In 1919 the writer Dreiser proposed to publish a ‘character book’ that collected twelve biographical sketches of individuals who were major influences on Dreiser, both as a man and as a writer. The resulting narratives combine the best attributes of the character’s sketch, the autobiography and the story in miniature prose masterpieces. The men described in Twelve Men are a varied and colorful group: from the equally famous brother of Dreiser, the singer-songwriter Paul Dresser (‘My brother Paul’), to the railway foreman Michael Burke (‘The Mighty Rourke’), whose work l The Dreiser crew had worked in 1903. The twelve narratives are convincing portraits of the men portrayed, but they also reveal many insights about Dreiser’s life and work. These factors elevate the meaning of Twelve Men to a level consistent with the other major works of the Dreiser canon.
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