Jenny Gerhardt

"Jenny Gerhardt" is the second novel by the classic of American literature Theodore Dreiser, published eleven years after "Sister Carrie". And if Dreiser's debut book was met with extreme hostility by the puritanically inclined public and critics, accusing the writer of immorality, then "Jenny Gerhardt" was met with haughty silence. Apparently, the realistic portrayal of the life of a poor and naive girl was too strong a blow for readers eager for the triumph of the "American dream". Much later, the merits of "Jenny Gerhardt" and Dreiser himself were recognized. The American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the Honorary Gold Medal for outstanding achievements in the field of art and literature. The novel was published in 1911; however, the editors of Harpers magazine significantly altered the text before publication, believing that there were obscenities in the text by the standards of that time and criticism of religion. Jenny's character was simplified, making her a less complex and reflective heroine. This edition's translation was based on the 1992 publication by the University of Pennsylvania, which restored the original text of the novel, reestablishing the social and religious criticism, and Lester's materialistic determinism is balanced by Jenny's equally strong idealism and natural mysticism.