Reading the Classics discussion

This week we will be reading and discussing Part 2, chapters 12-25.

Some of the very long sentences, in Dreiser’s style, are so tedious to untangle for his intended meaning. Is anyone else growing weary of his use of double negatives?
“...not wholly unlike the various narrow...”

Jerilyn wrote: "Some of the very long sentences, in Dreiser’s style, are so tedious to untangle for his intended meaning. Is anyone else growing weary of his use of double negatives?
“...not wholly unlike the var..."

I couldn't agree more. I appreciate economy of words, and that was clearly not Dreiser's strength. I was able to bare with it through part 1; but Dreiser's style is beginning to really grate on me.

Me as well. I know there is a good story in there somewhere!

Since several of us have expressed our unhappiness with Dreiser's ponderous style, I thought it would be fun to see what other "classics" were published in 1925. Who was Dreiser's competition that year? F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; Willa Cather's The Professor's House; Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith; John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer; Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway; Ford Maddox Ford's No More Parades; and even though no one was reading it at the time, Franz Kafka's The Trial was published posthumously in 1925. While I could go on, this represents a pretty fair sampling of what people were reading at the same time they were reading Dreiser.

Just finished ch 25. Oh Clyde, I dared think there could be hope for you with a nice girl like Roberta. You selfish cad! Next thing I expect is that Roberta may be with child, and you won’t give her the time of day.

Jerilyn wrote: "Just finished ch 25. Oh Clyde, I dared think there could be hope for you with a nice girl like Roberta. You selfish cad! Next thing I expect is that Roberta may be with child, and you won’t give he..."

When I am tempted to have a little sympathy for Clyde, I remind myself of Dreiser's title. Clyde is the classical tragic hero, doomed by his character flaws.

Jerilyn wrote: "Some of the very long sentences, in Dreiser’s style, are so tedious to untangle for his intended meaning. Is anyone else growing weary of his use of double negatives?
“...not wholly unlike the var..."

I'm good with the tedium, as it seems fairly representative of the time in which it was written BUT it occurs to me that we might counter this in December with something from the master of linguistic economy himself: Hemingway.

Alan wrote: "Jerilyn wrote: "Just finished ch 25. Oh Clyde, I dared think there could be hope for you with a nice girl like Roberta. You selfish cad! Next thing I expect is that Roberta may be with child, and y..."

Agree: this week's reading feels like a slow-motion train-wreck. We all have some idea where we're headed, and we know it's gruesome on some level, but can't look away just the same.

I'm through B2C22 to this point, and it's fairly clear what the result of Roberta's meeting with Clyde tonight will ultimately lead to.

Reading these chapters brought me back to my college years and dating. I could feel for Roberta so much - she knew what her moral compass was, but Clyde was so manipulative!