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Trilogy of Desire #2
Титан
"Титан" - вторая часть реалистической эпопеи Т.Драйзера "Трилогия желания".
Культ силы, пренебрежение нормами поведения общества становятся еще более ярко выраженными, характерными чертами главного героя романа Фрэнка Каупервуда.
Культ силы, пренебрежение нормами поведения общества становятся еще более ярко выраженными, характерными чертами главного героя романа Фрэнка Каупервуда.
574 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1914
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3016 people want to read
About the author
Theodore Dreiser
453 books920 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 118 reviews
July 25, 2019
Why Swell'st Thou So?
Trump is a perennial American type, the coarse outsider who is driven to succeed at all costs. And he does frequently win. The paradox, however, is that his measure of success, his criteria for what constitutes winning, are supplied by others. Thus Trump and his ilk are the least free of human beings, constantly striving to become what others value.
Frank Algernon Cowperwood, Dreiser’s protagonist, is proto-Trumpian in all the type’s frightening details. Dreiser was a contemporary of Edmund Husserl, the philosopher of Phenomenology, the study of how things appear to human consciousness. Although there is no evidence that Dreiser knew of Husserl’s work, The Titan is best described as a phenomenology of the peculiarly America search for power, written without judgement but in overpoweringly accurate detail.
Probably since its founding, certainly since its Civil War, America has been dominated by a culture of unconstrained acquisition of wealth and influence. Dreiser knows the psychology, the sociology and the politics of this perennial urge, which seems endemic to democracy. The desire for power, at least for some significant portion of American residents, is driven primarily by its possession by others rather than its necessity for achieving anything with it.
No amount of wealth, security, or reputation is sufficient to allay the need for more power because this American power has no objective but itself. As Dreiser puts it, “It is thus that life at its topmost toss irks and pains. Beyond is ever the unattainable, the lure of the infinite with its infinite ache.” One can never achieve the power one desires as long as others have any as well.
“[Cowperwood’s] business as he saw it was with the material facts of life, or, rather, with those third and fourth degree theorems and syllogisms which control material things and so represent wealth.” It is the first and second degree theorems, however, that establish why wealth is important at all; and Cowperwood has no knowledge of these.
Like Trump, Cowperwood is “temperamentally... in sympathy with the mass more than he was with the class, and he understood the mass better.” But this sympathy has nothing of real concern in it, “He could, should, and would rule alone... Men must swing around him as planets around the sun.” Both are consummate egotists, “The truth was he believed in himself, and himself only, and thence sprang his courage to think as he pleased.” Or that is his conceit as he obviously attempts to fit in and rise within the commercial and social establishment of Chicago.
There are consequences, however, for this type of phenomenological consciousness, perhaps the most important of which is a complete lack of self-awareness. Cowperwood confronts “...the unsolvable mystery that he was even to himself—to himself most of all.” I suspect Trump is also a similar enigma to Trump.
Like Trump, Cowperwood likes to buy talent, “He wanted the intellectual servants. He was willing to pay.” With this talent, particularly legal talent, he can intimidate and dominate. ‘“Let them blow,” said Cowperwood. “We can blow, too, and sue also. I like lawsuits. We’ll tie them up so that they’ll beg for quarter.” His eyes twinkled cheerfully.’ He knows how the world really works, “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen many troubles in this world that money wouldn’t cure.”
He also knows the reality of American politics, which in its Republican variety operates primarily on greed. This means a limited but effective set of standard political tactics: “...robbery, ballot-box stuffing, the sale of votes, the appointive power of leaders, graft, nepotism, vice exploitation—all the things that go to make up the American world of politics and financial and social strife.”
So Trump’s braggadocio is not an aberration, it is the epitome of the perennial American character, a character that swells without limit... until it bursts. It is without purpose but not without effect. And that effect is always detrimental. Trump’s journey from the New York suburbs to the national capital is very much like Cowperwood’s from Philadelphia to Chicago, “How different, for some reason, from Philadelphia! That was a stirring city, too. He had thought it wonderful at one time, quite a world; but this thing, while obviously infinitely worse, was better.” And he could make it worse still.
Trump is a perennial American type, the coarse outsider who is driven to succeed at all costs. And he does frequently win. The paradox, however, is that his measure of success, his criteria for what constitutes winning, are supplied by others. Thus Trump and his ilk are the least free of human beings, constantly striving to become what others value.
Frank Algernon Cowperwood, Dreiser’s protagonist, is proto-Trumpian in all the type’s frightening details. Dreiser was a contemporary of Edmund Husserl, the philosopher of Phenomenology, the study of how things appear to human consciousness. Although there is no evidence that Dreiser knew of Husserl’s work, The Titan is best described as a phenomenology of the peculiarly America search for power, written without judgement but in overpoweringly accurate detail.
Probably since its founding, certainly since its Civil War, America has been dominated by a culture of unconstrained acquisition of wealth and influence. Dreiser knows the psychology, the sociology and the politics of this perennial urge, which seems endemic to democracy. The desire for power, at least for some significant portion of American residents, is driven primarily by its possession by others rather than its necessity for achieving anything with it.
No amount of wealth, security, or reputation is sufficient to allay the need for more power because this American power has no objective but itself. As Dreiser puts it, “It is thus that life at its topmost toss irks and pains. Beyond is ever the unattainable, the lure of the infinite with its infinite ache.” One can never achieve the power one desires as long as others have any as well.
“[Cowperwood’s] business as he saw it was with the material facts of life, or, rather, with those third and fourth degree theorems and syllogisms which control material things and so represent wealth.” It is the first and second degree theorems, however, that establish why wealth is important at all; and Cowperwood has no knowledge of these.
Like Trump, Cowperwood is “temperamentally... in sympathy with the mass more than he was with the class, and he understood the mass better.” But this sympathy has nothing of real concern in it, “He could, should, and would rule alone... Men must swing around him as planets around the sun.” Both are consummate egotists, “The truth was he believed in himself, and himself only, and thence sprang his courage to think as he pleased.” Or that is his conceit as he obviously attempts to fit in and rise within the commercial and social establishment of Chicago.
There are consequences, however, for this type of phenomenological consciousness, perhaps the most important of which is a complete lack of self-awareness. Cowperwood confronts “...the unsolvable mystery that he was even to himself—to himself most of all.” I suspect Trump is also a similar enigma to Trump.
Like Trump, Cowperwood likes to buy talent, “He wanted the intellectual servants. He was willing to pay.” With this talent, particularly legal talent, he can intimidate and dominate. ‘“Let them blow,” said Cowperwood. “We can blow, too, and sue also. I like lawsuits. We’ll tie them up so that they’ll beg for quarter.” His eyes twinkled cheerfully.’ He knows how the world really works, “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen many troubles in this world that money wouldn’t cure.”
He also knows the reality of American politics, which in its Republican variety operates primarily on greed. This means a limited but effective set of standard political tactics: “...robbery, ballot-box stuffing, the sale of votes, the appointive power of leaders, graft, nepotism, vice exploitation—all the things that go to make up the American world of politics and financial and social strife.”
So Trump’s braggadocio is not an aberration, it is the epitome of the perennial American character, a character that swells without limit... until it bursts. It is without purpose but not without effect. And that effect is always detrimental. Trump’s journey from the New York suburbs to the national capital is very much like Cowperwood’s from Philadelphia to Chicago, “How different, for some reason, from Philadelphia! That was a stirring city, too. He had thought it wonderful at one time, quite a world; but this thing, while obviously infinitely worse, was better.” And he could make it worse still.
February 21, 2017
An individual “pursuing his own interest…frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.” That quote from the 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith pertains to Frank Cowperwood, the hero of Thedore Dreiser’s trilogy, of which “The Titan” is the second novel. I haven’t read the other books, but from reading The Titan I’d say Cowperwood’s interest(s) are money, power, art and women, though not necessarily in that order.
Does society benefit from Cowperwood’s vigorous pursuit of his interests? I’d say yes and no. Yes, to the extent he provides late 19th century Chicago with improved public transportation. And his burgeoning art collection seems destined for some art museum. No, in that his sharp dealing and political shenanigans, which often cross the line into illegality, i.e. bribery and extortion, and aggressive womanizing, often directed at the wives and daughters of rivals, associates and acquaintances, adds to the Gilded Age culture of corruption.
Dreiser called his Cowperwood novels a Trilogy of Desire, and desire or lust for wealth, sexual fulfillment, art and glory as motivating forces is what these novels are about. The Titan is set in the period 1876-1898, a time of robber barons and financial buccaneers, boom and bust, machine politics, graft, rapid settlement of the West, urban growth, industrialization, immigration, social upheaval, racism and class warfare. There were reformers and crusading journalists, but in this novel, they are for the most part portrayed as self-serving hypocrites.
Dreiser’s prose has been criticized as “turgid” and “clunky,” and I partly agree. He’s at his worst when he tries to be literary and philosophical, often coming across as long-winded, flowery and sentimental. On the other hand, at his best his prose is clean, direct and compelling, which may be traced to his roots as a journalist. Moreover, as a reader and writer of historical fiction I find his descriptions of the time and place fascinating, especially in his detailed description of manners, morals, fashions and technological change, including the early telephones, gas and electric lighting, streetcars, elevated railways and the first automobiles.
All in all, not my favorite Dreiser—I prefer Sister Carrie—but in my opinion still worth reading.
Does society benefit from Cowperwood’s vigorous pursuit of his interests? I’d say yes and no. Yes, to the extent he provides late 19th century Chicago with improved public transportation. And his burgeoning art collection seems destined for some art museum. No, in that his sharp dealing and political shenanigans, which often cross the line into illegality, i.e. bribery and extortion, and aggressive womanizing, often directed at the wives and daughters of rivals, associates and acquaintances, adds to the Gilded Age culture of corruption.
Dreiser called his Cowperwood novels a Trilogy of Desire, and desire or lust for wealth, sexual fulfillment, art and glory as motivating forces is what these novels are about. The Titan is set in the period 1876-1898, a time of robber barons and financial buccaneers, boom and bust, machine politics, graft, rapid settlement of the West, urban growth, industrialization, immigration, social upheaval, racism and class warfare. There were reformers and crusading journalists, but in this novel, they are for the most part portrayed as self-serving hypocrites.
Dreiser’s prose has been criticized as “turgid” and “clunky,” and I partly agree. He’s at his worst when he tries to be literary and philosophical, often coming across as long-winded, flowery and sentimental. On the other hand, at his best his prose is clean, direct and compelling, which may be traced to his roots as a journalist. Moreover, as a reader and writer of historical fiction I find his descriptions of the time and place fascinating, especially in his detailed description of manners, morals, fashions and technological change, including the early telephones, gas and electric lighting, streetcars, elevated railways and the first automobiles.
All in all, not my favorite Dreiser—I prefer Sister Carrie—but in my opinion still worth reading.
May 10, 2015
В продолжение "Трилогии желания" Драйзера вторая её часть, а именно роман "Титан" не только подтвердил мастерство автора, но и получился на порядок интереснее и захватывающем в отличии от первого, хотя первая часть "Финансист" в своё время понравилась даже больше чем очень. После второй части сложно представить насколько гениальным должна стать третья часть трилогии - "Стоик", чтоб превзойти "Титана", или хотя бы удержать марку автора.
Книга прекрасна сюжетом (из реальной жизни всё того же Чарльза Йеркса) в котором Драйзер показал чрезвычайную настойчивость героя в столь агрессивной среде. Профессионализм главного героя ещё выше, эффективнее и поучительнее. Что касается морально этических качеств Фрэнка Каупервуда, то они уже не те. В своей борьбе за капитал он не брезгует частыми интригами, всё чаще применяет мерзкие приёмы и коварные хитрости.
Совсем отдельная история тайных взаимоотношений Каупервуда с множеством женщин. Если в некоторых моментах ещё пытаешься понять героя, то в других случаях отношение к нему становится очень уж нелицеприятным и омерзительным.
Книга очень богата множеством поучительных эпизодов, в которых Драйзер тонко показал сущность людей, которые сражаются подобно титанам за огромные капиталы, статус и влияние. Роман переполнен коварными интригами, выходками множеством конкурентов, махинациями и хитрыми уловками.
Рекомендую прочитать данный роман как и тем кто уже прочитал "Финансиста" так и тем, кто ещё не знаком с предыдущей книгой трилогии Теодора Драйзера.
Книга прекрасна сюжетом (из реальной жизни всё того же Чарльза Йеркса) в котором Драйзер показал чрезвычайную настойчивость героя в столь агрессивной среде. Профессионализм главного героя ещё выше, эффективнее и поучительнее. Что касается морально этических качеств Фрэнка Каупервуда, то они уже не те. В своей борьбе за капитал он не брезгует частыми интригами, всё чаще применяет мерзкие приёмы и коварные хитрости.
Совсем отдельная история тайных взаимоотношений Каупервуда с множеством женщин. Если в некоторых моментах ещё пытаешься понять героя, то в других случаях отношение к нему становится очень уж нелицеприятным и омерзительным.
Книга очень богата множеством поучительных эпизодов, в которых Драйзер тонко показал сущность людей, которые сражаются подобно титанам за огромные капиталы, статус и влияние. Роман переполнен коварными интригами, выходками множеством конкурентов, махинациями и хитрыми уловками.
Рекомендую прочитать данный роман как и тем кто уже прочитал "Финансиста" так и тем, кто ещё не знаком с предыдущей книгой трилогии Теодора Драйзера.
April 6, 2013
It kept my interest long enough to finish reading it. Since the main character is a bourgeois capitalist pig-dog, and he's opposed only by other such characters, it's hard to find any real empathy for anyone in the entire book (except for maybe one of the women he screws over).
July 14, 2024
Original review: 2017-July or August (but updated and greatly expanded 2020-04-10) -
Fascinating book.
I did not read the paperback, I listened to the LibriVox free audio recording from: https://librivox.org/the-titan-by-the...
The reader, Richard Kilmer, has a very mellifluous voice. Very easy to listen to, but his pronunciation of some words was pretty funny, being wildly off, and his pauses in strange parts of sentences placed a weird rhythm to the reading fairly often. But after a while, I got used to it and it did not bother me.
- If you like history, in particular late 1800s America, and specifically Chicago, this book will be quite interesting.
- If you have an interest in how local and state government, especially the politicians, actually saw and acted in their jobs in this period, this book is definitely for you.
- If you find the relationship between business and government important, and a serious cause of problems, this book will be an enigma, since it details the interactions so matter-of-factly.
Some issues that one should be aware of about the book or notice how the author deals with them:
1. The importance of honesty/integrity in business - the book is great on this point.
2. The venality of politicians (being open to bribes and concerned mostly with their own personal enrichment) generally. How exceptionally rare it was to have a politician who was motivated by higher values: the truth, philosophy, etc.
3. The personal (social/sexual) actions and values of the main character, and how they were often so at odds with the way he acted, with honesty and integrity, in his business. A huge dichotomy.
4. The type of businesses that the main character was involved in and made his fortune from (gas utilities and streetcar transit companies) - that required (according to commonly held ideas) "franchises" from the local government. What those "Franchise agreements or laws" did, was to allow that particular business to operate, AND excluded (via government force) other businesses from providing that service in that particular area - in other words, Government CREATION of a monopoly. Too many economists think this is a reasonable set-up, but they typically ignore what the book so brilliantly detailed - all the corruption/bribery/vote buying/etc. that this setup entails. Some economists of the free market persuasion demonstrate the history of actual cities that resisted giving franchises to any one particular business and simply allowed free market competition to prevail in providing whatever service that the consumers were willing to purchase, and the overall benefits of not having government franchises.
5. And similarly with Upton Sinclair, too few literary comments on the author bother to mention that he was committed to Socialism. Listening to this book, it was not clear at all that that was the case, whereas Sinclair's most famous book "The Jungle" had large sections of socialist propaganda, so one could not miss it. The reader has to go to Wikipedia's listing to find out:
"Dreiser was a committed socialist and wrote several nonfiction books on political issues. These included Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928), the result of his 1927 trip to the Soviet Union, and two books presenting a critical perspective on capitalist America, Tragic America (1931) and America Is Worth Saving (1941).[19] He praised the Soviet Union under Stalin during the Great Terror and the nonaggression pact with Hitler. Dreiser joined the Communist Party USA in August 1945."
6. The financial details of how certain business deals were structured were pretty lame. Any person with real business experience would know that the crucial details were NOT revealed. It has been about three years since I listened to the book, so can't remember exactly, but I remember being struck by this fact when I listened to it, and remember re-listening to certain sections to see if I missed the key details the first time - no I had not - they just were not in the writing at all. This is often a give-away as to the authenticity of some of the author's understanding of how deals are actually done - what business people really need to be willing to do the deals. Crucial information, money, returns, etc. so that both/all parties benefit. Business is a win/win deal, (or the deal does not get done) unlike most politics, which is win/lose.
7. The main character's obsession with sex is a fascinating part of the book. I am sure it got him more readers, who would vastly prefer that part to the talk of the plans, fortitude, creativity and amazing business deals described. But for me it was quite a sad distraction and show of bad character, not to mention at huge variance from many/most of the brilliant "Titans" of industry over the last 50 or so years who I have met, observed pretty closely or read about. These real titans are usually so intensely focused on their businesses, and sometimes families in addition, that having mistresses on the side and serial wives, would be the very last things they would ever do. There is also the belief that having mistresses and serial wives/divorces shows a lack of character and trustworthiness that could easily bleed over into their ability to do their beloved business dealings. Sure, some business titans don't hold to this kind of morality or world view, and they are legend, especially with respect to Hollywood portrayals! But I still posit that most probably do hold to a more bourgeois and consistent set of values and actual lifestyle.
7a. I should have read just a little further in the Wikipedia listing for Dreiser. They say that novelists write the best when they are writing autobiographically, well, let me tell you, this section is VERY close to what is in the book:
"Personal life:
After proposing in 1893, he married Sara Osborne White on December 28, 1898. They ultimately separated in 1909, partly as a result of Dreiser's infatuation with Thelma Cudlipp, the teenage daughter of a colleague, but were never formally divorced.[20] In 1913, he began a romantic relationship with the actress and painter Kyra Markham.[21][22]"
In 1919, Dreiser met his cousin Helen Patges Richardson (1894-1955) with whom he began an affair.[23] Through the following decades, she remained the constant woman in his life, even through many more temporary love affairs (such as one with his secretary Clara Jaeger in the 1930s).[24] Helen tolerated Dreiser's affairs, and they eventually married on June 13, 1944.[23] They remained together until his death on December 28, 1945, at the age of 74.[14]:399
If (and only if) you can absorb and appreciate the above, I still recommend this book for: economists, political scientists, historians, reformers and idealists concerned with cities and the crucial services that make them possible and incredible, and possibly should be required reading. It is not the last word on how utilities started out privately, as opposed to being creatures of government. But it does describe how the franchise system engendered corruption. It should provide readers with some great local color and descriptions of early crony dealings around the turn of the 19th-20th century Chicago.
Oh, Dreiser's writing was quite an experience. He was not considered a great writer for nuthin.
Fascinating book.
I did not read the paperback, I listened to the LibriVox free audio recording from: https://librivox.org/the-titan-by-the...
The reader, Richard Kilmer, has a very mellifluous voice. Very easy to listen to, but his pronunciation of some words was pretty funny, being wildly off, and his pauses in strange parts of sentences placed a weird rhythm to the reading fairly often. But after a while, I got used to it and it did not bother me.
- If you like history, in particular late 1800s America, and specifically Chicago, this book will be quite interesting.
- If you have an interest in how local and state government, especially the politicians, actually saw and acted in their jobs in this period, this book is definitely for you.
- If you find the relationship between business and government important, and a serious cause of problems, this book will be an enigma, since it details the interactions so matter-of-factly.
Some issues that one should be aware of about the book or notice how the author deals with them:
1. The importance of honesty/integrity in business - the book is great on this point.
2. The venality of politicians (being open to bribes and concerned mostly with their own personal enrichment) generally. How exceptionally rare it was to have a politician who was motivated by higher values: the truth, philosophy, etc.
3. The personal (social/sexual) actions and values of the main character, and how they were often so at odds with the way he acted, with honesty and integrity, in his business. A huge dichotomy.
4. The type of businesses that the main character was involved in and made his fortune from (gas utilities and streetcar transit companies) - that required (according to commonly held ideas) "franchises" from the local government. What those "Franchise agreements or laws" did, was to allow that particular business to operate, AND excluded (via government force) other businesses from providing that service in that particular area - in other words, Government CREATION of a monopoly. Too many economists think this is a reasonable set-up, but they typically ignore what the book so brilliantly detailed - all the corruption/bribery/vote buying/etc. that this setup entails. Some economists of the free market persuasion demonstrate the history of actual cities that resisted giving franchises to any one particular business and simply allowed free market competition to prevail in providing whatever service that the consumers were willing to purchase, and the overall benefits of not having government franchises.
5. And similarly with Upton Sinclair, too few literary comments on the author bother to mention that he was committed to Socialism. Listening to this book, it was not clear at all that that was the case, whereas Sinclair's most famous book "The Jungle" had large sections of socialist propaganda, so one could not miss it. The reader has to go to Wikipedia's listing to find out:
"Dreiser was a committed socialist and wrote several nonfiction books on political issues. These included Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928), the result of his 1927 trip to the Soviet Union, and two books presenting a critical perspective on capitalist America, Tragic America (1931) and America Is Worth Saving (1941).[19] He praised the Soviet Union under Stalin during the Great Terror and the nonaggression pact with Hitler. Dreiser joined the Communist Party USA in August 1945."
6. The financial details of how certain business deals were structured were pretty lame. Any person with real business experience would know that the crucial details were NOT revealed. It has been about three years since I listened to the book, so can't remember exactly, but I remember being struck by this fact when I listened to it, and remember re-listening to certain sections to see if I missed the key details the first time - no I had not - they just were not in the writing at all. This is often a give-away as to the authenticity of some of the author's understanding of how deals are actually done - what business people really need to be willing to do the deals. Crucial information, money, returns, etc. so that both/all parties benefit. Business is a win/win deal, (or the deal does not get done) unlike most politics, which is win/lose.
7. The main character's obsession with sex is a fascinating part of the book. I am sure it got him more readers, who would vastly prefer that part to the talk of the plans, fortitude, creativity and amazing business deals described. But for me it was quite a sad distraction and show of bad character, not to mention at huge variance from many/most of the brilliant "Titans" of industry over the last 50 or so years who I have met, observed pretty closely or read about. These real titans are usually so intensely focused on their businesses, and sometimes families in addition, that having mistresses on the side and serial wives, would be the very last things they would ever do. There is also the belief that having mistresses and serial wives/divorces shows a lack of character and trustworthiness that could easily bleed over into their ability to do their beloved business dealings. Sure, some business titans don't hold to this kind of morality or world view, and they are legend, especially with respect to Hollywood portrayals! But I still posit that most probably do hold to a more bourgeois and consistent set of values and actual lifestyle.
7a. I should have read just a little further in the Wikipedia listing for Dreiser. They say that novelists write the best when they are writing autobiographically, well, let me tell you, this section is VERY close to what is in the book:
"Personal life:
After proposing in 1893, he married Sara Osborne White on December 28, 1898. They ultimately separated in 1909, partly as a result of Dreiser's infatuation with Thelma Cudlipp, the teenage daughter of a colleague, but were never formally divorced.[20] In 1913, he began a romantic relationship with the actress and painter Kyra Markham.[21][22]"
In 1919, Dreiser met his cousin Helen Patges Richardson (1894-1955) with whom he began an affair.[23] Through the following decades, she remained the constant woman in his life, even through many more temporary love affairs (such as one with his secretary Clara Jaeger in the 1930s).[24] Helen tolerated Dreiser's affairs, and they eventually married on June 13, 1944.[23] They remained together until his death on December 28, 1945, at the age of 74.[14]:399
If (and only if) you can absorb and appreciate the above, I still recommend this book for: economists, political scientists, historians, reformers and idealists concerned with cities and the crucial services that make them possible and incredible, and possibly should be required reading. It is not the last word on how utilities started out privately, as opposed to being creatures of government. But it does describe how the franchise system engendered corruption. It should provide readers with some great local color and descriptions of early crony dealings around the turn of the 19th-20th century Chicago.
Oh, Dreiser's writing was quite an experience. He was not considered a great writer for nuthin.
December 30, 2020
Che trio incredibile di capitalisti filibustieri ha sfornato la letteratura nell’arco di quarant’anni: da Aristide Saccard, protagonista de
Il denaro
di Zola del 1891, a Frank Algernon Cowperwood in Il Titano di Theodore Dreiser del 1914 per finire a Macheath detto Mackie Messer, in
Il romanzo da tre soldi
di Bertolt Brecht del 1934 (ma l’opera teatrale è del 1928).
Il lavoro di Brecht si ispira ad un’opera teatrale degli inizi del ‘700 critica nei confronti della corruzione e dei maneggi poco puliti della classe aristocratica e Brecht la trasforma in una critica della società capitalistica; Zola si ispira al crack finanziario di una banca avvenuto realmente nel 1882 per tratteggiare una speculazione finanziaria internazionale ordita dal finanziere Saccard, che pare anticipare il disastro della Lehman Brothers del 2008.
Anche Dreiser pone alla base del suo romanzo il capitalismo finanziario nella Chicago in via di frenetico sviluppo della seconda metà dell’800, ispirandosi alla biografia di Charles Tyson Yerks, un magnate della finanza e dei trasporti, per costruire la figura di Cowperwood e anche in questo caso si ha l’impressione di leggere di una vicenda attuale. Cowperwood è un finanziere d’assalto, che specula e si arricchisce ricorrendo a pressioni, ricatti e corruzione; muove e moltiplica una massa ingente di denaro mettendo in piedi numerose società con il sistema delle scatole cinesi a capo delle quali pone i suoi fedeli e succubi prestanome. Chicago è in piena ricostruzione dopo il disastroso incendio del 1871 (Great Chicago Fire), a ridosso dell’Esposizione Universale del 1893, ma è anche sede della Borsa (Chicago Board of Trade) istituita nel 1848 e specializzata nella quotazione delle granaglie e che per prima ha iniziato a contrattare con i futures. Cowperwood è profondamente individualista, attratto dal denaro, dal dominio, dal successo e dalle donne, ma anche dall’arte; non esista a piegare, quando può, chi ostacola il suo cammino, ”chi sa qualcosa degli intrighi della politica, della finanza, e del controllo tra società, così com’era normale consuetudine in quel periodo glorioso, non si meraviglierà certo dei pozzi d’astuzia, degli abissi di miseria, degli acquitrini di bassezza cui si ricorreva.”
Cowperwood è un battitore libero a differenza degli altri magnati che si coalizzano e non si pestano i piedi tra loro spartendosi il bottino, ma né l’uno, né gli altri giocano pulito, ”quasi ovunque, nel paese, si andava diffondendo l’opinione, o quanto meno l’impressione, che in cima a tutto c’era un gruppo di giganti - Titani - che, privi di cuore e di anima, e senza alcuna comprensione o simpatia o solidarietà per le condizioni della gente comune, si adoperavano per incatenarla e renderla schiava.” Non ci sono buoni e cattivi, la lotta per la supremazia mossa dalla ricerca del profitto è tutta interna allo stesso campo, anche quando non esita a ricorrere a populismo, demagogia e capipopolo per sollevare le masse a sostegno del proprio tornaconto, ”perché diavolo mai il popolo non si accontentava che fossero solo gli uomini forti, intelligenti e timorati di Dio a prendersi il fastidio di sistemare e organizzare le cose per loro? Non era quello, in fondo, il vero significato della democrazia? Ma certo che lo era… lui stesso era uno di quegli individui forti. Non poteva fare a meno di diffidare di tutte quelle chiacchiere radicali. Eppure, qualsiasi cosa pur di colpire a morte Cowperwood… qualsiasi cosa.”
Cowperwood non è solo un individualista, uno che ”aveva illuminato i terrori e le meraviglie dell’individualità”, ma anche fondamentalmente e inevitabilmente un uomo solo, che non esita a sedurre per poi abbandonare donne che non incarnano il suo ideale, salvo innamorarsi di colei che rappresenta la sua immagine individualista speculare e che è in grado di tenerlo a distanza e condurre il gioco.
Il Titano è un romanzone dal peso di più di seicento pagine che quasi non si sentono, in cui le vicende personali e intime, si alternano alle descrizioni dei meccanismi del potere, della finanza, della politica e dell’editoria, con la resa altamente realistica e dinamica di una realtà sociale e urbana in vertiginosa trasformazione.
Il lavoro di Brecht si ispira ad un’opera teatrale degli inizi del ‘700 critica nei confronti della corruzione e dei maneggi poco puliti della classe aristocratica e Brecht la trasforma in una critica della società capitalistica; Zola si ispira al crack finanziario di una banca avvenuto realmente nel 1882 per tratteggiare una speculazione finanziaria internazionale ordita dal finanziere Saccard, che pare anticipare il disastro della Lehman Brothers del 2008.
Anche Dreiser pone alla base del suo romanzo il capitalismo finanziario nella Chicago in via di frenetico sviluppo della seconda metà dell’800, ispirandosi alla biografia di Charles Tyson Yerks, un magnate della finanza e dei trasporti, per costruire la figura di Cowperwood e anche in questo caso si ha l’impressione di leggere di una vicenda attuale. Cowperwood è un finanziere d’assalto, che specula e si arricchisce ricorrendo a pressioni, ricatti e corruzione; muove e moltiplica una massa ingente di denaro mettendo in piedi numerose società con il sistema delle scatole cinesi a capo delle quali pone i suoi fedeli e succubi prestanome. Chicago è in piena ricostruzione dopo il disastroso incendio del 1871 (Great Chicago Fire), a ridosso dell’Esposizione Universale del 1893, ma è anche sede della Borsa (Chicago Board of Trade) istituita nel 1848 e specializzata nella quotazione delle granaglie e che per prima ha iniziato a contrattare con i futures. Cowperwood è profondamente individualista, attratto dal denaro, dal dominio, dal successo e dalle donne, ma anche dall’arte; non esista a piegare, quando può, chi ostacola il suo cammino, ”chi sa qualcosa degli intrighi della politica, della finanza, e del controllo tra società, così com’era normale consuetudine in quel periodo glorioso, non si meraviglierà certo dei pozzi d’astuzia, degli abissi di miseria, degli acquitrini di bassezza cui si ricorreva.”
Cowperwood è un battitore libero a differenza degli altri magnati che si coalizzano e non si pestano i piedi tra loro spartendosi il bottino, ma né l’uno, né gli altri giocano pulito, ”quasi ovunque, nel paese, si andava diffondendo l’opinione, o quanto meno l’impressione, che in cima a tutto c’era un gruppo di giganti - Titani - che, privi di cuore e di anima, e senza alcuna comprensione o simpatia o solidarietà per le condizioni della gente comune, si adoperavano per incatenarla e renderla schiava.” Non ci sono buoni e cattivi, la lotta per la supremazia mossa dalla ricerca del profitto è tutta interna allo stesso campo, anche quando non esita a ricorrere a populismo, demagogia e capipopolo per sollevare le masse a sostegno del proprio tornaconto, ”perché diavolo mai il popolo non si accontentava che fossero solo gli uomini forti, intelligenti e timorati di Dio a prendersi il fastidio di sistemare e organizzare le cose per loro? Non era quello, in fondo, il vero significato della democrazia? Ma certo che lo era… lui stesso era uno di quegli individui forti. Non poteva fare a meno di diffidare di tutte quelle chiacchiere radicali. Eppure, qualsiasi cosa pur di colpire a morte Cowperwood… qualsiasi cosa.”
Cowperwood non è solo un individualista, uno che ”aveva illuminato i terrori e le meraviglie dell’individualità”, ma anche fondamentalmente e inevitabilmente un uomo solo, che non esita a sedurre per poi abbandonare donne che non incarnano il suo ideale, salvo innamorarsi di colei che rappresenta la sua immagine individualista speculare e che è in grado di tenerlo a distanza e condurre il gioco.
Il Titano è un romanzone dal peso di più di seicento pagine che quasi non si sentono, in cui le vicende personali e intime, si alternano alle descrizioni dei meccanismi del potere, della finanza, della politica e dell’editoria, con la resa altamente realistica e dinamica di una realtà sociale e urbana in vertiginosa trasformazione.
Want to read
May 11, 2025This is a book that F. Scott Fitzgerald recommended in his College of One, a set of 40 books he considered necessary for an education: https://www.listchallenges.com/f-scot...
March 9, 2018
Q:
How strange are realities as opposed to illusion! (c)
Q:
Rushing like a great comet to the zenith, his path a blazing trail, Cowperwood did for the hour illuminate the terrors and wonders of individuality. (c)
Q:
And this giant himself, rushing on to new struggles and new difficulties in an older land, forever suffering the goad of a restless heart—for him was no ultimate peace, no real understanding, but only hunger and thirst and wonder. Wealth, wealth, wealth! A new grasp of a new great problem and its eventual solution. Anew the old urgent thirst for life, and only its partial quenchment. In Dresden a palace for one woman, in Rome a second for another. In London a third for his beloved Berenice, the lure of beauty ever in his eye. The lives of two women wrecked, a score of victims despoiled; Berenice herself weary, yet brilliant, turning to others for recompense for her lost youth. And he resigned, and yet not—loving, understanding, doubting, caught at last by the drug of a personality which he could not gainsay. (c)
Q:
What thought engendered the spirit of Circe, or gave to a Helen the lust of tragedy? What lit the walls of Troy? Or prepared the woes of an Andromache? By what demon counsel was the fate of Hamlet prepared? And why did the weird sisters plan ruin to the murderous Scot?
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
In a mulch of darkness are bedded the roots of endless sorrows—and of endless joys. Canst thou fix thine eye on the morning? Be glad. And if in the ultimate it blind thee, be glad also! Thou hast lived.(c)
How strange are realities as opposed to illusion! (c)
Q:
Rushing like a great comet to the zenith, his path a blazing trail, Cowperwood did for the hour illuminate the terrors and wonders of individuality. (c)
Q:
And this giant himself, rushing on to new struggles and new difficulties in an older land, forever suffering the goad of a restless heart—for him was no ultimate peace, no real understanding, but only hunger and thirst and wonder. Wealth, wealth, wealth! A new grasp of a new great problem and its eventual solution. Anew the old urgent thirst for life, and only its partial quenchment. In Dresden a palace for one woman, in Rome a second for another. In London a third for his beloved Berenice, the lure of beauty ever in his eye. The lives of two women wrecked, a score of victims despoiled; Berenice herself weary, yet brilliant, turning to others for recompense for her lost youth. And he resigned, and yet not—loving, understanding, doubting, caught at last by the drug of a personality which he could not gainsay. (c)
Q:
What thought engendered the spirit of Circe, or gave to a Helen the lust of tragedy? What lit the walls of Troy? Or prepared the woes of an Andromache? By what demon counsel was the fate of Hamlet prepared? And why did the weird sisters plan ruin to the murderous Scot?
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
In a mulch of darkness are bedded the roots of endless sorrows—and of endless joys. Canst thou fix thine eye on the morning? Be glad. And if in the ultimate it blind thee, be glad also! Thou hast lived.(c)
February 17, 2009
Less a follow-up to than an extension of Dreiser's _The Financier_. Whereas in that novel Frank Cowperwood's romantic relationships are ancillary to his financial speculation and relationship-building, in _The Titan_ Cowperwood's philanderings and the development of his inner aesthete take precedence. These relationships with the women of Chicago, and there a number of relationships hinted at and overtly represented within the novel, are very much of a piece with the accumulative desire that characterizes the later Cowperwood. And yet, these relationships are never near as enthralling as the political and economic machinations over the control of Chicago's first railway systems, which are far sharper in their articulation of an aestheticism underlying Cowperwood's compulsion to direct urban development, design, and dynamics than his supposed interest in art, collecting, and "beauty."
August 14, 2013
Во второй книге трилогии Теодор Драйзер начинает движение от Фрэнка Каупервуда-финансиста и махинатора к Фрэнку Каупервуду-интригану, изменнику и любителю женских прелестей.
Для тех, кто был восхищен тем, насколько подробно и ловко были описаны все действия Каупервуда на его финансовом поприще, настала не самая интересная пора - ведь теперь большая часть книги посвящена его интрижкам с женщинами, взаимоотношениям с Эйлин и всем проблемам, возникающим от его страсти к молодым особам.
Но, несмотря на это, книга по-прежнему интригует своей сюжетной линией, отчего невозможно не начать читать последнюю, финальную часть трилогии..
Для тех, кто был восхищен тем, насколько подробно и ловко были описаны все действия Каупервуда на его финансовом поприще, настала не самая интересная пора - ведь теперь большая часть книги посвящена его интрижкам с женщинами, взаимоотношениям с Эйлин и всем проблемам, возникающим от его страсти к молодым особам.
Но, несмотря на это, книга по-прежнему интригует своей сюжетной линией, отчего невозможно не начать читать последнюю, финальную часть трилогии..
December 31, 2011
I'm a big fan of this guy's work, and really dug this one. In it, he traces the rise and rise and rise of a budding robber baron against the expanding Chicago skyline. They kind of grow together. I don't wanna spoil how it ends, but I was surprised by what didn't happen- and the moral here seems to be that life usually sucks, so live as much as you can when you can. Not too Disney, but a nice thought nonetheless.
April 9, 2015
I love this book!It is different than the Financier because it focuses a lot more on his love life and artistic endeavors. Frank is an amazingly interesting and complex character that will make you love him and hate him all at the same time. This book truly captures the taste of early American capitalism at its finest. I am going to read the Stoic.
May 24, 2015
When a ebook is available for free download, I always feel obligated to link to direct Goodreaders to where. In this case, Amazon.com for Kindle, Gutenberg Project, archive.org, and manybooks.net. There are also another handful of sites where you can read this book online.
Here on Goodreads, someone cast a vote for Frank Cowperwood – the hero of this novel and the other two in the series – as a hero of capitalism. Maybe this voter was being sarcastic, or perhaps ironic. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal allowed a professor of English from Fordham University to express the opinion that Dreiser was writing ”admiringly” about Cowperwood. Perhaps this prof decided to see whether the WSJ will print any preposterous opinion as long as plays nicely with the editor's worldviews. Or maybe the prof just needed more publication to inflate his application for tenure, and gross inaccuracy did not bother him.
Whatever the reason, let's just make it clear that Theodore D. is not a fan of capitalism and is extremely unlikely to write a novel-length appreciation of a robber baron. NOTHING in his life, letters, and politics indicates that he had one iota of sympathy toward the barons of capitalism. He joined the Communist Party back when the C.P. was kissing up to regimes who routinely slaughtered anyone who showed the slightest affection for free markets.
So, when Cowperwood expresses opinions like this:
About this book in particular, well, first of all, I'd recommend against reading it if you haven't read The Financier first. It is possible to do so without too much confusion as Frank's career, imprisonment and divorce are adequately explained and no characters – aside from Frank and his mistress-turned-wife – from the first novel reappear in the second. However, I feel the reader would understand and appreciate Frank more if he had accompanied him from the beginning of his journey.
I'm interested in corruption. How does it happen? I mean, nobody has ever offered me a bribe in my life, not because of my fine moral qualities, but because I've never been in a position to give or withhold anything even slightly valuable. So I was interested when this book gives a seemingly good description about how the corruption intersection of government and money is paved. Sometimes his descriptions of dirty dealings are vague, just saying that they happened, or saying something like “we need not detail here the methods used etc etc”. Other times he gets deep down into the weeds about the conception and execution of a corrupt deal, which turns out not to be too much different that today. Theodore D. does not approve of these corrupt deals, which the novel's “hero” initiates and executes, which is one of the reasons why I thought the suggestion that the hero was meant in any way to be sympathetic to be completely ridiculous.
Dreiser's style is an acquired taste. I like it. I find it strangely soothing, but I can understand how it would irritate some people – the sudden eruptions of purple prose and long descriptions of the backgrounds of people who turn out to be of little importance outside the chapter in which they appear. Also, the word choice is often downright odd, with many appearances by words which could most charitably called “low frequency”. Most of them appear only once, but the most frequent offender is the word “trig” – NOT short for “trigonometry”, but meaning “neat and stylish”, a definition I knew only because I read e.e. cumming's “I sing of Olaf glad and big” many many years before. Drieser REALLY likes this word. It's very distracting. However, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says Mark Twain also used it, so maybe I should lighten up.
Speaking of distracting, read the following dialog (Kindle Location 1367):
– “Did she have red hair?”
– “Oh yes. She was a very striking blonde.”
Ok, yes, I know that such a thing as “strawberry blonde” exists, but still – blonde redheads? I was going to write that this would be a great name for a band, but then Google told me it was already taken by a band who have had great popularity for many years. I should get out more.
Also jarring was this list of foreign nationals inhabiting Chicago in the 19th century (Kindle location 93):
– … the Hun, the Pole, the Swede, the German, the Russian...
Hmm, Huns in Chicago? What gives? I mean, it can't be the derogatory term for Germans, 'cause Germans are named elsewhere in the same list. Are they actual Huns, like, descendants of Attila The? A mass migrations of Mongolians to Chicago in the mid-19th Century? That doesn't sound right. I mean, I nodded off sometimes in history class but a fact like this would have stuck in my brain, I think.
Here on Goodreads, someone cast a vote for Frank Cowperwood – the hero of this novel and the other two in the series – as a hero of capitalism. Maybe this voter was being sarcastic, or perhaps ironic. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal allowed a professor of English from Fordham University to express the opinion that Dreiser was writing ”admiringly” about Cowperwood. Perhaps this prof decided to see whether the WSJ will print any preposterous opinion as long as plays nicely with the editor's worldviews. Or maybe the prof just needed more publication to inflate his application for tenure, and gross inaccuracy did not bother him.
Whatever the reason, let's just make it clear that Theodore D. is not a fan of capitalism and is extremely unlikely to write a novel-length appreciation of a robber baron. NOTHING in his life, letters, and politics indicates that he had one iota of sympathy toward the barons of capitalism. He joined the Communist Party back when the C.P. was kissing up to regimes who routinely slaughtered anyone who showed the slightest affection for free markets.
So, when Cowperwood expresses opinions like this:
I have at least eighteen thousand stockholders who want a decent run for their money, and I propose to give it to them. Aren't other men getting rich? Aren't other corporations earning ten and twelve per cent? Why shouldn't I? Is Chicago any the worse? Don't I employ twenty thousand men and pay them well? All this palaver about the rights of the people and the duty to the public – rats!I think it's safe to say that, whatever the reader's opinion, the writer did not mean this internal monologue to be taken as a correct objective analysis of events.
About this book in particular, well, first of all, I'd recommend against reading it if you haven't read The Financier first. It is possible to do so without too much confusion as Frank's career, imprisonment and divorce are adequately explained and no characters – aside from Frank and his mistress-turned-wife – from the first novel reappear in the second. However, I feel the reader would understand and appreciate Frank more if he had accompanied him from the beginning of his journey.
I'm interested in corruption. How does it happen? I mean, nobody has ever offered me a bribe in my life, not because of my fine moral qualities, but because I've never been in a position to give or withhold anything even slightly valuable. So I was interested when this book gives a seemingly good description about how the corruption intersection of government and money is paved. Sometimes his descriptions of dirty dealings are vague, just saying that they happened, or saying something like “we need not detail here the methods used etc etc”. Other times he gets deep down into the weeds about the conception and execution of a corrupt deal, which turns out not to be too much different that today. Theodore D. does not approve of these corrupt deals, which the novel's “hero” initiates and executes, which is one of the reasons why I thought the suggestion that the hero was meant in any way to be sympathetic to be completely ridiculous.
Dreiser's style is an acquired taste. I like it. I find it strangely soothing, but I can understand how it would irritate some people – the sudden eruptions of purple prose and long descriptions of the backgrounds of people who turn out to be of little importance outside the chapter in which they appear. Also, the word choice is often downright odd, with many appearances by words which could most charitably called “low frequency”. Most of them appear only once, but the most frequent offender is the word “trig” – NOT short for “trigonometry”, but meaning “neat and stylish”, a definition I knew only because I read e.e. cumming's “I sing of Olaf glad and big” many many years before. Drieser REALLY likes this word. It's very distracting. However, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says Mark Twain also used it, so maybe I should lighten up.
Speaking of distracting, read the following dialog (Kindle Location 1367):
– “Did she have red hair?”
– “Oh yes. She was a very striking blonde.”
Ok, yes, I know that such a thing as “strawberry blonde” exists, but still – blonde redheads? I was going to write that this would be a great name for a band, but then Google told me it was already taken by a band who have had great popularity for many years. I should get out more.
Also jarring was this list of foreign nationals inhabiting Chicago in the 19th century (Kindle location 93):
– … the Hun, the Pole, the Swede, the German, the Russian...
Hmm, Huns in Chicago? What gives? I mean, it can't be the derogatory term for Germans, 'cause Germans are named elsewhere in the same list. Are they actual Huns, like, descendants of Attila The? A mass migrations of Mongolians to Chicago in the mid-19th Century? That doesn't sound right. I mean, I nodded off sometimes in history class but a fact like this would have stuck in my brain, I think.
August 18, 2025
“У темряві невідомого зріють зародки нескінченного смутку... і нескінченних радощів. Можеш ти звернути свій погляд до сходу сонця? Тоді радій. І якщо врешті-решт воно засліпить тебе — все одно тішся! Бо ти — живий.”
July 25, 2022
Movies are easier than books to consume. I've known at least one instance in which a book baffled me while the movie made from the book made everything clear. But a book is superior to a movie in taking the reader into the mind of a character. Yes, narration of a movie is possible, but it is intrusive to the flow of scenes that invite the viewer to participate in them as if he/she were standing in the room, after all we are not mind readers. The author of a book can escape this limitation to reveal the thinking of a character, deepening that character, making the setting secondary, in the best novels almost irrelevant.
I judge novels by how well the psychological comes across, how similar the thinking described is to what I have thought and felt myself. I look for authentic humanity. If found, the pages fly by no matter how long the book. In this way, The Titan and other works from Dreiser, are a delight. Though there may be little action, in this book there is only one physical confrontation, egos are always at work. Rationalization, envy, lust, greed, regret, hatred, revenge are all revealed effortlessly by Dreiser's pen but most important of all, the vanity of men and women.
Based on the life of financial titan Charles Yerkes, this particular book is the middle installment of a trilogy. Yerkes (Frank Cowperwood in the book) took over Chicago as a financier who started his climb investing in gas lighting, the gas made by cooking coal before the transcontinental pipelines that we know today were installed. From gas he went into streetcar lines beginning with cable cars then transitioning to electrified trolleys and finally the elevated railroads whose steel structure remains in service in Chicago today. Yerkes accurately foresaw the future, invested accordingly, and became fabulously wealthy to the consternation of other financial powers in Chicago.
For a Chicagoan, the book is a particular treat describing as it does streets and routes well known to anyone familiar with the windy city. One finds out the reason for routes and technologies being chosen. The names of all involved are fictional, but the interaction of Yerkes and his intimates is fully described including the women who were his obsession. This is the psychological story that underlay the rapid changes in the urban landscape seen by the public.
If you've enjoyed the works of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy you will not be disappointed in what Dreiser has created.
I judge novels by how well the psychological comes across, how similar the thinking described is to what I have thought and felt myself. I look for authentic humanity. If found, the pages fly by no matter how long the book. In this way, The Titan and other works from Dreiser, are a delight. Though there may be little action, in this book there is only one physical confrontation, egos are always at work. Rationalization, envy, lust, greed, regret, hatred, revenge are all revealed effortlessly by Dreiser's pen but most important of all, the vanity of men and women.
Based on the life of financial titan Charles Yerkes, this particular book is the middle installment of a trilogy. Yerkes (Frank Cowperwood in the book) took over Chicago as a financier who started his climb investing in gas lighting, the gas made by cooking coal before the transcontinental pipelines that we know today were installed. From gas he went into streetcar lines beginning with cable cars then transitioning to electrified trolleys and finally the elevated railroads whose steel structure remains in service in Chicago today. Yerkes accurately foresaw the future, invested accordingly, and became fabulously wealthy to the consternation of other financial powers in Chicago.
For a Chicagoan, the book is a particular treat describing as it does streets and routes well known to anyone familiar with the windy city. One finds out the reason for routes and technologies being chosen. The names of all involved are fictional, but the interaction of Yerkes and his intimates is fully described including the women who were his obsession. This is the psychological story that underlay the rapid changes in the urban landscape seen by the public.
If you've enjoyed the works of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy you will not be disappointed in what Dreiser has created.
July 3, 2022
This was way better than the first book of this series - The Financier. I think that this is partly because Mr. Dreiser's reportorial style of writing is better suited to the story of a big man at the height of his powers than to the early phases of his struggle to succeed.
Frank Cowperwood is an amoral beast who seethes with ambition. He's smart but mostly it is the force of his personality, the strength of his will and his deep need to win that bring him to the top of the financial world. In this book we see him grow not only in the sophistication and scale of his business dealings, but also in his appreciation of finer things. Unfortunately for his (second) wife his new appreciation for finer things expresses itself in his endless chasing after a string of women, each one smarter, more cultured, more beautiful and younger than the last. He completely fails to make his mark in society, and this is blamed mostly on his wife's lack of sophistication, but, really, Frank himself - jailbird and bulldog that he is - is not the kind of guy that you want at high tea. Still, though he is a complete pig, you can't help being drawn to him. The strength of his character radiates off of his every word and move in a way that is totally charismatic. In this way he is very much like that other great literary lover of money Soames Forsyte of Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, though in the end I think that Soames was even more hateful, but also a deeper and more interesting person.
I have known more than one person in business who is disturbingly like Frank Cowperwood. I see how these people bully their way into positions of power, seeking out others who they see as being like themselves, and stepping on those who get in their way. I have had useful but uneasy alliances with some of these people and have found that some of them just don't like me. Mostly my life has been better when I have avoided them and have found ways to build my career in areas where this kind of personality is less of an advantage.
Frank Cowperwood is an amoral beast who seethes with ambition. He's smart but mostly it is the force of his personality, the strength of his will and his deep need to win that bring him to the top of the financial world. In this book we see him grow not only in the sophistication and scale of his business dealings, but also in his appreciation of finer things. Unfortunately for his (second) wife his new appreciation for finer things expresses itself in his endless chasing after a string of women, each one smarter, more cultured, more beautiful and younger than the last. He completely fails to make his mark in society, and this is blamed mostly on his wife's lack of sophistication, but, really, Frank himself - jailbird and bulldog that he is - is not the kind of guy that you want at high tea. Still, though he is a complete pig, you can't help being drawn to him. The strength of his character radiates off of his every word and move in a way that is totally charismatic. In this way he is very much like that other great literary lover of money Soames Forsyte of Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, though in the end I think that Soames was even more hateful, but also a deeper and more interesting person.
I have known more than one person in business who is disturbingly like Frank Cowperwood. I see how these people bully their way into positions of power, seeking out others who they see as being like themselves, and stepping on those who get in their way. I have had useful but uneasy alliances with some of these people and have found that some of them just don't like me. Mostly my life has been better when I have avoided them and have found ways to build my career in areas where this kind of personality is less of an advantage.
October 31, 2009
Picks up where The Financier left off, as the ruthless, amoral Cowperwood (based on a real ruthless, amoral capitalist) builds his fortune in Chicago after beating a hasty retreat from Philadelphia. Again, the twists and turns of his machinations in attempting to control the streetcar business is fascinating, but even better is the in-depth depiction of a tragically sad marriage: the self-involved former homewrecker Aileen Cowperwood is not easy to root for, but after a while I found myself totally engaged in her plight. Dreiser has a rep as a poor prose stylist, and some of it is indeed clunky, but more often the writing is perfectly functional and at times fine.
August 29, 2013
I wish I would've read the first of this trilogy first - "The Philadelphia Years" - but even as a stand-alone story, this was a well written portrait of naked power and money in Chicago's go-go years of the late 1800's. Greed, women, money, power - the usual intoxicants of Capitalist society. I'm anxious to see what Vol. 3 "The Stoic" focuses on. Frank C. was rather aged at the end of Titan book as he and barely out of her teens Bernice stroll off into the sunrise of Europe.
May 7, 2017
In my opinion The Titan is better than its predecessor The Financier, which I thought was a bit boring. Although this one gets boring by the end too, and is a bit too long. I would also like to add that I never felt so much disdain for the main character as I felt for Cowperwood. He behaved like a total asshole to women, mainly to his wife.
January 31, 2013
Only took me a month+ to get through. :-/ I have to say I liked The Financier better, as The Titan moved a bit more slowly. However, I enjoy Dreiser's writing enough, and I find Frank Cowperwood interesting enough that I'm tempted to read the last book in the trilogy, The Stoic.
April 8, 2015
Каупервуд - действительно Титан, настоящий финансист, идеи бьют ключом, которые сразу же реализуются и не спотыкаются при возникновении проблем. Очень впечатляет его xарактер - эта стойкость дуxа, гибкий и изворотливый ум, масштабность и размаx. Обязат��льно дочитаю трилогию, на очереди Стоик.
August 15, 2022
Repeats The Financier. Our hero continues his amoral pursuit of wealth, pleasure, and increasingly beauty.
January 31, 2022
It is undoubtedly interesting to read a book like this at the time when world leaders are so weak and the media focuses on mental health issues. Written over a hundred years ago, the novel paints a very convincing portrait of a man of ambition and determination whom I cannot but admire despite his faults (bribery and womanising). It is a novel of a different era: Chicago at the end of the 19th century when there was so much to do and there were so few rules in place. Makes me only sigh when I think of the more recent projects in the UK: HS2, Elizabeth Line, Heathrow's 3rd runway. Even the NHS would need a man like Frank Cowperwood. He would follow the laws that we have meanwhile introduced but would get it done, whatever it is!!!
One word of warning though. Do NOT read this edition (304 pp vs 550-600 pp in other editions). However this edition was published, and I have grave doubts about the copyright of 2017, its aim seems to have been to save paper. In other words, the print is small, the lines are long - not easy to read.
One word of warning though. Do NOT read this edition (304 pp vs 550-600 pp in other editions). However this edition was published, and I have grave doubts about the copyright of 2017, its aim seems to have been to save paper. In other words, the print is small, the lines are long - not easy to read.
July 13, 2021
На великий роман треба писати велику рецензію, на котру зараз у мене не вистачить наснаги. Тому зафіксую для себе тільки три моменти щодо другої частини "Американської трагедії".
1) Вкотре вражений тією майже філігранною відповідністю політичної корупції, зображеної в американських романах кінця 19-го/початку 20 ст., хабарництву, кумівству, лицемірству сучасної української політики у 21 ст.
2) Ще раз переконався в тому, що до великих романів треба підходити з позицією повільного і вдумливого читача. Водночас, з поступовим зануренням в історію ти починаєш читати все швидше, начебто здолавши вершину посередині роману, котишся з гірки вниз до розв'язки.
3) Цей роман - яскравий плід епохи реалізму, можливо навіть натуралізму. Тут немає ще жодного натяку на модерністські літературні підходи. Хоча роман був опублікований у 1914-ому році, а третя частина "Американської трагедії" "Стоїк" взагалі в 40-х, а Драйзер був уже, звичайно, сучасником відомих модерністів, вся історія читається як романи другої половини 19 ст., коли тільки відбувся остаточний розрив з романтизмом.
1) Вкотре вражений тією майже філігранною відповідністю політичної корупції, зображеної в американських романах кінця 19-го/початку 20 ст., хабарництву, кумівству, лицемірству сучасної української політики у 21 ст.
2) Ще раз переконався в тому, що до великих романів треба підходити з позицією повільного і вдумливого читача. Водночас, з поступовим зануренням в історію ти починаєш читати все швидше, начебто здолавши вершину посередині роману, котишся з гірки вниз до розв'язки.
3) Цей роман - яскравий плід епохи реалізму, можливо навіть натуралізму. Тут немає ще жодного натяку на модерністські літературні підходи. Хоча роман був опублікований у 1914-ому році, а третя частина "Американської трагедії" "Стоїк" взагалі в 40-х, а Драйзер був уже, звичайно, сучасником відомих модерністів, вся історія читається як романи другої половини 19 ст., коли тільки відбувся остаточний розрив з романтизмом.
April 21, 2021
If you are a woman and you want to understand a man you MUSR READ Trilogy of Theodore Dreiser. The soul of man, his desires, his doubts , his internal would is shown so well by the author. And also the way how the character of Frank Cowperwood changes during all his life. And these changes are connected to his work, becoming successful. I would title this book "The way of a man".
Never enough reading !
Never enough reading !
July 29, 2021
“Человечество одурманено религией, тогда как учиться жить нужно у жизни, и профессиональный моралист в лучшем случае фабрикует дешевый товар”
Все также безнравственный главный герой, но мир вокруг стал в разы интереснее. Развитие Чикаго вызывает больше эмоций, чем бытиё Филадельфии. Также, Драйзер чудесно показал конкуренцию на рынках и я очень рад, что глупые действия гг приводят к соответствующим последствиям
Все также безнравственный главный герой, но мир вокруг стал в разы интереснее. Развитие Чикаго вызывает больше эмоций, чем бытиё Филадельфии. Также, Драйзер чудесно показал конкуренцию на рынках и я очень рад, что глупые действия гг приводят к соответствующим последствиям
September 13, 2023
Plenty of the deterministic realism that Dreiser is famous for - but it wasn’t my favourite of his (I liked American Tragedy and Sister Carrie better). The different plot lines - financial speculation, machine politics, and Cowperwood’s love life - were disconnected from each other in a way that made the novel feel somewhat sparse.
January 10, 2017
Горе тому, хто віддає своє серце ілюзії - цій єдиній реальності на землі, але горе і тому хто цього не робить. Одного чекають розчарування і біль, іншого - запізнілі жалі.
Вже за усталеною традицією, я вкотре ігнорую список запланованого чтива на сервісі Goodreads і віддаю перевагу книгам, хороші відгуки про які не дозволяють мені закладати їх у далекі плани.
Навряд чи багатьом з вас відоме ім'я Чарльза Тайсона Єркса. Окрім, звісно, тих, хто цікавиться історією розвитку систем громадського транспорту, в процесі зародження яких у Лондоні та Чикаго американський фінансист Єркс відіграв одну з ключових ролей. Завдяки Теодору Драйзеру, Єркс під ім'ям головного героя "Трилогії бажання" - Френка Каупервуда, отримав своє заслужене місце серед найвизначніших літературних персонажів XXст.
"Трилогія бажання" складається із трьох творів: "Фінансист", "Титан", "Стоїк", які відповідають трьох періодам життя Єркса, відповідно пов'язаним з містами Філадельфією, Чикаго та Нью-Йорком. Чи можна було б розбити цю довгу історію по-іншому? Навряд чи, адже Каупервуда протягом всіх трьох частин можна характеризувати однаково точно за двома напрямками - невтомність та цілеспрямованість у бізнесових справах, і мінлива любов до жінок.
Одна людина переростає іншу. Погляди людей змінюються - звідси зміни у взаєминах.
Чи можна застосувати таке пояснення до численних подружніх зрад Каупервуда? Це доволі складно, враховуючи, що яку б пару герой Драйзера не обирав собі, вже на початку відносин він був вище жінки. Цим, власне, він їх і захоплював - своєю беззаперечною перевагою над ними. Навіть, ті жінки, які були достатньо впевнені в собі, аби триматися на рівні, піддавалися методичним впливам Каупервула і, зрештою, здавалися долі іграшок, до яких геніальний фінансист повертався час від час, аби відволіктися від ділових справ. Легкість, з якою Каупервуд знаходив прихильність у жінок, та слабохарактерність його обраниць, так і не навчили його цінувати роки та любов, які вони йому віддавали. Враховуючи, що персонаж Каупервуда змальований із реального Єркса, складно в чомусь критикувати Драйзера у такій зневазі його персонажа. Тим не менш, до третьої частини ця послідовність "фінансова справа - нова жінка", набуває загрозливої повторюваності і, зрештою, починає надокучати. Єдине, що додає барв різноманіття цим двом захопленням Каупервуда - фінансам та жінкам - це час, плинність якого пропорційно змінює затрати зусиль для досягнення своїх цілей - досвід та накопичені статки полегшують вирішення робочих питань, а старечий вік - ускладнює колись такі прості відносини із представницями протилежної статі.
Я надто відволікся на критику, бо сюжетна лінія життя Каупервуда-фінансиста така хороша, що не хотілося би більше повертатися до незначних суб'єктивних недоліків творів. Отже, книги описують фінансовий світ США та Великобританії кінця IXст - початку XXст. Один з головних уроків, який доносить до читача Драйзер - перемагає лише той, хто грає на перемогу. В цьому різниця між звичайними талановитими фінансистами та людьми типу Каупервуда. Перші умудряються накопичувати капітал в сприятливих ринкових умовах та зберігати його в несприятливих. Але Каупервуд та йому подібні, навіть, в моменти найглибших фінансових криз, думають лише про те, хто із оточуючих, наприклад, у ще гіршому становищі - можливо, вдастся їх обібрати в цих умовах і, втративши передбачуване, здобути незаплановане і подвоїти статки. Знову і знову. Гроші, владу, славу на перших шпальтах світових газет. Геніальні фінансові схеми, корупція, жорсткі, але такі, що не виходять за рамки юридичних норм, розправи з конкурентами. Три товстих книги знадобилося, аби описати всі перемоги та поразки Френка Каупервуда. І лише декілька розділів аби розповісти про смерть та крах фінансової імперії, які, проте, нічого більше окрім пари газетних статтей не залишили після себе.
Єдине зло - це слово або справа, що ослаблюють дух.
Історія життя Френка Каупервуда - приклад невтомної боротьби, результат якої, проте, всім відомий. Враховуючи це, чи не варто пригальмувати та насолодитися моментом? Адже, як казав Шерлок Холмс у одному з останніх епізодів: "Стреси псують усе життя, а смерть - лише один день".
Теодор Драйзер - "Трилогія бажання": "Фінансист", "Титан", "Стоїк"
Вже за усталеною традицією, я вкотре ігнорую список запланованого чтива на сервісі Goodreads і віддаю перевагу книгам, хороші відгуки про які не дозволяють мені закладати їх у далекі плани.
Навряд чи багатьом з вас відоме ім'я Чарльза Тайсона Єркса. Окрім, звісно, тих, хто цікавиться історією розвитку систем громадського транспорту, в процесі зародження яких у Лондоні та Чикаго американський фінансист Єркс відіграв одну з ключових ролей. Завдяки Теодору Драйзеру, Єркс під ім'ям головного героя "Трилогії бажання" - Френка Каупервуда, отримав своє заслужене місце серед найвизначніших літературних персонажів XXст.
"Трилогія бажання" складається із трьох творів: "Фінансист", "Титан", "Стоїк", які відповідають трьох періодам життя Єркса, відповідно пов'язаним з містами Філадельфією, Чикаго та Нью-Йорком. Чи можна було б розбити цю довгу історію по-іншому? Навряд чи, адже Каупервуда протягом всіх трьох частин можна характеризувати однаково точно за двома напрямками - невтомність та цілеспрямованість у бізнесових справах, і мінлива любов до жінок.
Одна людина переростає іншу. Погляди людей змінюються - звідси зміни у взаєминах.
Чи можна застосувати таке пояснення до численних подружніх зрад Каупервуда? Це доволі складно, враховуючи, що яку б пару герой Драйзера не обирав собі, вже на початку відносин він був вище жінки. Цим, власне, він їх і захоплював - своєю беззаперечною перевагою над ними. Навіть, ті жінки, які були достатньо впевнені в собі, аби триматися на рівні, піддавалися методичним впливам Каупервула і, зрештою, здавалися долі іграшок, до яких геніальний фінансист повертався час від час, аби відволіктися від ділових справ. Легкість, з якою Каупервуд знаходив прихильність у жінок, та слабохарактерність його обраниць, так і не навчили його цінувати роки та любов, які вони йому віддавали. Враховуючи, що персонаж Каупервуда змальований із реального Єркса, складно в чомусь критикувати Драйзера у такій зневазі його персонажа. Тим не менш, до третьої частини ця послідовність "фінансова справа - нова жінка", набуває загрозливої повторюваності і, зрештою, починає надокучати. Єдине, що додає барв різноманіття цим двом захопленням Каупервуда - фінансам та жінкам - це час, плинність якого пропорційно змінює затрати зусиль для досягнення своїх цілей - досвід та накопичені статки полегшують вирішення робочих питань, а старечий вік - ускладнює колись такі прості відносини із представницями протилежної статі.
Я надто відволікся на критику, бо сюжетна лінія життя Каупервуда-фінансиста така хороша, що не хотілося би більше повертатися до незначних суб'єктивних недоліків творів. Отже, книги описують фінансовий світ США та Великобританії кінця IXст - початку XXст. Один з головних уроків, який доносить до читача Драйзер - перемагає лише той, хто грає на перемогу. В цьому різниця між звичайними талановитими фінансистами та людьми типу Каупервуда. Перші умудряються накопичувати капітал в сприятливих ринкових умовах та зберігати його в несприятливих. Але Каупервуд та йому подібні, навіть, в моменти найглибших фінансових криз, думають лише про те, хто із оточуючих, наприклад, у ще гіршому становищі - можливо, вдастся їх обібрати в цих умовах і, втративши передбачуване, здобути незаплановане і подвоїти статки. Знову і знову. Гроші, владу, славу на перших шпальтах світових газет. Геніальні фінансові схеми, корупція, жорсткі, але такі, що не виходять за рамки юридичних норм, розправи з конкурентами. Три товстих книги знадобилося, аби описати всі перемоги та поразки Френка Каупервуда. І лише декілька розділів аби розповісти про смерть та крах фінансової імперії, які, проте, нічого більше окрім пари газетних статтей не залишили після себе.
Єдине зло - це слово або справа, що ослаблюють дух.
Історія життя Френка Каупервуда - приклад невтомної боротьби, результат якої, проте, всім відомий. Враховуючи це, чи не варто пригальмувати та насолодитися моментом? Адже, як казав Шерлок Холмс у одному з останніх епізодів: "Стреси псують усе життя, а смерть - лише один день".
Теодор Драйзер - "Трилогія бажання": "Фінансист", "Титан", "Стоїк"
April 10, 2024
Tre stelle e mezza
April 9, 2020
dreiser's still fascinatingly dull. he's like william dean howells minus the wry sense of humor, or f. scott fitzgerald without the beautiful prose. all it is is striving after money and success without a hint of charm. the main character is excessively fond of speculation and he will do and dare anything to win a dime, other conditions of life and their endeavours are strange and unknown to him. he's supposedly en embodiment of élan vital that can never find an object or goal commensurate with its unlimited energy. that's why he pursues aileen butler, the daughter of a philadelphia contractor who had the political and financial power to crush him. that's why he seduces the wives and daughters of some of his principal supporters. that's why he admires and collects pantings. he doesn't really seek beauty or sex. rather, he feels the need to constantly test himself against the will of the very best women, respond to every challenge and every risk as he pursues an ultimate ideal of perfection and mastery that apparently can never be found. it could almost be tolerable if not for the dry writing style of textbook authors.
dreiser seems to accept both american ethic of success and a pessimistic materialism and he clearly identifies himself with cowperwood, who, by seeking stresses that would test his own will and capacity for transcending the deterministic flux, defiantly challenged the materialistic world view yet failed to confront the narrow equation of morality and success.
first book of the series was refreshing and interesting, considering it was one of the first novels i read about america as a business civilization, but reading another load of 500 pages of a leisurely novel is beyond almost all people even sophisticated readers, of which i'm definitely not part
dreiser seems to accept both american ethic of success and a pessimistic materialism and he clearly identifies himself with cowperwood, who, by seeking stresses that would test his own will and capacity for transcending the deterministic flux, defiantly challenged the materialistic world view yet failed to confront the narrow equation of morality and success.
first book of the series was refreshing and interesting, considering it was one of the first novels i read about america as a business civilization, but reading another load of 500 pages of a leisurely novel is beyond almost all people even sophisticated readers, of which i'm definitely not part
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