The Genius

''This is a superb edition: skillfully edited, fully annotated, usefully contextualized. We have been given a new and almost entirely unknown version of The Genius - the text as originally conceived by Dreiser. It now demands our attention and close study.'' James L. W. West III, general editor of the Cambridge Fitzgerald Edition ''The Genius is one of the most overlooked and underrated of Dreiser's novels, yet it is arguably the key book for students of the writer. Claire Eby's presentation of this earlier and previously unpublished Genius is a triumph of textual and interpretive scholarship.'' Miles Orvell, author of The Real Thing: Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture, 1880-1940 ''This edition provides an opportunity to follow in close compass Dreisier's process of revision. It captures his point of view at a transitional moment in his career, and it sheds light on his subsequent work, including his masterpiece, An American Tragedy (1925)...the interest of this edition lies in the attention it directs to a major albeit neglected novel. Eugene Witla's story is as much a measure of turn-of-the-century America as The Great Gatsby is an expression of the Jazz Age.'' William P. Kelly, Times Literary Supplement, May 30th 2008