Books by James L. W. West

The American novelist discusses literature, his writings, and the role of history in fiction.

Theodore Dreiser's Russian Diary is an extended record of the American writer's travels throughout the Soviet Union in 1927-28. Dreiser was initially invited to Moscow for a week-long observance of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. He asked, and was granted, permission to make a extended tour of the country. This previously unpublished diary is a firsthand record of life in the USSR during the 1920s as seen by a leading American cultural figure. It is a valuable primary source, surely among the last from this period of modern history.

In Dreiser's frank novel of attraction, exploitation, and power, the heroine submits to not one but two wealthy men in an attempt to help her family out of crushing poverty. The novel was extensively altered before publication because of its sexual openness and its criticisms of organized religion.

Unexpurgated version of Dreiser's story of a country girl's rise to riches as the mistress of a wealthy man.

F. Scott Fitzgeralds This Side of Paradise is the opening statement of his literary career. Published originally in 1920, the novel captures the rhythm and feel of the gaudy decade that was to follow in America. This Side of Paradise made Fitzgerald simultaneously famous and infamous: famous for the stylish exuberance of his writing and infamous for the errors--in spelling, fact, grammar, and chronology--that peppered his text. This new edition, prepared with the most recent techniques of modern scholarly editing, brings into being an accurate, fully annotated text based on Fitzgerald's original manuscript.