The Titan (1914) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser. The second installment of Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire, The Financier has endured as a classic of naturalist fiction and remains a powerful example of social critique over a century after its publication. Preceded by The Financier (1914) and followed by The Stoic (1947), The Titan captures the greed at the heart of the Gilded Age, a time when tycoons rose with total impunity to take over swaths of American industry. Based on the life of Charles Yerkes, an influential businessman who funded the development of railway systems in Chicago and London, The Titan is a masterpiece of twentieth century American literature that continues to resonate today. Following his release from prison, Frank Cowperwood exploits the recent Panic of 1873 to purchase stocks at a reduced price, turning a profit and becoming a millionaire once more. Unable to remain in his native Philadelphia, however, he moves to Chicago with his young lover, secures a divorce with his estranged wife, and sets his sights on a failing street-railway system. Elbowing competitors out of the way, Cowperwood takes control of Chicago’s burgeoning transit system and reaches new heights as a man of means. When news of his past becomes known to the local elite, he becomes a pariah at social gatherings. Slowly but surely, his grip on the city of Chicago begins to loosen, as does the strength of his marriage. Wracked by doubt, brought down by his lustful ways, Cowperwood begins to question the trajectory of his ambitious life. The Titan is a story of romance, greed, and betrayal that says as much about a single man as it does about the values of an entire society. This edition of Theodore Dreiser’s The Titan is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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About the author
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was an American novelist and journalist. Born in Indiana, Dreiser was the son of John Paul Dreiser, a German immigrant, and Sarah Maria Schanab, a Mennonite from Ohio who converted to Catholicism and was banished by her community. Raised in a family of thirteen children, of which he was the twelfth, Dreiser attended Indiana University for a year before taking a job as a journalist for the Chicago Globe. While working for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Dreiser wrote articles on Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Dean Howells, as well as interviewed such figures as Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison. In 1900, he published his debut novel Sister Carrie, a naturalist portrait of a young midwestern woman who travels to Chicago to become an actress. Despite poor reviews, he continued writing fiction, but failed to find real success until An American Tragedy (1925), a novel based on the 1906 murder of Grace Brown. Considered a masterpiece of American fiction, the novel grew his reputation immensely, leading to his nomination for the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, which ultimately went to fellow American Sinclair Lewis. Committed to socialism and atheism throughout his life, Dreiser was a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America and a lifelong champion of the working class.
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