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Fidelitate. Jennie Gerhardt
Theodore Dreiser, autorul unor capodopere precum O tragedie americana si Sora Carrie, reda in aceasta carte lupta unei femei frumoase, dar saraca, pentru a avea parte de iubire si fericire, intr-o lume cruda si nedreapta. Ea are sansa sa intalneasca un barbat mai in varsta decat ea, care o iubea cu adevarat, dar acesta moare curand, lasand-o in pragul disperarii, cu un copil pe cale sa se nasca. Insa, destinul nu pare sa o abandoneze. Va cunoaste un tanar frumos, bogat care se indragosteste nebuneste de ea. La randul sau Jennie, ii impartaseste din plin sentimentele. Numai ca barbatul nu are puterea sa renunte la pozitia sa sociala, casatorindu-se cu o fata de origine modesta. In acelasi timp, nici nu se decide sa o paraseasca, chiar daca parintii sai, afland de aceasta aventura, ajung sa il dezmosteneasca. Acum, ca nu mai are nimic de pierdut, va opta pentru casatoria cu Jennie? O poveste emotionanta despre iubirea dusa pana la sacrificiu, pe care viata nu o recompenseaza intotdeauna dupa merit.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
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About the author
Theodore Dreiser
471 books924 followersNaturalistic novels of American writer and editor Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser portray life as a struggle against ungovernable forces. Value of his portrayed characters lies in their persistence against all obstacles, not their moral code, and literary situations more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency; this American novelist and journalist so pioneered the naturalist school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 223 reviews
August 27, 2019
Having now received an answer from Audible, I have been informed that the basis for the Blackstone audiobook is the University of Pennsylvania edition published in 1994. This edition, and thus the audiobook too, restores those portions removed from the author’s text with the book's first publication by Harper & Brothers in 1911. The audiobook is thus Dreiser's original text before Harper & Brothers' modifications.
Having now read three of Theodore Dreiser's novels, I am struck by the similarity of the books’ messages as well as their prose style. Dreiser belongs to the school of American naturalists. They are realists to the core. They look at society with a critical eye. Dreiser writes of the harsh reality of life at the turn of the 19th century.
Often, authors of this school are criticized for their emphasis of the darker aspects of life. I would counter this view with the observation that Dreiser’s novels portray protagonists who succeed, despite social restrictions, despite the stumbling blocks put in their paths and despite their so-called lack of moral strength. It is true that events are not drawn in an idealistic fashion. I see real life and people willing to fight against poor odds. One must ask, “Morals according to whom?” The incongruence between true moral strength and the morals dictated by society is the hallmark of Dreiser’s work.
Dreiser’s prose style is clear, crisp, exact, spare. These are the adjectives that come to mind. The writing is without melodrama or theatrics. The telling is plot-oriented and with little dialog. Readers watch what happens and find themselves caught up in the moral dilemma lying at the core of the novel. The absence of hysteria is not only refreshing, but also strengthens readers’ focus on the central issue. Histrionics, sobs and moans and soppy revelations would only distract. For me, the spare simplicity of the lines gives strength and puts emphasis on what is being said.
This novel critiques the institution of marriage, organized religion, social restrictions, wealth and the means by which money is often attained. The essence of love, what love gives and what it demands is a central theme too.
The story focuses on Jennie Reinhardt, her five siblings and her mother and father. It opens in 1880, Columbus Ohio. Jennie is eighteen. Life is a struggle against poverty. The story follows her entire life and her moves within the Midwest. What will one do to survive and what is required to succeed are the questions asked. What is necessary to retain one’s integrity and is it possible to remain morally upright?
The audiobook is very well narrated by Lloyd James. The narrator never gets between the listener and the story. One listens to the author’s words. The focus is not on the one reading the story. This I very much like.
*********************
Here follow my ratings of the books I have read by Dreiser:
Jennie Gerhardt 4 stars
Sister Carrie 4 stars
An American Tragedy 2 stars
Having now read three of Theodore Dreiser's novels, I am struck by the similarity of the books’ messages as well as their prose style. Dreiser belongs to the school of American naturalists. They are realists to the core. They look at society with a critical eye. Dreiser writes of the harsh reality of life at the turn of the 19th century.
Often, authors of this school are criticized for their emphasis of the darker aspects of life. I would counter this view with the observation that Dreiser’s novels portray protagonists who succeed, despite social restrictions, despite the stumbling blocks put in their paths and despite their so-called lack of moral strength. It is true that events are not drawn in an idealistic fashion. I see real life and people willing to fight against poor odds. One must ask, “Morals according to whom?” The incongruence between true moral strength and the morals dictated by society is the hallmark of Dreiser’s work.
Dreiser’s prose style is clear, crisp, exact, spare. These are the adjectives that come to mind. The writing is without melodrama or theatrics. The telling is plot-oriented and with little dialog. Readers watch what happens and find themselves caught up in the moral dilemma lying at the core of the novel. The absence of hysteria is not only refreshing, but also strengthens readers’ focus on the central issue. Histrionics, sobs and moans and soppy revelations would only distract. For me, the spare simplicity of the lines gives strength and puts emphasis on what is being said.
This novel critiques the institution of marriage, organized religion, social restrictions, wealth and the means by which money is often attained. The essence of love, what love gives and what it demands is a central theme too.
The story focuses on Jennie Reinhardt, her five siblings and her mother and father. It opens in 1880, Columbus Ohio. Jennie is eighteen. Life is a struggle against poverty. The story follows her entire life and her moves within the Midwest. What will one do to survive and what is required to succeed are the questions asked. What is necessary to retain one’s integrity and is it possible to remain morally upright?
The audiobook is very well narrated by Lloyd James. The narrator never gets between the listener and the story. One listens to the author’s words. The focus is not on the one reading the story. This I very much like.
*********************
Here follow my ratings of the books I have read by Dreiser:
Jennie Gerhardt 4 stars
Sister Carrie 4 stars
An American Tragedy 2 stars
December 13, 2011
My loins were girded. I've read Sister Carrie and books by Frank Norris and William Dean Howells, books and authors of the Realism/Naturalism schools. In other words, authors who show you that life is crap, people are crap and all you can expect is crap. Not that the books are crap - they can be very good.
So in this uncharitable (but realistic!) frame of mind I was very surprised by the curve ball Dreiser throws in "Jennie Gerhardt". There is not one ogre in the book nor is it a tale of a spiraling down into degradation (Sister Carrie, Vandover and the Brute). In reality it is a love story where capitalism takes the role of the Montagues and Capulets keeping the star-cross'd lovers apart.
Dreiser is the opposite of Henry James. If ever they were in the same room together I imagine a conversation where James is constantly demurring, obliquely not-saying what he's trying to say while Dreiser is constantly interrupting "What? What? Spit it out man!" Dreiser is continually burrowing in to the characters and situations, analyzing and describing to give us complete picture of the "way things are". Jamesian innuendo it is not.
The one place where he couldn't be explicit is due to the sexual mores of literature at the time - i.e. he couldn't explicitly say that Jennie and her two sugar-daddies are doing it - he had to drop the hint very strongly. He had to make sure we got the point because the novel would be meaningless without it. In a crude Marxian analysis, Jennie's incredible hotness was her rare material and her labor (so to speak) - however Men had the means of production. Jennie's class and status as mistress made her an outcast, regardless of her beauty.
The character of Lester Kane, Jennie's love, is a latter-day Hamlet. He knows what the right thing to do is (marry Jennie), but he cannot do it because that would mean a loss of *something*. At first the loss was his independence, then it would be because he doesn't "love" her (but he did, he just didn't know it - a situation much mined by later Romance novelists I hear), and finally he would lose his inheritance if he stayed with Jennie. Here is where the class struggle struggles into the novel - Dreiser explicitly mentions a number of times in the text that these two were just victims of faceless systems and circumstances, that love ain't got nothin' to do with it.
In some ways the purest joys in reading the novel is in the in depth way Dreiser shows us how society was in those days, from the poorest immigrant to the richest capitalist. Every class had their social anxieties and protocols and to violate them was to be an outcast. In particular interest to me was the depiction of the Gerhardt family in their German Lutheran society - where the insular Lutheran flock is ruled by the minister. Luther may have got rid of the bishops and the pope - but he didn't get rid of male authority, not by a long shot!
So in this uncharitable (but realistic!) frame of mind I was very surprised by the curve ball Dreiser throws in "Jennie Gerhardt". There is not one ogre in the book nor is it a tale of a spiraling down into degradation (Sister Carrie, Vandover and the Brute). In reality it is a love story where capitalism takes the role of the Montagues and Capulets keeping the star-cross'd lovers apart.
Dreiser is the opposite of Henry James. If ever they were in the same room together I imagine a conversation where James is constantly demurring, obliquely not-saying what he's trying to say while Dreiser is constantly interrupting "What? What? Spit it out man!" Dreiser is continually burrowing in to the characters and situations, analyzing and describing to give us complete picture of the "way things are". Jamesian innuendo it is not.
The one place where he couldn't be explicit is due to the sexual mores of literature at the time - i.e. he couldn't explicitly say that Jennie and her two sugar-daddies are doing it - he had to drop the hint very strongly. He had to make sure we got the point because the novel would be meaningless without it. In a crude Marxian analysis, Jennie's incredible hotness was her rare material and her labor (so to speak) - however Men had the means of production. Jennie's class and status as mistress made her an outcast, regardless of her beauty.
The character of Lester Kane, Jennie's love, is a latter-day Hamlet. He knows what the right thing to do is (marry Jennie), but he cannot do it because that would mean a loss of *something*. At first the loss was his independence, then it would be because he doesn't "love" her (but he did, he just didn't know it - a situation much mined by later Romance novelists I hear), and finally he would lose his inheritance if he stayed with Jennie. Here is where the class struggle struggles into the novel - Dreiser explicitly mentions a number of times in the text that these two were just victims of faceless systems and circumstances, that love ain't got nothin' to do with it.
In some ways the purest joys in reading the novel is in the in depth way Dreiser shows us how society was in those days, from the poorest immigrant to the richest capitalist. Every class had their social anxieties and protocols and to violate them was to be an outcast. In particular interest to me was the depiction of the Gerhardt family in their German Lutheran society - where the insular Lutheran flock is ruled by the minister. Luther may have got rid of the bishops and the pope - but he didn't get rid of male authority, not by a long shot!
February 26, 2024
Мене важко довести до сліз, але ця книжка ближче бо фіналу зробила це декілька разів.
Історія дуже сумна. Колись прочитала, що Драйзер надихнувся життям своєї сестри, пишучи цей роман. Коли починала його читати, наперед уявила, що очікує попереду, вибудовуючи гірший варіант розвитку, ніж у «Сестрі Керрі», але все виявилось інакше.
Коли вам здається, що в житті у вас щось пішло не так, почитайте цю книжку😅 Попри драму вона дуже життєствердна
Історія дуже сумна. Колись прочитала, що Драйзер надихнувся життям своєї сестри, пишучи цей роман. Коли починала його читати, наперед уявила, що очікує попереду, вибудовуючи гірший варіант розвитку, ніж у «Сестрі Керрі», але все виявилось інакше.
Коли вам здається, що в житті у вас щось пішло не так, почитайте цю книжку😅 Попри драму вона дуже життєствердна
July 26, 2015
A touching story of a girl fighting the cruelities of the American life. Could not help crying in some parts. Love is not just loving. It is something more. This is what the book taught me.
July 7, 2021
Este livro fala-nos da vida de Jenni Gerhardt. Jenny é a segunda dos seis filhos do Sr. e Sra. Gerhardt, que têm ascendência alemã e professam a fé luterana.
No início da história Jenny tem 18 anos e a sua família passa por várias dificuldades financeiras, sem dinheiro para fazer face às despesas regulares e a acrescentar a estas ainda outros imprevistos.
Devido a isso Jenny e a mãe procuram trabalho num hotel e é aí que Jenny trava conhecimento com o senador Brander, um cavalheiro de 52 anos que toma grande interesse por ela, pois além da sua beleza encantadora Jenny é dona de uma personalidade bondosa, meiga e honesta e também começa a desenvolver uma certo carinho por ele.
O senador ao saber das condições difíceis em que a família de Jenny vive ajuda-a e quando chega o dia em que o irmão mais velho de Jenny, Bass, é preso por ter sido apanhado a roubar carvão para aquecer a casa, Jenny recorre à bondade do senador e este com os conhecimentos que tem acaba por conseguir que Bass seja solto e o roubo apagado do seu cadastro.
Jenny fica imensamente agradecida e nessa noite o carinho entre eles toma um rumo mais carnal.
O senador promete casar com ela e era o que iria fazer, não se desse o caso de um ataque fulminante o ter levado deste mundo.
Jenny fica desconsolada, pois além de "desgraçada" por se ter entregado a um homem antes do vínculo sagrado do matrimónio ainda fica com um filho no ventre.
Ao saber das circunstâncias em que se encontra a filha, o Sr. Gerhardt expulsa-a de casa. Jenny vai trabalhar como criada pessoal para a casa da Sra. Barceheart e aí conhece Lester Kane, um amigo da família e filho de um industrial bem sucedido. Este imediatamente toma-se de encantos por Jenny e diz-lhe que ela será sua.
Jenny, devido ao seu passado não quer nada com Lester, no entanto também começa a amá-lo. Tendo na sua mãe uma grande confidente e mais uma vez, circunstâncias que tornam a vida da família difícil (o pai ficara queimado nas mãos num acidente na fábrica onde trabalhava, sendo mais uma fonte de despesa), Jenny aceita a proposta de Lester e torna-se sua amante, uma vez que não estavam unidos pelos sagrados laços do matrimónio. Este monta-lhe uma casa e levam uma vida de casados sem o serem. Tudo corre bem até ao dia em que se descobre a situação de Lester e Jenny, e a família de Lester faz-lhe um ultimato. No entanto este acha que a situação em que está não tem nada de errado e não prejudica ninguém apenas por não estar casado.
Entretanto Lester fica a saber da existência da filha de Jenny, Vesta e apesar de no início não mostrar interesse, vai começar a ganhar verdadeira afeição por ela.
Esta história toma uma reviravolta quando o pai de Lester falece e no testamento deixa explícito que o filho só tomará a sua parte da herança se deixar Jenny, ou apenas receberá 10.000 dólares anuais se casar e continuar com Jenny. Tem três anos para decidir, o que mais uma vez o revolta por se estarem a intrometer na sua situação familiar.
Roberto, irmão de Lester ao ver que o prazo está para terminar e nada foi decidido pelo irmão decide enviar um intermediário para falar diretamente com Jenny. Esta ao saber das condições do testamento decide abandonar Lester pois acha que não é justo ele ficar sem a herança e como ao fim de tantos anos juntos nunca se tinha resolvido a casar, acha que é pelo melhor. Assim, vai com a sua filha Vesta viver num recanto isolado. Aí tudo ia bem até a tragédia se abater mais uma vez sobre ela e a sua filha Vesta lhe ser tomada pela febre tifóide. Jenny vê-se só, pois os pais já haviam falecido e os seus irmãos estavam na vida deles sem demonstrar interesse por ela. Assim retorna à cidade e adopta duas crianças para não se sentir tão só.
Entretanto Lester tinha retomado o contacto com um antigo interesse amoroso, Letty, que é agora uma viúva rica e o seu espírito divide-se entre Jenny e Letty, mas com o abandono de Jenny, Letty tem o caminho livre e acaba por conseguir casar com Lester.
O tempo passa e Lester chega aos 60 anos mais velho obviamente e com a saúde a deteriorar-se. Ao ver que se aproxima o seu final, e como Letty anda em cruzeiro pela Europa, pede para chamar Jenny que vela por ele até ao seu último suspiro.
A história termina com a urna de Lester a ser carregado no comboio para se dirigir ao seu local de descanso definitivo enquanto é ao longe observado por Jenny.
Gostei bastante da história, só achei que o Lester com a sua indecisão tornou a vida de Jenny difícil e foi um final amargo para ela quando não havia necessidade disso, tudo por causa de um vínculo de matrimónio que ele não queria aceitar, apesar de já viver em família com Jenny e Vesta.
No início da história Jenny tem 18 anos e a sua família passa por várias dificuldades financeiras, sem dinheiro para fazer face às despesas regulares e a acrescentar a estas ainda outros imprevistos.
Devido a isso Jenny e a mãe procuram trabalho num hotel e é aí que Jenny trava conhecimento com o senador Brander, um cavalheiro de 52 anos que toma grande interesse por ela, pois além da sua beleza encantadora Jenny é dona de uma personalidade bondosa, meiga e honesta e também começa a desenvolver uma certo carinho por ele.
O senador ao saber das condições difíceis em que a família de Jenny vive ajuda-a e quando chega o dia em que o irmão mais velho de Jenny, Bass, é preso por ter sido apanhado a roubar carvão para aquecer a casa, Jenny recorre à bondade do senador e este com os conhecimentos que tem acaba por conseguir que Bass seja solto e o roubo apagado do seu cadastro.
Jenny fica imensamente agradecida e nessa noite o carinho entre eles toma um rumo mais carnal.
O senador promete casar com ela e era o que iria fazer, não se desse o caso de um ataque fulminante o ter levado deste mundo.
Jenny fica desconsolada, pois além de "desgraçada" por se ter entregado a um homem antes do vínculo sagrado do matrimónio ainda fica com um filho no ventre.
Ao saber das circunstâncias em que se encontra a filha, o Sr. Gerhardt expulsa-a de casa. Jenny vai trabalhar como criada pessoal para a casa da Sra. Barceheart e aí conhece Lester Kane, um amigo da família e filho de um industrial bem sucedido. Este imediatamente toma-se de encantos por Jenny e diz-lhe que ela será sua.
Jenny, devido ao seu passado não quer nada com Lester, no entanto também começa a amá-lo. Tendo na sua mãe uma grande confidente e mais uma vez, circunstâncias que tornam a vida da família difícil (o pai ficara queimado nas mãos num acidente na fábrica onde trabalhava, sendo mais uma fonte de despesa), Jenny aceita a proposta de Lester e torna-se sua amante, uma vez que não estavam unidos pelos sagrados laços do matrimónio. Este monta-lhe uma casa e levam uma vida de casados sem o serem. Tudo corre bem até ao dia em que se descobre a situação de Lester e Jenny, e a família de Lester faz-lhe um ultimato. No entanto este acha que a situação em que está não tem nada de errado e não prejudica ninguém apenas por não estar casado.
Entretanto Lester fica a saber da existência da filha de Jenny, Vesta e apesar de no início não mostrar interesse, vai começar a ganhar verdadeira afeição por ela.
Esta história toma uma reviravolta quando o pai de Lester falece e no testamento deixa explícito que o filho só tomará a sua parte da herança se deixar Jenny, ou apenas receberá 10.000 dólares anuais se casar e continuar com Jenny. Tem três anos para decidir, o que mais uma vez o revolta por se estarem a intrometer na sua situação familiar.
Roberto, irmão de Lester ao ver que o prazo está para terminar e nada foi decidido pelo irmão decide enviar um intermediário para falar diretamente com Jenny. Esta ao saber das condições do testamento decide abandonar Lester pois acha que não é justo ele ficar sem a herança e como ao fim de tantos anos juntos nunca se tinha resolvido a casar, acha que é pelo melhor. Assim, vai com a sua filha Vesta viver num recanto isolado. Aí tudo ia bem até a tragédia se abater mais uma vez sobre ela e a sua filha Vesta lhe ser tomada pela febre tifóide. Jenny vê-se só, pois os pais já haviam falecido e os seus irmãos estavam na vida deles sem demonstrar interesse por ela. Assim retorna à cidade e adopta duas crianças para não se sentir tão só.
Entretanto Lester tinha retomado o contacto com um antigo interesse amoroso, Letty, que é agora uma viúva rica e o seu espírito divide-se entre Jenny e Letty, mas com o abandono de Jenny, Letty tem o caminho livre e acaba por conseguir casar com Lester.
O tempo passa e Lester chega aos 60 anos mais velho obviamente e com a saúde a deteriorar-se. Ao ver que se aproxima o seu final, e como Letty anda em cruzeiro pela Europa, pede para chamar Jenny que vela por ele até ao seu último suspiro.
A história termina com a urna de Lester a ser carregado no comboio para se dirigir ao seu local de descanso definitivo enquanto é ao longe observado por Jenny.
Gostei bastante da história, só achei que o Lester com a sua indecisão tornou a vida de Jenny difícil e foi um final amargo para ela quando não havia necessidade disso, tudo por causa de um vínculo de matrimónio que ele não queria aceitar, apesar de já viver em família com Jenny e Vesta.
November 7, 2015
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) é considerado o mais influente escritor do naturalismo dos Estados Unidos. Não sendo muito apreciado pelo estilo, é valorizado pela construção de personagens, que refletem o estilo de vida, na época, da sociedade norte-americana.
Jenny Gerhardt é uma jovem que nasceu numa família muito pobre. É bela, generosa e ingénua; defeitos que a tornam uma tentação para os homens. Quase toda a sua vida é um calvário de sofrimento; pela rejeição do pai; pela perda dos amantes; pela morte dos seres queridos.
É um romance interessante por reflectir as desigualdades sociais e a mentalidade da época, em que um homem da alta sociedade não pode casar com uma mulher humilde. Hoje, acho, que ainda é assim; o que mudou é as mulheres já não serem expulsas de casa por perderem a virgindade e a sociedade não as criticarem ou rejeitarem.
Apesar de tanto drama, não me comovi nem um bocadinho; não sei se o devo ao estilo de Dreiser, ou se à tradução miserável.
Não costumo dar importância a pormenores de má tradução, mas este romance é um caso especial. Nunca li um livro com tantos erros de ortografia e de construção gramatical. Até o título está errado; é certo que Jenny Gerhardt não casou, mas isso não é motivo para perder o nome...
Jenny Gerhardt é uma jovem que nasceu numa família muito pobre. É bela, generosa e ingénua; defeitos que a tornam uma tentação para os homens. Quase toda a sua vida é um calvário de sofrimento; pela rejeição do pai; pela perda dos amantes; pela morte dos seres queridos.
É um romance interessante por reflectir as desigualdades sociais e a mentalidade da época, em que um homem da alta sociedade não pode casar com uma mulher humilde. Hoje, acho, que ainda é assim; o que mudou é as mulheres já não serem expulsas de casa por perderem a virgindade e a sociedade não as criticarem ou rejeitarem.
Apesar de tanto drama, não me comovi nem um bocadinho; não sei se o devo ao estilo de Dreiser, ou se à tradução miserável.
Não costumo dar importância a pormenores de má tradução, mas este romance é um caso especial. Nunca li um livro com tantos erros de ortografia e de construção gramatical. Até o título está errado; é certo que Jenny Gerhardt não casou, mas isso não é motivo para perder o nome...
November 18, 2018
Oh my word! What a beautiful novel. And that ending, I cried and cried. Such an amazing writer Dreiser is, this could be my all time favourite book.
Searching for classics a while back I came across the novel, Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser, both title and author completely unknown to me, and I must say what a surprise I had seeing my maiden name in a book title, it’s not often I come across the surname Gerhardt and in a book title, well, never ever, clearly, I had to buy this novel. Jennie Gerhardt was just right for my book bingo square ‘a book set more than 100 years ago,’ as the story of Jennie Gerhardt was set in 1880.
Jennie is sweet, selfless and a bit of a doormat but I loved her so, what an incredible character Dreiser created, despite facing many hardships she remained a loving and caring person. Uneducated and poor Jennie encounters two powerful men, Brander and Lester, and it’s with Lester she has a long and fragile relationship during a time when living together was socially unacceptable. Very well written with great insight into the human psyche.
A tremendously brilliant book. Can’t recommend this highly enough.
I love the cover of my novel which features a young woman in what looks like a wedding dress - so pretty.
I will be looking into buying Sister Carrie and American Tragedy. I want to own Dreiser’s books.
#Book Bingo 2018: ‘A book set more than 100 years ago’ - Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser
January 6, 2023
Although I read "Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy" years ago, I had never heard of this book by Dreiser until just recently. I think I now know why this one has kind of been lost to time. I can't remember when a book has made me so angry as I was reading it. Nevertheless, I kept at it until I finished.
Because the title is "Jennie Gerhardt", you would think that the book is about Jennie Gerhardt, that she would be the most important person in it. But she isn't. In fact, Jennie doesn't seem to really exist, doesn't really matter, without a man in her life. The book begins, literally, on the day in 1880 that she meets the first man who will, with Jennie's full cooperation, take advantage of and "ruin" her in the eyes of Victorian society. The book ends on the day she gets a last look at the coffin of the second man who, also with her full and steady cooperation, has compromised her life and her future. What happens to Jennie after that? Who knows? Does it matter? She no longer has a man to serve, so of course she could not possibly be of any further interest to the reader. End of story, literally.
As an 18-year-old, Jennie is seduced and impregnated by a man 30 years her senior, who dies before he is able to marry her. Whether he would actually have married her, we'll never know. It would have been nice if he'd done that first, since he seemed to be so taken with this beautiful girl, who Dreiser is at pains to explain, is a truly exceptional person. She goes ahead and has the child, and is able to live with her family, although they all move to another town to escape the scandal and shame. In this new town, Jennie takes work as a maid in a private home, where she comes in contact with Lester Kane, a wealthy business man 15 years her senior. He is immediately smitten, and though Jennie protests weakly, he convinces her to go away with him. After a trip to New York, the two set up housekeeping without benefit of clergy. Eventually this arrangement is discovered by Lester's family and friends, and both Lester and Jennie are shunned. This is to be expected, right? It's the late Victorian era, after all. And Lester Kane is repeatedly described as being intelligent and unsentimental, and the type of man who looks things squarely in the eye, who calls it as he sees it. So why does he not believe his father will cut him out of his inheritance? Why is he so surprised when his friends won't invite him and his common-law wife to their home? And then Lester, who is supposed to be this clear-eyed business man, cannot make up his mind as to whether to stay with Jennie as is, or leave her, or marry her. He can't decide from one moment to the next whether he even loves her. He keeps worrying about doing the right thing by her, and yet for most of the book doesn't seem to realize that the "right thing" probably would have been to leave her alone in the first place. And Jennie, who Dreiser continually describes as this wonderful person, very loving and giving and selfless, just comes off as a very pretty doormat. She loves Lester, no matter how negligently he treats her, and she seems almost afraid of him at times, and totally in his thrall. He just lets them float along in this limbo relationship until he almost loses his fortune, then leaves her, then calls her to him when he's about to die and there's no one else to nurse him. And she comes, gladly. Oooohhh, these people! Maybe at the time this was published, it made more sense - I know I've had the benefit of years of suffragettes and feminists since this book was published. But really, what exactly was the point of this book? The only good thing is that Lester does support Jennie through a trust fund after he leaves her, and so she will not be impoverished even after his death. Anyway, I have written more about this book than some others I've liked much better. My advice, though - read "Sister Carrie" or an "American Tragedy" if you want to read Dreiser.
Because the title is "Jennie Gerhardt", you would think that the book is about Jennie Gerhardt, that she would be the most important person in it. But she isn't. In fact, Jennie doesn't seem to really exist, doesn't really matter, without a man in her life. The book begins, literally, on the day in 1880 that she meets the first man who will, with Jennie's full cooperation, take advantage of and "ruin" her in the eyes of Victorian society. The book ends on the day she gets a last look at the coffin of the second man who, also with her full and steady cooperation, has compromised her life and her future. What happens to Jennie after that? Who knows? Does it matter? She no longer has a man to serve, so of course she could not possibly be of any further interest to the reader. End of story, literally.
As an 18-year-old, Jennie is seduced and impregnated by a man 30 years her senior, who dies before he is able to marry her. Whether he would actually have married her, we'll never know. It would have been nice if he'd done that first, since he seemed to be so taken with this beautiful girl, who Dreiser is at pains to explain, is a truly exceptional person. She goes ahead and has the child, and is able to live with her family, although they all move to another town to escape the scandal and shame. In this new town, Jennie takes work as a maid in a private home, where she comes in contact with Lester Kane, a wealthy business man 15 years her senior. He is immediately smitten, and though Jennie protests weakly, he convinces her to go away with him. After a trip to New York, the two set up housekeeping without benefit of clergy. Eventually this arrangement is discovered by Lester's family and friends, and both Lester and Jennie are shunned. This is to be expected, right? It's the late Victorian era, after all. And Lester Kane is repeatedly described as being intelligent and unsentimental, and the type of man who looks things squarely in the eye, who calls it as he sees it. So why does he not believe his father will cut him out of his inheritance? Why is he so surprised when his friends won't invite him and his common-law wife to their home? And then Lester, who is supposed to be this clear-eyed business man, cannot make up his mind as to whether to stay with Jennie as is, or leave her, or marry her. He can't decide from one moment to the next whether he even loves her. He keeps worrying about doing the right thing by her, and yet for most of the book doesn't seem to realize that the "right thing" probably would have been to leave her alone in the first place. And Jennie, who Dreiser continually describes as this wonderful person, very loving and giving and selfless, just comes off as a very pretty doormat. She loves Lester, no matter how negligently he treats her, and she seems almost afraid of him at times, and totally in his thrall. He just lets them float along in this limbo relationship until he almost loses his fortune, then leaves her, then calls her to him when he's about to die and there's no one else to nurse him. And she comes, gladly. Oooohhh, these people! Maybe at the time this was published, it made more sense - I know I've had the benefit of years of suffragettes and feminists since this book was published. But really, what exactly was the point of this book? The only good thing is that Lester does support Jennie through a trust fund after he leaves her, and so she will not be impoverished even after his death. Anyway, I have written more about this book than some others I've liked much better. My advice, though - read "Sister Carrie" or an "American Tragedy" if you want to read Dreiser.
February 7, 2021
In all of nature there is only perfection. Seen as complete, it is breathlessly beautiful in its splendor. "No process is vile, no condition is unnatural."* Everything has its place. No separate part, or single entity when viewed as a whole. Each unit plays a distinct role, every performance a contributor on the spectacular stage of life.
And then like a glitch, a lapse occurs, like a blot on a white cloth, a stain on the untainted, a species consciously awakens to their superiority and dominance that destabilize this unity, magnifying the innumerable disparities that demean the unifying similitudes, undermining the fact that each piece of irreconcilable difference is an imperfection on its own, but when put together as a whole is the picture of perfection in its entirety.
In Jennie Gerhardt, Theodore Dreiser uses the same analogy, but in reverse order. Her destitute but beautiful heroine in the novel appears like an anomaly. She is presented as an individualized version of perfection, unassuming in her ways and unblemished, with childlike wonder, purity of innocence and artless glee, who subtlety commune with her environment with guileless sincerity as opposed to the imperfect world where she is moving, a society unconsciously blinded by its own hypocrisy and artificiality.
Without much preamble, the first half of the novel feels like reading a Danielle Steel novel. Men like Senator Brander and Lester Kane are characters that seem to be lifted from her own pages. Imbued at the same time with themes of star-crossed lovers, May-December affair, tycoon falling in love with a girl below his caste and glamorous cascade of men and women from high society are simply some ingredients somewhat commonly found in a best selling romance novel. Perhaps, the only difference in Jennie Gerhardt in a more literati fashion aside from its spiritual undertone that sets it apart from that genre is that Dreiser deglamorizes this world by telling a Cinderella story without her happily ever after, a heroine in her fairy tale story gone awry, emphatically relating the realistic consequences of human weakness against the pressure of a scheming society.
*italicized line quoted verbatim from the book, p 97, Kindle Edition, published Green World Classics
And then like a glitch, a lapse occurs, like a blot on a white cloth, a stain on the untainted, a species consciously awakens to their superiority and dominance that destabilize this unity, magnifying the innumerable disparities that demean the unifying similitudes, undermining the fact that each piece of irreconcilable difference is an imperfection on its own, but when put together as a whole is the picture of perfection in its entirety.
In Jennie Gerhardt, Theodore Dreiser uses the same analogy, but in reverse order. Her destitute but beautiful heroine in the novel appears like an anomaly. She is presented as an individualized version of perfection, unassuming in her ways and unblemished, with childlike wonder, purity of innocence and artless glee, who subtlety commune with her environment with guileless sincerity as opposed to the imperfect world where she is moving, a society unconsciously blinded by its own hypocrisy and artificiality.
Without much preamble, the first half of the novel feels like reading a Danielle Steel novel. Men like Senator Brander and Lester Kane are characters that seem to be lifted from her own pages. Imbued at the same time with themes of star-crossed lovers, May-December affair, tycoon falling in love with a girl below his caste and glamorous cascade of men and women from high society are simply some ingredients somewhat commonly found in a best selling romance novel. Perhaps, the only difference in Jennie Gerhardt in a more literati fashion aside from its spiritual undertone that sets it apart from that genre is that Dreiser deglamorizes this world by telling a Cinderella story without her happily ever after, a heroine in her fairy tale story gone awry, emphatically relating the realistic consequences of human weakness against the pressure of a scheming society.
*italicized line quoted verbatim from the book, p 97, Kindle Edition, published Green World Classics
June 14, 2011
Самая любимая книга у Драйзера (которого вообще сильно люблю). Хрупкая, местами пронзительно грустная, очень нежная история о беззащитности открытой любящей души, и вместе с тем - целая история жизни, написанная глубоко, правдиво и сильно. Интересно и дорого то, что персонажи "второго плана", - такие, как отец Дженни, его личная драма, - не остаются в тени, набросанными кое-как, второпях. Книга, от которой щемит сердце. В конце плакала!.. Считаю Драйзера по-настоящему великим! Читайте классику! В ней - правда жизни!
July 14, 2014
"Jennie felt hurt through and through by this denouement, and yet as she sat there she realized that it was foolish to be angry. Life was always doing this sort of a thing to her. It would go on doing so. She was sure of it."
I read Sister Carrie a few years ago, and after learning more about the Gilded Age I decided to try another. One of the most striking things about this book is the unfairness of life to good people. Jennie is a very sweet, caring individual who works hard to please other people but seems to be thrown every misfortune life can give her. No matter how she tries to better herself, she feels that she does not fit in. She realizes that "love was not enough in this world - that was so plain. One needed education, wealth, training, the ability to fight and scheme. She did not want to do that. She could not."
(sorry to quote so much. the book is just better able to describe itself than I am.)
Lester is described as "an able man" who is "not crafty; not darkly cruel." While his friends are able to get ahead in business, Lester's conscience holds him back at critical points.
As Lester and Carrie age and search for a path through the maze of situations they face, Both struggle to do the right thing but are punished by fate. Both together and alone, they face the death of loved ones, gossip, social barriers, poverty, and separation.
"After all, life is more or less of a farce," he went on a little bitterly. "It's a silly show. The best we can do is to hold our personality intact. It doesn't appear that integrity has much to do with it."
This book will make you think. The characters have complicated relationships, feelings, loyalties, beliefs - just like real life. Good people - soulmates - are kept apart by society's opinion and class barriers. Just as much in as in Sister Carrie, through Jennie Gerhardt Dreiser proves himself to be capable of capturing the 1890s.
"From one point of view it still seems best, but I'm not so much happier. I was just as happy with you as I ever will be. It isn't myself that's important in this transaction apparently; the individual doesn't count much in the sisuation...all of us are more or less pawns. We're moved about like chessmen by circumstances over which we have no control."
December 10, 2022
Həyati, realistik və düşündürücü ailə-məişət dramıdır kimi gözəl əsərdir. Dram və ya faciə bizim üçün özünəməxsus şansıdır ki, həyatı bir qədər də müfəssəl məşq edək və başqalarını yaxından başa düşək. Cenni Herhardt kimi qadınlar real həyatda da az deyil və onların hekayəsini başa düşmək müəyyən hazırlıq tələb edir.
April 20, 2023
Not bad at all. Dreiser provided a simple but compelling plot. Love the Chicago history here. They say Dreiser is a naturalist. I guess that means he emphasized impersonal social forces over personal autonomy. Not sure. But I think the book primarily demonstrates that the impact of a character’s physical appearance is more important than the impact of her economic environment. Jennie, born into relative poverty, finds that her attractiveness ensures that she is materially triumphant. I need to reread Sister Carrie to remember if she too lived in what Tina Fey called “the bubble.”
September 24, 2011
Eleven years after Theodore Dreiser’s first novel, the ground-breaking Sister Carrie had failed to sell well because of its ‘morally dubious’ central character (see my review). When Jennie Gerhardt was published in 1911, this time the heroine was a noble, self-sacrificing soul, an innocent who stumbles into the sort of folly that respectable people who’ve never known the depredations of poverty deplored. She is naturally attractive to men, who don’t intend to treat her badly, but her social situation means that they can treat her as they never would a member of their own class. And when she falls, as the reader knows she inevitably will, she is judged harshly by the gender-specific hypocrisies of the day.
To see the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
To see the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
August 15, 2020
A devastating novel, and one that I probably shouldn’t have read at this point in my life, as Dreiser hits very close to home in his aching sorrow for the forces of fate that guide our destiny: class, social convention, geography, gender, ethnicity, health, physical appearance. There are no villains, saviors, or victims. Morality, while laudable, gives us no solace or deliverance. There exists only our lives that float like so much detritus along the currents of a brief existence. This novel hit me hard, and in a way I’m having trouble putting into words. I came close to shedding tears at the end; not for Jennie as much as for humanity.
September 3, 2017
Theodore Dreiser là nhà văn hiện thực phê phán tiêu biểu của nước Mĩ đầu thế kỉ 20. Jennie Gerhardt ra đời năm 1911 kể về nhân vật Jennie là một cô gái xuất thân nghèo khó nhưng vô cùng giàu tình yêu thương. Cần hiểu qua về tình hình nước Mĩ thời kì này: Cuối thế kỉ XIX, trong số các nước công nghiệp tiên tiến. Mĩ là nước có nền kinh tế phát triển hơn cả. Trong 30 năm (1865 - 1894), Mĩ từ hàng thứ tư vươn lên hàng đầu thế giới về sản xuất công nghiệp - bằng 1/2 tổng sản lượng các nước Tây Âu và gấp 2 lần nước Anh. Sản xuất gang, thép, máy móc... chiếm vị trí hàng đầu thế giới.
Năm 1913, sản lượng gang, thép của Mĩ vượt Đức 2 lần, vượt Anh 4 lần ; than gấp 2 lần Anh và Pháp gộp lại. Độ dài đường sắt của Mĩ vượt tổng chiều dài đường sắt Tây Âu (gia đình Lester sở hữu nhiều công ti đường sắt). Đô thị hoá và công nghiệp hoá dẫn đến nhiều hệ luỵ xã hội như tệ nạn, tội phạm, phân hoá giàu nghèo, và ‘Fortune hunting became a disease’.
Trong 560 trang sách đến 550 trang người đọc tự hỏi: LESTER CÓ YÊU JENNIE KHÔNG? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng không hỏi cưới từ đầu? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng lại tỏ ra lạnh lùng khi nàng biết quyền thừa kế của chàng bị ảnh hưởng do nàng? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng lại ngập ngừng khi Letty hỏi chàng có yêu nàng không? Còn nếu không yêu nàng, tại sao chàng tức giận với bản di chúc của cha, tại sao chàng lại giận giữ khi nàng định bỏ đi, tại sao chàng thương yêu bố nàng và con riêng của nàng đến vậy? Đến tận trang 550 người đọc mới có câu trả lời. Cũng dễ hiểu tại sao chàng không yêu Letty Pace, vì yêu Letty khác gì chàng kết hôn với chính bản thân mình?
Điều đọng lại nhất trong tác phẩm này chính là tình cảm gia đình. Cách bà Gerhardt tin tưởng và bảo vệ con gái mình dù có bất cứ chuyện gì xảy ra, cách ông Gerhardt tuy sùng đạo, cứng nhắc nhưng lại tận tuỵ vì con cháu. Chúng ta suy ngẫm về cách đối xử với cha mẹ lúc già khi ông Gerhardt phải sống nhờ ở nhà máy nơi mình làm việc, hay đám tang của ông chỉ có hai đứa con đầu xuất hiện. Có đáng không khi người cha bị bỏng vì mưu sinh bị các con đối xử như vậy?
Trên thế giới này của chúng ta, hoạt động của đời sống động vật dường như bị giới hạn trong một mặt phăng hoặc một đường tròn, như thể đó là một sự cần thiết cố hữu của muôn loài trên một hành tinh buộc phải xoay quanh mặt trời. Chẳng hạn, con cá không thể vượt ra ngoài cái vòng tròn biển cả mà không bị tiêu diệt; con chim không thể vào môi trường của loài cá mà không phải trả giá bi đát. Từ các kí sinh trùng của các loài hoa cho đến những quái vật của rừng rậm và biển sâu, chúng ta đều nhận thấy rõ rang tính chất hạn chế trong chuyển động của chúng – theo cái cách dứt khoát ấy, sự sống đã giới hạn chúng trong một phạm vi; và chúng ta đành ghi nhận những kết quả nực cười và bao giờ cũng nguy hại của bất kì cố gắng nào của các sinh vật ấy khi chúng muốn thoát ra khỏi môi trường của mình.
Tuy vậy trong trường hợp con người, tác động của cái thuyết giới hạn này, cho đến nay, chưa được quan sát thật rõ ràng. (…) Sinh ra và lớn lên trong môi trường nào, thực tế là con người không phù hợp với bất kì tình trạng nào khác. Con người khi ấy giống như một con chim đã quen với một mật độ khí quyển nhất định và không thể sống thoải mái ở một lớp khí quyển cao hơn hoặc thấp hơn.
Một kẻ có chút máu mặt giống hệt như một con mèo có chuông đeo ở cổ. Mọi con chuột đều biết rõ con mèo ở đâu và đang làm gì.
Em chẳng mong gì mình là cả vũ trụ đối với một người đàn ông, trừ phi anh ta muốn em như vậy.
Trên đời này chỉ có tình yêu thôi thì chưa đủ. Người ta cần phải có học vấn, giàu sang, được rèn luyện, có khả năng tranh đấu và cơ mưu. (Love was not enough in this world - that was so plain. One needed education, wealth, training, the ability to fight and scheme.)
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Năm 1913, sản lượng gang, thép của Mĩ vượt Đức 2 lần, vượt Anh 4 lần ; than gấp 2 lần Anh và Pháp gộp lại. Độ dài đường sắt của Mĩ vượt tổng chiều dài đường sắt Tây Âu (gia đình Lester sở hữu nhiều công ti đường sắt). Đô thị hoá và công nghiệp hoá dẫn đến nhiều hệ luỵ xã hội như tệ nạn, tội phạm, phân hoá giàu nghèo, và ‘Fortune hunting became a disease’.
Trong 560 trang sách đến 550 trang người đọc tự hỏi: LESTER CÓ YÊU JENNIE KHÔNG? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng không hỏi cưới từ đầu? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng lại tỏ ra lạnh lùng khi nàng biết quyền thừa kế của chàng bị ảnh hưởng do nàng? Nếu yêu nàng tại sao chàng lại ngập ngừng khi Letty hỏi chàng có yêu nàng không? Còn nếu không yêu nàng, tại sao chàng tức giận với bản di chúc của cha, tại sao chàng lại giận giữ khi nàng định bỏ đi, tại sao chàng thương yêu bố nàng và con riêng của nàng đến vậy? Đến tận trang 550 người đọc mới có câu trả lời. Cũng dễ hiểu tại sao chàng không yêu Letty Pace, vì yêu Letty khác gì chàng kết hôn với chính bản thân mình?
Điều đọng lại nhất trong tác phẩm này chính là tình cảm gia đình. Cách bà Gerhardt tin tưởng và bảo vệ con gái mình dù có bất cứ chuyện gì xảy ra, cách ông Gerhardt tuy sùng đạo, cứng nhắc nhưng lại tận tuỵ vì con cháu. Chúng ta suy ngẫm về cách đối xử với cha mẹ lúc già khi ông Gerhardt phải sống nhờ ở nhà máy nơi mình làm việc, hay đám tang của ông chỉ có hai đứa con đầu xuất hiện. Có đáng không khi người cha bị bỏng vì mưu sinh bị các con đối xử như vậy?
Trên thế giới này của chúng ta, hoạt động của đời sống động vật dường như bị giới hạn trong một mặt phăng hoặc một đường tròn, như thể đó là một sự cần thiết cố hữu của muôn loài trên một hành tinh buộc phải xoay quanh mặt trời. Chẳng hạn, con cá không thể vượt ra ngoài cái vòng tròn biển cả mà không bị tiêu diệt; con chim không thể vào môi trường của loài cá mà không phải trả giá bi đát. Từ các kí sinh trùng của các loài hoa cho đến những quái vật của rừng rậm và biển sâu, chúng ta đều nhận thấy rõ rang tính chất hạn chế trong chuyển động của chúng – theo cái cách dứt khoát ấy, sự sống đã giới hạn chúng trong một phạm vi; và chúng ta đành ghi nhận những kết quả nực cười và bao giờ cũng nguy hại của bất kì cố gắng nào của các sinh vật ấy khi chúng muốn thoát ra khỏi môi trường của mình.
Tuy vậy trong trường hợp con người, tác động của cái thuyết giới hạn này, cho đến nay, chưa được quan sát thật rõ ràng. (…) Sinh ra và lớn lên trong môi trường nào, thực tế là con người không phù hợp với bất kì tình trạng nào khác. Con người khi ấy giống như một con chim đã quen với một mật độ khí quyển nhất định và không thể sống thoải mái ở một lớp khí quyển cao hơn hoặc thấp hơn.
Một kẻ có chút máu mặt giống hệt như một con mèo có chuông đeo ở cổ. Mọi con chuột đều biết rõ con mèo ở đâu và đang làm gì.
Em chẳng mong gì mình là cả vũ trụ đối với một người đàn ông, trừ phi anh ta muốn em như vậy.
Trên đời này chỉ có tình yêu thôi thì chưa đủ. Người ta cần phải có học vấn, giàu sang, được rèn luyện, có khả năng tranh đấu và cơ mưu. (Love was not enough in this world - that was so plain. One needed education, wealth, training, the ability to fight and scheme.)
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
August 14, 2018
"... მის თვალწინ გრძელი და ნაღვლიანი მარტოობის წლები გაჭიმულიყო. მერე რა იქნება ? ჯერ ხომ მოხუცი არ არის. მერე ? ერთმანეთს მიჰყვება უფერული დღეების გრძელი მწკრივი,მაგრამ მერე ? "
სასიამოვნო იყო,მაგრამ ჩემთვის ძალიან შორეული. ვერ ვიტყვი ამ წიგნზე რომ კლასიკაა,მაქსიმუმ რამდენიმე წელი იტრიალოს კიდევ და მერე დაიკარგება. იმას არ ვამბობ რომ ცუდია,ეს 3 ვარსკვლავიც დაიმსახურა,მაგრამ ზედმეტად დრომოჭმულია.თუმცა წერის სტილი დახვეწილი იყო და მიუხედავად იმისა რომ ნაცნობი ან საინტერესო არაფერი ხდებოდა არ დავღლილვარ,სასიამოვნოდ ჩავიკითხე.
საერთოდ კლასიკის გაგება ძალიან ცუდია ქართველ მკითხველებში,საბოლოოდ გავაცნობიერე რაც ეს წიგნი დავამთავრე.
ახლა წავალ და ვინმე საი ფაის ავტორს ან პალანიკის ძილისპირულს დავიწყებ,ჩემ პირად კლასიკებს
სასიამოვნო იყო,მაგრამ ჩემთვის ძალიან შორეული. ვერ ვიტყვი ამ წიგნზე რომ კლასიკაა,მაქსიმუმ რამდენიმე წელი იტრიალოს კიდევ და მერე დაიკარგება. იმას არ ვამბობ რომ ცუდია,ეს 3 ვარსკვლავიც დაიმსახურა,მაგრამ ზედმეტად დრომოჭმულია.თუმცა წერის სტილი დახვეწილი იყო და მიუხედავად იმისა რომ ნაცნობი ან საინტერესო არაფერი ხდებოდა არ დავღლილვარ,სასიამოვნოდ ჩავიკითხე.
საერთოდ კლასიკის გაგება ძალიან ცუდია ქართველ მკითხველებში,საბოლოოდ გავაცნობიერე რაც ეს წიგნი დავამთავრე.
ახლა წავალ და ვინმე საი ფაის ავტორს ან პალანიკის ძილისპირულს დავიწყებ,ჩემ პირად კლასიკებს
Want to read
August 29, 2020 Oh my gosh, just how many more good books can I expect from Theodore Dreiser? Too much! I am gonna be in a reading slump...😒😣😭🤩👏
September 23, 2021
Восхитительная книга. Очень понравилась. Заставляет сопереживать героям.
December 11, 2022
okay maybe dreiser's third novel with literally the same plot as the others is too much for me
July 22, 2025
The novel surprised me in the best way. With unusual calm and wisdom, it told the story of a woman who would likely have been labeled a "fallen woman" in her time. Dreiser neither admired nor condemned her—or her choices. Instead, with quiet objectivity, he showed how her circumstances unfolded and where each character’s decisions led them. Every character felt human; there were no simplistic "villains."
And woven throughout was the theme of transience—the meaning of life, death as an end, and finally, that lingering question: What comes after?
[4.5 stars]
And woven throughout was the theme of transience—the meaning of life, death as an end, and finally, that lingering question: What comes after?
[4.5 stars]
January 2, 2023
"THE WORLD INTO which Jennie was thus unduly thrust forth was that in which virtue has always vainly struggled since time immemorial; for virtue is the wishing well and the doing well unto others. Virtue is that quality of generosity which offers itself willingly for another’s service, and, being this, it is held by society to be nearly worthless. Sell yourself cheaply and you shall be used lightly and trampled under foot. Hold yourself dearly, however unworthily, and you will be respected. Society, in the mass, lacks woefully in the matter of discrimination. Its one criterion is the opinion of others. Its one test that of self-preservation. Has he preserved his fortune? Has she preserved her purity? Only in rare instances and with rare individuals does there seem to be any guiding light from within."
"There comes a time in every thinking man’s life when he pauses and “takes stock” of his condition; when he asks himself how it fares with his individuality as a whole, mental, moral, physical, material. This time comes after the first heedless flights of youth have passed, when the initiative and more powerful efforts have been made, and he begins to feel the uncertainty of results and final values which attaches itself to everything. There is a deadening thought of uselessness which creeps into many men’s minds — the thought which has been best expressed by the Preacher in Ecclesiastes."
Following the 1900 publishing of his first novel, Sister Carrie, it was another eleven years before Theodore Dreiser would eventually publish his next novel which he originally entitled The Transgressor, but would finally publish as Jennie Gerhardt. Dreiser admitted, years later that he didn't like this novel, which was postponed in 1903 due to a nervous breakdown. The novel, however, has become more well received as time progresses and has been compared with such great literature as Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Personally, I didn't feel that the author gave himself enough credit for this novel, but on the other hand, it has been many years since I read Sister Carrie, and I'm not certain I want to deal with the sadness of An American Tragedy. Regardless, I felt that Jennie Gerhardt was an amazing novel, and I'm not sure why it isn't read more often. I suppose it is due to several factors that could probably make the novel practically repulsive in today's environment. In Dreiser's time, a young lady that has a child out of wedlock was not only frowned upon, but the resultant consequence for the immediate family was effectively horrifying. In essence the family becomes an anathema, and could result in its destruction and downfall. In addition, the treatment of the protagonist of the novel by various male characters, including her father, could be considered abhorrent by today's standards.
That said, most readers should realize that Dreiser was a realist in his writing, which was not only scandalous at the time, but would almost be hard to accept in present circumstances. Nevertheless, I feel that American realists such as Dreiser and even those in Europe such as Balzac and Hardy blazed trails that would allow the general public to notice offenses that ensued around them, thus resulting in necessary social change. They were the literary unsung heroes, but there were consequences. No wonder Hardy eventually stopped writing novels after his disgrace following the publishing of Jude the Obscure.
For me, Jennie Gerhardt was a novel that was so beautifully written that it causes a reader to become poignantly involved in its characters which is a very difficult accomplishment for any author. Descriptions are beautifully created, events are written in a way that will, either, touch or outrage the reader, and characters are formed with a depth that only a writer of great ability can accomplish. For example, Jennie Gerhardt, the protagonist, is a tragic figure who, overall, is a quiet unassuming young lady that is continually forced to make disastrous choices. It is as if she is the person who is always acted upon, and never has the chance to act for herself. Consequently, it is a sad tale, but one that is so exquisitely sculpted that the reader can't help but continue on regardless of the outcome. Thus, in my opinion, the novel is nothing but a work of art and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is one of those novels that makes the reader exclaim throughout, and finally, at the end, one can't help but to sit for a period and simply consider the ramifications of it all. I recommend this novel to all, but I almost guarantee that for some, they will be offended and angry. If you can see past your enmity and understand Dreiser's historical motivations, you may discover a brilliant gem that has been hidden from your view.
"There comes a time in every thinking man’s life when he pauses and “takes stock” of his condition; when he asks himself how it fares with his individuality as a whole, mental, moral, physical, material. This time comes after the first heedless flights of youth have passed, when the initiative and more powerful efforts have been made, and he begins to feel the uncertainty of results and final values which attaches itself to everything. There is a deadening thought of uselessness which creeps into many men’s minds — the thought which has been best expressed by the Preacher in Ecclesiastes."
Following the 1900 publishing of his first novel, Sister Carrie, it was another eleven years before Theodore Dreiser would eventually publish his next novel which he originally entitled The Transgressor, but would finally publish as Jennie Gerhardt. Dreiser admitted, years later that he didn't like this novel, which was postponed in 1903 due to a nervous breakdown. The novel, however, has become more well received as time progresses and has been compared with such great literature as Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
Personally, I didn't feel that the author gave himself enough credit for this novel, but on the other hand, it has been many years since I read Sister Carrie, and I'm not certain I want to deal with the sadness of An American Tragedy. Regardless, I felt that Jennie Gerhardt was an amazing novel, and I'm not sure why it isn't read more often. I suppose it is due to several factors that could probably make the novel practically repulsive in today's environment. In Dreiser's time, a young lady that has a child out of wedlock was not only frowned upon, but the resultant consequence for the immediate family was effectively horrifying. In essence the family becomes an anathema, and could result in its destruction and downfall. In addition, the treatment of the protagonist of the novel by various male characters, including her father, could be considered abhorrent by today's standards.
That said, most readers should realize that Dreiser was a realist in his writing, which was not only scandalous at the time, but would almost be hard to accept in present circumstances. Nevertheless, I feel that American realists such as Dreiser and even those in Europe such as Balzac and Hardy blazed trails that would allow the general public to notice offenses that ensued around them, thus resulting in necessary social change. They were the literary unsung heroes, but there were consequences. No wonder Hardy eventually stopped writing novels after his disgrace following the publishing of Jude the Obscure.
For me, Jennie Gerhardt was a novel that was so beautifully written that it causes a reader to become poignantly involved in its characters which is a very difficult accomplishment for any author. Descriptions are beautifully created, events are written in a way that will, either, touch or outrage the reader, and characters are formed with a depth that only a writer of great ability can accomplish. For example, Jennie Gerhardt, the protagonist, is a tragic figure who, overall, is a quiet unassuming young lady that is continually forced to make disastrous choices. It is as if she is the person who is always acted upon, and never has the chance to act for herself. Consequently, it is a sad tale, but one that is so exquisitely sculpted that the reader can't help but continue on regardless of the outcome. Thus, in my opinion, the novel is nothing but a work of art and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is one of those novels that makes the reader exclaim throughout, and finally, at the end, one can't help but to sit for a period and simply consider the ramifications of it all. I recommend this novel to all, but I almost guarantee that for some, they will be offended and angry. If you can see past your enmity and understand Dreiser's historical motivations, you may discover a brilliant gem that has been hidden from your view.
November 19, 2018
Красивая, печальная книга, обогащающая душу и высвечивающая важные вопросы. Сама по себе «Дженни Герхардт» — очень художественная книга, чтение которой доставило мне большое удовольствие. Крайне быстро и легко мне было её читать. Но та страстная глубина смыслов, которую бесстрастно поднимает Драйзер, не оставила равнодушным моё сердце.
Также можно обратиться и к перспективе психологии вертикального развития — стадий развития зрелости. На примере моделей вертикального развития, таких как теория развития эго Джейн Лёвинджер/Сюзанны Кук-Гройтер и спиральная динамика, основанная на трудах Клэра Грейвза, можно констатировать, что в книге описывается жизненное движение и столкновение нескольких ценностных матриц и уровней сознания. Каждый уровень-стадия развития сознания образует свой круг общества, со своими ценностями. Драйзер в точности передаёт крайне консервативные нравы фундаменталистского конвенционального пласта самосознания; передаёт он и становление навыкоцентрированной, ремесленнической стадии самосознания с характерными для неё сильными сторонами и перегибами; описывает он и чистые, ясные порывы добросовестной рациональной стадии личности, опирающейся на системы достижений и просчитывающей ходы, создающей и реализующей деловые проекты. Все эти стадии сознания взаимопереплетены и сотворяют плавильный котёл из культурного поля, влияния которого не избежать даже самой сильной личности (особенно если речь идёт об осуждении).
Драйзер великолепно высвечивает также и то, что другой американец, уже наш современник, философ Кен Уилбер, в своей интегральной метафилософии называет влиянием системного (нижне-правого в его AQAL-модели) квадранта: экономические условия быта, устройство общества, в котором есть деление на классы достатка, и каждому классу доступен ограниченный удел возможностей. Не только Драйзер описывает внутренние переживания, чувствования, нравственные чаяния и размышления своих героев (квадрант индивидуального сознания, верхне-правый), но и то, какое формирующее влияние оказывает культурное поле с его многослойными нравами и обычаями (культурный, или нижне-левый, квадрант).
Также можно обратиться и к перспективе психологии вертикального развития — стадий развития зрелости. На примере моделей вертикального развития, таких как теория развития эго Джейн Лёвинджер/Сюзанны Кук-Гройтер и спиральная динамика, основанная на трудах Клэра Грейвза, можно констатировать, что в книге описывается жизненное движение и столкновение нескольких ценностных матриц и уровней сознания. Каждый уровень-стадия развития сознания образует свой круг общества, со своими ценностями. Драйзер в точности передаёт крайне консервативные нравы фундаменталистского конвенционального пласта самосознания; передаёт он и становление навыкоцентрированной, ремесленнической стадии самосознания с характерными для неё сильными сторонами и перегибами; описывает он и чистые, ясные порывы добросовестной рациональной стадии личности, опирающейся на системы достижений и просчитывающей ходы, создающей и реализующей деловые проекты. Все эти стадии сознания взаимопереплетены и сотворяют плавильный котёл из культурного поля, влияния которого не избежать даже самой сильной личности (особенно если речь идёт об осуждении).
Драйзер великолепно высвечивает также и то, что другой американец, уже наш современник, философ Кен Уилбер, в своей интегральной метафилософии называет влиянием системного (нижне-правого в его AQAL-модели) квадранта: экономические условия быта, устройство общества, в котором есть деление на классы достатка, и каждому классу доступен ограниченный удел возможностей. Не только Драйзер описывает внутренние переживания, чувствования, нравственные чаяния и размышления своих героев (квадрант индивидуального сознания, верхне-правый), но и то, какое формирующее влияние оказывает культурное поле с его многослойными нравами и обычаями (культурный, или нижне-левый, квадрант).
May 2, 2016
Cəmiyyət bütövlükdə insanları olduqca pis tanıyır. Onun yeganə meyarı "başqaları nə deyər"dir. Onun yeganə ölçüsü - özünü mühafizə hissidir. Filankəs öz varidatını mühafizə etmişmidir? Filan qadın öz təmizliyini saxlamışmıdır? Göründüyü kimi, ancaq, tək-tək nadir adamlar bəzən öz müstəqil rəylərini ifadə etməyə qabildirlər
***
Bütün varlılğı fasiləsiz surətdə yeni həyat yaratmaqdan ibarət olan dünyada , havanın, suyun, torpağın, günəş işığının - hər şeyin insan doğulmasına xidmət etdiyi bir dünyada belə bir hissin əmələ gəlməsi maraqlıdır. Tək insan deyil, bütün aləm, nəsli davam etdirmək hissi ilə yaşayıb yaratdığı halda, hər şeyin dünyaya eyni yolla gəldiyinə baxmayaraq, nədənsə buna mənasız surətdə göz yummağa, bundan ikrahla üz döndərməyə çalışırlar, sanki təbiətin özündə nə isə natəmiz bir şey vardır. "Mayamız qəbahətdəndir və günah içində doğulmuşuq" - riyakar adam təbiətin qanunlarına belə qeyri-təbii izahat verir və cəmiyyət də həqiqətən eybəcər olan bu mühakimə ilə dinməz söyləməz razılaşır.
Şeylərə belə baxış, şübhəsiz, kökündə yanlışdır. Fəlsəfənin öyrətdiyi həqiqətlər, biologiyanın gəldiyi nəticələr insanın gündəlik təsərrüfatına daha möhkəm daxil olmalıdır. Təbiətdə alçaq proseslər , qeyri-təbii hallar yoxdur. Müəyyən cəmiyyətin əsaslarından və adətlərindən təsadüfən kənara çıxmaq heç də sössüz günah işləmək demək deyildir. İnsanlar tərəfindən müəyyən edilmiş qaydaları təsadüfən pozan heç bir bədbəxt məxluqu , cəmiyyət rəyinin amansızcasına onun adına yazdığı hədsiz alçaqlıqda ittiham etmək olmaz
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Bütün varlılğı fasiləsiz surətdə yeni həyat yaratmaqdan ibarət olan dünyada , havanın, suyun, torpağın, günəş işığının - hər şeyin insan doğulmasına xidmət etdiyi bir dünyada belə bir hissin əmələ gəlməsi maraqlıdır. Tək insan deyil, bütün aləm, nəsli davam etdirmək hissi ilə yaşayıb yaratdığı halda, hər şeyin dünyaya eyni yolla gəldiyinə baxmayaraq, nədənsə buna mənasız surətdə göz yummağa, bundan ikrahla üz döndərməyə çalışırlar, sanki təbiətin özündə nə isə natəmiz bir şey vardır. "Mayamız qəbahətdəndir və günah içində doğulmuşuq" - riyakar adam təbiətin qanunlarına belə qeyri-təbii izahat verir və cəmiyyət də həqiqətən eybəcər olan bu mühakimə ilə dinməz söyləməz razılaşır.
Şeylərə belə baxış, şübhəsiz, kökündə yanlışdır. Fəlsəfənin öyrətdiyi həqiqətlər, biologiyanın gəldiyi nəticələr insanın gündəlik təsərrüfatına daha möhkəm daxil olmalıdır. Təbiətdə alçaq proseslər , qeyri-təbii hallar yoxdur. Müəyyən cəmiyyətin əsaslarından və adətlərindən təsadüfən kənara çıxmaq heç də sössüz günah işləmək demək deyildir. İnsanlar tərəfindən müəyyən edilmiş qaydaları təsadüfən pozan heç bir bədbəxt məxluqu , cəmiyyət rəyinin amansızcasına onun adına yazdığı hədsiz alçaqlıqda ittiham etmək olmaz
July 2, 2017
This is a masterpiece by one of the greatest American novelists of all time. Dreiser is often derided by other writers for the awkwardness of his prose. This complaint is wildly overblown. It is true that Dreiser's prose style is often plain and occasionally clunky. It is also true that he sometimes interjects with half-baked evolutionary and economic theories as metanarrative. But "bad Faulkner" and "bad Conrad" are no less pompous and distracting than bad Dreiser. Dreiser is capable of some truly beautiful prose passages and writes more authentic dialogue than probably anyone. Furthermore, the sentence fetishists overlook Dreiser's exceptional skill at other fundamentals of fiction writing--such as narrative pacing, characterization, moral and psychological complexity, and world building. When you are first introduced to Jennie Gerhardt, she is a young, first-generation American girl looking for work as a hotel maid alongside her mother. You follow her epic journey as she is seduced by two powerful men. But although she is not exactly in control of her own destiny, her individual qualities are not fully extinguished by the end of the novel. She is as much a survivor as she is a victim--and the men in her life are shown to be deeply scarred by the diminishing spiritual and emotional rewards of material success in the Gilded Age. This is very different than, say, Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, which is a much simpler and less insightful textbook case of literary naturalism.
September 11, 2025
I did it. But frankly the book is weaker than Trilogy.
It is about a quiet, kind young woman who keeps paying for her kindness. Money, reputation, and “what will people say” weigh more than love. Lester isn’t a villain, just weak: he loves her but lacks courage, and that fear ruins everything.
Too many repetitions of the same idea. But the ending hits hard.
I liked her sincerity and the honest look at social judgment.
But i disliked Dreiser's preachy tone.
To read only if you have already read Trilogy and sister Carry
It is about a quiet, kind young woman who keeps paying for her kindness. Money, reputation, and “what will people say” weigh more than love. Lester isn’t a villain, just weak: he loves her but lacks courage, and that fear ruins everything.
Too many repetitions of the same idea. But the ending hits hard.
I liked her sincerity and the honest look at social judgment.
But i disliked Dreiser's preachy tone.
To read only if you have already read Trilogy and sister Carry
September 24, 2020
Mi-a plăcut enorm această carte atât de frumoasă, profundă și emoționantă ❤️
O poveste de dragoste precum un mozaic, alcătuit din împrejurări dictate și influențate de bogăție și putere, și acea iubire necondiționată dusă până la sacrificiu.
"Era atras de blândețea și de feminitatea pe care o emana. Exista în ea ceva care sugera plăcerea dragostei."
"Să nu minți niciodată. Niciodată să nu cauți să prezinți un lucru altfel decât îl vezi tu. Adevărul, iată principalul în viață, el stă la baza valorilor reale."
"Căci viața ei era țesută din acele mistice firi care unesc un suflet de altul prin înțelegere și amintiri duioase, făurind din elementele efemere ale naturii un peisaj armonios și durabil."
Recomand cu mare drag 💓
O poveste de dragoste precum un mozaic, alcătuit din împrejurări dictate și influențate de bogăție și putere, și acea iubire necondiționată dusă până la sacrificiu.
"Era atras de blândețea și de feminitatea pe care o emana. Exista în ea ceva care sugera plăcerea dragostei."
"Să nu minți niciodată. Niciodată să nu cauți să prezinți un lucru altfel decât îl vezi tu. Adevărul, iată principalul în viață, el stă la baza valorilor reale."
"Căci viața ei era țesută din acele mistice firi care unesc un suflet de altul prin înțelegere și amintiri duioase, făurind din elementele efemere ale naturii un peisaj armonios și durabil."
Recomand cu mare drag 💓
May 20, 2013
One of the key elements of the naturalist movement in literature was pessimism. I would say that pessimism just about sums up this book. I can't think when I've been more depressed by a story. I wanted to reach out and slap almost every character in it. I had read both An American Tragedy and Sister Carrie and liked both of those Dreiser books. Maybe I am just worn out with Dreiser's continuing theme of naive pretty poor girls falling for rich men of the upper class who will never 'do right' by them. I'll give it 4 stars anyway, even if I found it grim and fatalistic. After all, I think that was the desired effect.
May 15, 2022
An engaging character based novel about Jennie Gerhardt, a poor young beautiful, caring, mentally strong woman in Columbus, Ohio, who has an illegitimate daughter by an elder senator, then lives with a rich businessman without being married. Jennie inadvertently defies the conventions of class, gender, family and religion. Jennie is a very likeable, loving character who is a victim of poverty and circumstance.
This novel is as good as ‘Sister Carrie’ and ‘An American Tragedy’. A rewarding and satisfying reading experience.
This book was first published in 1911.
This novel is as good as ‘Sister Carrie’ and ‘An American Tragedy’. A rewarding and satisfying reading experience.
This book was first published in 1911.
April 23, 2021
I believe that the fact that I read this book so slowly, caused it to become a part of my life, so now I feel a "dull ache" ,as Dreiser would say, parting ways with it. The main lesson I took from this book is that if the opportunity of true love ever seizes you, accept it immediately and never let it go under any circumstances, as in the end no amount of money can fill the void created by the lack of the loved one beside you.
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