was reissued by a different publisher, the firm of Horace Liveright, it immediately sold more than 40,000 copies.

The "Genius" is a semi-autobiographical novel by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1915. The story concerns Eugene Witla, a talented painter of strong sexual desires who grapples with his commitment to his art and the force of his erotic needs. "The only figure of literary repute who ever rated The "Genius" as first among the novels of Theodore Dreiser was Theodore Dreiser," literary historian Larzer Ziff observed. His fifth published novel, The "Genius" was actually the third novel Dreiser began work on and, as his most autobiographical work, remained the novel closest to his heart. He worked on it in stages over a four-year period. The credit he felt he deserved (and did not receive) for his honesty about sexual urges and damaged relationships and his original publisher's decision not to stand by the novel in the face of criticism contributed to his lifelong feeling that the book had never been given its due. After An American Tragedy, it is his longest book; the final draft ran to over 700 pages in a close-set type. While the protagonist of the book is in many ways a portrait of its author, Dreiser also loosely based Eugene Witla on some of the painters, artists working in an Ashcan realist style, whom he knew in New York at the time and whose studios he visited. The most likely candidate for a model is Everett Shinn, who painted urban scenes of the kind attributed to Witla and who was known as a promiscuous man.