Roy Higby’s account of the Gillette case

 

Higby, ‘a man from the past’ Chapter XVI

Ruth Reynolds, ‘Echo of An American Tragedy’ – Daily News (NY) 9-18-1966

 

Posted here is Chapter XXX, “An American Tragedy,” from Roy C Higby’s book … a man from the past. (New York; Big Moose Press, 1974).

It is odd that Higby’s editor never caught the misspelling of Chester Gillette’s last name.

Roy Higby was a thirteen-year-old boy when Grace Brown was murdered on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks in July 1906.

A search was made for Grace (and also her companion, Chester Gillette, since he was believed to have drowned as well). Higby was aboard the steamer Zilpha with a search party when Grace’s body was sighted and brought to the surface.

 

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I am also posting an article by Ruth Reynolds — “Echo of ‘An American Tragedy’ ” (Daily News ]New York], September 18, 1966) — in which Higby’s role is discussed.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   May 2022

Dreiser and Fitzgerald

 

review of Library of America Amererican Tragedy – Commercial Appeal (Memphis) 5-25-2003

Posted here:

“Tragedy Flawed, But Still Classic”

review of Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy (The Library of America)

reviewed by Fredric Koeppel

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

May 25, 2003

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   May 2023

“Dueling Narratives in An American Tragedy and the Criminal Law”

 

‘Dueling Narratives in An American Tragedy and the Criminal Law

Posted here (PDF above):

Vanessa Laird, “Dueling Narratives in An American Tragedy and the Criminal Law,” Tennessee Law Review 59.1 (fall 1991), pp. 131-157

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  April 2023

“From Boni & Liveright comes the interesting announcement that Theodore Dreiser has written a new novel”

 

re new novel (An American Tragedy) – NY Times 5-18-1924

 

 

Books and Authors

New York Times Book Review

May 18, 1924

pg. 20

Grace Brown’s and Roberta Alden’s letters

 

letters of Grace Brown and Roberta Alden

 

Please see downloadable Word file posted above.

Roberta Alden and Clyde Griffiths were the two main characters in Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.

An American Tragedy was based on an actual case: the murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in 1906.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   June 2022

 

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Note: I transcribed Grace Brown’s letters from court records. They were presented as exhibits at the trial of Chester Gillette.

I would appreciate being informed of any errors I may have made in transcribing the letters.

review of Adirondack Tragedy: The Gillette Murder Case of 1906 and Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited

 

review of Brownell and Wawrzaszek, ‘Adirondack Tragedy’ – New York History

 

Posted here (PDF above) is an excellent review of two books on the Gillette murder case:

Adirondack Tragedy; The Gillette Murder Case of 1906, by Joseph W. Brownell and Patricia A. Wawrzaszek

Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited, by Craig Brandon

reviewed by Katherine E. Compagni

New York History, vol. 68, No. 1 (January 1987), pp. 117-122

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

Ayn Rand on Dreiser (some thoughts)

 

In her essay “Her Better Judgment: Ayn Rand, Theodore Dreiser, and the Shape of the American Novel, Part 1”

https://www.atlassociety.org/post/her-better-judgment-ayn-rand-theodore-dreiser-and-the-shape-of-the-american-novel-part-1

Marilyn Moore writes:

We know that Rand was familiar with An American Tragedy. In her 1962 essay collection The Romantic Manifesto Rand singled out the novel as an example of a “bad novel” because the plot does not support the theme. The big ideas Dreiser aimed for couldn’t be supported by the story he told.

I am not an Ayn Rand fan. Have not read her books, don’t think I would want to.

But, I think Ms. Moore’s comment (and the views of Rand underlying it) are perceptive and well worth considering.

I may try myself at some point to write more about this. Keeping in mind that An American Tragedy is a work of fiction which, despite its defects, deeply impressed me as reader and which I still admire.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  May 2022

Robert Benchley. “Compiling an American Tragedy: Suggestions as to How Theodore Dreiser Might Write His Next Human Document and Save Five Years’ Work”

 

Robert Benchley, ‘Compiling An American Tragedy’ – Life 7-1-1926 (2)

 

Posted here as a PDF document:

Robert Benchley

Compiling an American Tragedy: Suggestions as to How Theodore Dreiser Might Write His Next Human Document and Save Five Years’ Work

Life

July 1, 1926

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   May 2022

Robert Penn Warren, “An American Tragedy”

 

Robert Penn Warren, ‘An American Tragedy’ – Yale Review

 

Posted here:

Robert Penn Warren

“An American Tragedy”

Yale Review 52 (October 1962), pp. 1–15

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

John Cowper Powys review of “An American Tragedy”

 

John Cowper Powys review of An American Tragedy – The Dial, April 1926

 

Posted here (downloadable PDF above) is a review by John Cowper Powys of Dreiser’s An American Tragedy.

The Dial, April 1926

An editorial comment: Dreiser’s friend Powys certainly enjoyed showing off his vocabulary.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   March 2022