Trilogy of Desire: The Financier. The Titan. The Stoic. Complete Restored Translations

The novels «The Financier», «The Titan», and «The Stoic», united under the common title «Trilogy of Desire», are the most famous works of the renowned American realist writer of the first half of the 20th century, Theodore Dreiser. They vividly demonstrate the immorality of the financial world of the USA, proving that money alone cannot make a person happy. All the novels of the trilogy in this edition are illustrated with drawings by contemporary artist Tatiana Kosach.

When in May 1933, the works of authors unfriendly to the fascists were thrown into the fire in Berlin's Opernplatz, among the burning books were also the works of Theodore Dreiser. By this time, he had already published his most well-known works — «Sister Carrie», «The Financier», «The Titan», «Genius», «An American Tragedy». The searing truth of life contained in them was unbearable for any totalitarian regime, and although Dreiser exposed the vices of American capitalism, the Nazis rightly felt that they could not coexist with such a truth-teller.

Dreiser knew well what he was writing about. He had tasted hardship, losing his father early. To make ends meet, he had to work both as a newspaper delivery boy and as a dishwasher. He had to drop out of the university in Indiana — he ran out of money for his studies. However, this resulted in the twenty-year-old Theodore becoming a lively journalist. He began collaborating with newspapers in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York. But soon Dreiser became disillusioned with both bourgeois journalism and the praised American values; «…despite our boastful democracy and equality of opportunity, there is just as much poverty and destitution here…», he bitterly noted in the pages of his diary. He decided to pour out the bitter truth of life onto the pages of his own works. It is no surprise that Dreiser's first novel «Sister Carrie» was deemed cynical, immoral, and subversive by critics. Similarly, his novels «The Financier», «The Titan», and «The Stoic» were initially met with hostility, as they exposed the cynicism and lack of spirituality in the world of capital. Only later did the American establishment grudgingly recognize that Dreiser's novels are not just great literature, but a completely new and fresh stream in the American cultural milieu. Previously, only Mark Twain could write so freely among American authors. Moreover, Dreiser did not impress readers with stylistic sophistication. His texts resembled reports from a pathologist, coldly documenting the cause of death of a deceased person. From the writer's perspective, American society was already like a corpse in the first half of the 20th century. In our time

Dreiser is rightly considered a bright representative of American naturalism and critical realism in literature. His novels have been translated into many languages of the world.

All the works of Dreiser's famous trilogy in this edition are illustrated with drawings by contemporary St. Petersburg artist Tatiana Kosach. She is a specialist in Medieval art — she graduated from the historical faculty of Saint Petersburg State University. Her iconographic and graphic works can be found in private collections of art enthusiasts in Russia, the USA, Italy, and France. Tatiana Kosach's graphics have illustrated about 40 books.