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133:. After three years, Jennie tells him that Vesta is her daughter. Kane does not yield to his family's pressure to leave Jennie. But, after his father's death, he learns that his inheritance of a substantial part of the family business is conditioned on his leaving her. On hearing the will's terms, Jennie demands they separate for his sake.
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She gives birth to a daughter, Vesta, and moves to
Cleveland with her mother. There she finds work as a lady's maid in a prominent family. In this home, she meets Lester Kane, a prosperous manufacturer's son. Jennie falls in love with him, impressed by his strong will and generosity. She leaves her
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During their trip to Europe, Kane meets Letty Gerald Pace, an affluent widow. Bowing to pressure from Jennie and his family, he decides to marry. After providing financially for Jennie, he marries Letty, resuming his former social status. Jennie loses her daughter to
122:, Jennie meets George Brander, a United States Senator, who becomes infatuated with her. He helps her family and declares his wish to marry her. Jennie, grateful for his benevolence, agrees to sleep with him. He dies before they marry, and Jennie is pregnant.
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daughter in
Cleveland and travels to New York with Kane. He does not know of her illegitimate daughter and wants to marry Jennie. But because of their difference in class, he anticipates his family's disapproval and decides to take her as his mistress.
263:, Jennie and Brander's illegitimate child. Jennie and her mother hide Vesta from Jennie's father until he joins them in Cleveland. Later, she hides Vesta from Lester. The child later dies of typhoid fever.
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440:, before abandoning it in 1903, because of a nervous breakdown. He took it up again in 1910 He is believed to have based his character of Jennie on elements of his sisters Mame and Sylvia.
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307:, Lester's brother. He is described as a shrewd businessman. Although the two men part ways after their father's death, Robert apologizes by the end of the novel.
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470:, including restored text, was published in the 1990s. This stimulated new critical writing about the novel. Critic Susan Albertine compared Letty Pace to
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in a hotel in
Columbus. Later she works as a maid in Cleveland. After Lester leaves her, she moves to Sandwood, a small town close to Chicago. Full name
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upon
Sebastian's exhortation. Eventually, he moves to Chicago with Jennie and Lester after his other children have left him. He is a staunch
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He becomes seriously ill and tells Jennie he still loves her. She tends him until his death, and mourns secretly at his funeral.
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474:. Arthur D. Casciato wrote about Dreiser's representation of German culture. He also suggested that this novel anticipated
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Based on discovered material that had been removed to avoid censorship, a new edition of
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wrote to
Dreiser of his thought that Jennie was informed by the eponymous character in
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Dreiser-Mencken
Letters: The Correspondence of Theodore Dreiser & H.L. Mencken
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This article is about the novel by
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who is ashamed of his family's lack of wherewithal. He is also known as
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Jennie
Gerhardt is a destitute young woman. While working in a hotel in
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They live together successfully in the university neighborhood of
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Dreiser's "Jennie
Gerhardt": New Essays on the Restored Text
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Dreiser's Jennie
Gerhardt: New Essays on the Restored Text
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Dreiser's Jennie Gerhardt: New Essays on the Restored Text
301:, Lester's parents. Archibald is a manufacturing magnate.
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who falls for Jennie and leaves her pregnant. He dies of
447:, Dreiser said that he did not really like this novel.
281:, Jennie's employer in Cleveland. Her husband is named
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and makes a point to baptize Vesta. He dies of old age.
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Richard Lingeman, 'The Biographical Significance of
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and adopts two orphans. She continues to love Kane.
398:in Chapter 41. At Sandwood, Jennie is said to read
388:Dreiser likens Jennie and Lester's relationship to
379:, two orphans whom Jennie adopts after Vesta dies.
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574:Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction
187:, Jennie's father. He is German. He works as a
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347:, neighbours of Jennie and Lester's in South
275:, the Gerhardts' Lutheran pastor in Columbus.
156:Illustration in Harper & Brothers edition
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498:The novel was made into a film directed by
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622:Susan Albertine, 'Triangulating Desire in
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209:, Jennie's brother. He is described as a
363:, an affluent widow whom Lester marries.
167:, the protagonist. She starts work as a
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428:, classics of the nineteenth century.
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594:My Life: The Memoirs of Claude Bowers
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639:Arthur D. Casciato, 'How German is
432:Literary significance and criticism
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253:before they can marry.
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523:This Side of Paradise
337:Mrs Timothy Ballinger
247:United States Senator
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908:1911 American novels
598:Simon & Schuster
815:An American Tragedy
528:F. Scott Fitzgerald
420:Nathaniel Hawthorne
390:William Shakespeare
321:, Lester's sisters.
106:is a 1911 novel by
40:First edition cover
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886:An Amateur Laborer
861:A Gallery of Women
667:The New York Times
506:In popular culture
325:Mrs Jacob Stendhal
207:Sebastian Gerhardt
181:, Jennie's mother.
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131:Hyde Park, Chicago
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822:The Bulwark
405:Sketch Book
305:Robert Kane
289:Lester Kane
259:, known as
902:Categories
871:Other work
847:Twelve Men
534:References
526:(1920) by
361:Letty Pace
148:Characters
799:The Stoic
792:The Titan
691:Full text
578:Routledge
502:in 1933.
367:Mrs Davis
349:Hyde Park
173:Genevieve
169:charwoman
72:Publisher
707:LibriVox
673:June 24,
341:Mrs Crag
299:Mrs Kane
237:Jennie's
233:Veronica
201:Lutheran
56:Language
315:Imogene
251:typhoid
229:William
67:Fiction
59:English
755:Novels
643:', in
626:', in
552:', in
418:, and
319:Louise
317:, and
225:Martha
221:George
46:Author
743:Works
283:Henry
261:Vesta
211:dandy
64:Genre
675:2015
415:Elia
375:and
297:and
215:Bass
87:1911
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311:Amy
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