Hello Theodore Dreiser Fans

Hello to everyone who enjoys - perhaps that's not the right word - Theodore Dreiser's novels and writings! "Enjoys" might be too superfluous. A better welcome might be to everyone who is "challenged" or "stimulated" or "enlightended" by Theodore Dreiser's novels (and enjoyment can certainly be a part of such responses).

Here's how I started reading Dreiser: a few years ago - at the turn of the century - many of you might have seen a Modern Library list of the top 100 English language novels of the 20th Century. Well, Drieser has two on that list - Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy.

I read Tragedy first and it bowled me over. Jeez. This guy knew how to pen a sentence or two. Then I read "My Life With Dreiser" by Mrs. Dreiser, who, of course, didn't become "Mrs." until the end of the book... Then I read The Financier and I thought it was better - in some ways - than Tragedy. What a remarkable historical novel. Everything's going fine for Frank Cowperwood in Philadelphia and then what knocks him off his perch? The great Chicago fire! I'm thinking: is this a parallel to Katrina or what?

It occurred to me that others might be avid Dreiser readers, folks who might like a place to comment on Ted's writings and ideas. So I thought I'd get this Blog started, an event made possible with the assistance of a professional blogger - my son, a status that is not a joke; he is actually paid for blogging, another story, of course, but important here because he set up this site.

So if you like Mr. Dreiser's novels and other writings, feel free to contribute ideas, thoughts, perspectives, analyses, whatever. See you soon.