Arts: Theodore Dreiser, Nearly a Passenger, on the Sinking of the Titanic

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Brow Beat Theodore Dreiser, Nearly a Passenger, on the Sinking of the Titanic By Nina Martyris Posted Friday, Apr 13, 2012, at 12:45 PM ET Money was Theodore Dreiser's muse—the dazzling, deforming pivot on which his novels about fallen women and venal businessmen turned. It seems almost karmic, then, that a lack of money saved him from boarding the Titanic. The great novelist was among a handful of prominent persons—including Guglielmo Marconi, Milton Hershey, J. P. Morgan, and Alfred Vanderbilt—who almost sailed on the allegedly sink-proof ship. As with the 9/11 attacks nearly nine decades later, there has been a persistent public fascination with those who just missed becoming a casualty of that massive catastrophe. What distinguishes Dreiser, who was crossing the ocean on another boat when news about the Titanic spread, is that he wrote about it, capturing the mood in the days immediately following among travelers who avoided the fate of those aboard that famous ship. Homesick and nearly broke, Dreiser had just spent four months rambling through Europe to write travel pieces. research his novel The Financier, and collect material for his memoir, 1913's A Traveler at Forty. One of the most gripping chapters in the memoir as it was originally published—the bits about his trysts with Rubenesque prostitutes were not then included—is "The Voyage Home," an account of being out at sea and receiving the news that the "smart boat" had gone down. Dreiser was born poor, and chafed all his life against the "Indiana peasant" label H. L. Mencken cruelly but astutely pinned on him. Ever the outsider looking in, he was ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Kaplan: Why Israel May Feel Pressure To Attack Iran Before the U.S. Presidential Elections "War on Women": The Life and Death of a Political Talking Point How America Fell in Love, Then Out of Love, Then In Love All Over Again With Asian Fusion	Advertisement
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