The May 30, 2008, issue of The Times Literary Supplement includes a joint review of Theodore Dreiser’s A Picture and a Criticism of Life: New Letters, Volume 1 edited by Donald Pizer, and the newly published 1911 draft of The Genius, edited by Clare Virginia Eby.  The reviewer, William P. Kelly, calls this original version of The Genius an “interesting curiosity … [which] sheds light on his subsequent work, including his masterpiece, An American Tragedy.” And, in Kelly’s words, A Picture and a Criticism of Life “cast(s) light on Dreiser’s prickliness, his narcissism and his deep-set prejudices. They also document his lifelong restlessness and his lust for experiences of every sort.”

Thomas P. Riggio’s edited Dreiser volume, Letters to Women: New Letters, Volume 2, will be published by the University of Illinois Press in January 2009.