- Paperback: 96 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Readers UK; Abridged edition edition (May 2 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0175570442
- ISBN-13: 978-0175570447
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 12.4 x 0.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 82 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #690,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
The graded readers in this series aim to provide learners of English with a pleasurable reading experience. The series, which should appeal to a wide age range, exposes students to a variety of styles and kinds of English and the books contain puzzles and exercises based on the text. The grading system is based on lexical controls, structural controls and guidelines on sentence length and complexity. Books in Level 3 have a vocabulary of 1000 words.
About the Author
Thomas P. Riggio, editor, is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut and general editor of the Dreiser Edition at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently working on a biography of Theodore Dreiser, Ugly American: A Life of Dreiser.
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
DUSK-of a summer night. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
DUSK-of a summer night. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Profoundly moving,
By
This review is from: AN American Tragedy (Paperback)
I began reading this book without knowing what it was about, except what was made clear by the title, a tragedy. After reading a few pages, I could not put it aside.Although this book is by far the saddest I have ever read, I nevertheless consider it truly sensational, in the sense that in retelling "the tragedy" based on the real-life event, the author also fills its every page with the concerns that have forever confronted the human heart. Raw, sinister and full-fledged suffering lurks just beneath the surface of this book's text, and it moved me to tears.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Does this plot sound familiar? Laci Peterson......,
By
This review is from: AN American Tragedy (Paperback)
Laci Peterson you are not alone... In the beginning of the 20th century, in up-state New York, a very real and tragic event occurred and became the basis for Dreisser's novel, An American Tragedy. Clyde Griffiths, the central character of this novel, fell out of love with a co-worker, Roberta Alden, but not before she became pregnant with his child. Clyde fell madly, hopelessly in love with a younger, captivating and much wealthier woman, Sondra. So, Roberta and baby drown, initially mysteriously. The boat is recovered and found to have been rented to Clyde. Later, of course, Mr. Griffiths is charged with the crime, and his affair with Sondra is disclosed, though the media refer to Sondra as Miss X. Nothing but circumstantial evidence connects him to the crime.What is "American" about this tragedy? I think the answer resides in Clyde's aspirations, their impact on all he touches, and the impact of the his past on the drive to dream fulfillment. Once Roberta has drown, Clyde swims to the shore of the lake, a new immigrant, a young man on the verge of what he hopes will be a new and glamorous world. It is, as one critic described, a vapid world, but it is what he wants nonethless. Behind him, at the bottom of that lake, rests his past -- a world of poverty, a world without opportunity, the world of his childhood. He came to that Lake with the intention of killing Roberta, but was spared the trouble. She fell overboard and all he had to do was nothing, simply let mom and baby sink, while he swims quietly to shore. But the past is not so easily shed. It sticks to him and ultimately brings him to trial for his actions, or his failure to act, and his intent to kill. Readers of this book might benefit from reading Elizabeth Hardwick's provocative, essay, "Seduction and Betrayal," though I think she errs in her contention that "the whole drive of the novel is to make us feel Clyde's loss..." Rather the whole drive of the novel is to make us feel that Clyde and everyone he touched lost. Drawn to a new world, but unable to shed the old, he drags everyone and everything down with him. Trust me: no one will every say, "Gee, I wish An American Tragedy had been a bit longer." The novel is exhausting, unpredicatable and at times almost amateurish in its flow. Still, it has an infectious quality about it and, most unfortunately, continues to resonate.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
What is the real tragedy?,
By
This review is from: AN American Tragedy (Paperback)
Dreiser's story is very easy to read. He writes in a very descriptive style, giving many details to the story. I found it very interesting that the story was based on the life of Chester Gillette who drowned his pregnant girlfriend in a New York lake in 1906. The obvious tragedy in the book is the murder of an innocent girl and then the execution of the young man who killed the girl. But the real tragedy is one that is found in our society. Self-interest comes before any other value in our society. This self-interest is characterized by social and economical gain. While I believe the worship of social gain has subsided in the last century, the desire for economic gain has grown a great deal. So the real tragedy lies in this- that many people don't value anything other than self. The book closely follows the life of Clyde Griffiths, a weak individual who seems to have no will of his own. The author tries to portray the main character as a cog with no freedom in society. This theme of Naturalism gives too much weight to the influence of genetics and environment. In reality, the main character made awful decision that were deserving of punishment. The story was very interesting, and I found myself getting angry at the main character as he made poor (tragic) choices. At times, the book was slow because of the descriptive style. But overall the book was interesting, and shows the American tragedy.
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