At the age of forty Theodore Dreiser, author of at least three best sellers ("Sister Carrie," "Jennie Gerhardt," and "The Financier"), recently made his first trip abroad.
The impact of the older continent on his direct, penetrating mind has resulted in a travel-book of an unusual sort, which Dreiser has entitled "A Traveler at Forty."" In this book, with a frankness his interest in commonplace things and with keen naivete, challenges all the conventions and accepted ideas. It is certainly a travel-book out of the ordinary and goes far to establish the verdict of an English critic since Dreiser was the ablest 'humanologist' at work in the American field."
This personal narrative in which he has set down his experiences and impressions of his first trip abroad will surely interest the reader of forty.
Frankly, we do not care a "hang" about Miss E. or Miss X. and their silly trivial presence, but when the author leaves them to their laces and frills and goes with the chief engineer through the engine-room of the ship he gets interesting.
From the chapter: "A Trip to Marlowe," one of the best in the book, is an exceptionally fine piece of literary craftsmanship. In it one catches an actual glimpse of a quaint old English town which is soon to exist only in fiction. To us, the commercial traveler met in the Marlowe inn is a more agreeable companion than Mile. Rillette, "The Poison Flower" of "Gay Paree." We are more interested in learning about the curious customs of the English Knights of the Grip than in being told that certain types of women in Paris use "powder and paint for the face, belladonna for eyes, rouge for the lips, palms, and nails."
Fortunately, there are in the book trips well worth taking. "The Stop at Pisa" will not soon be forgotten. "The First Impressions of Rome" are indelibly impressed on the memory. "A Night Ramble in Florence," "Entering Germany," "On the Way to Holland," etc., are sure to be enjoyed. The "Spotless Town" (Haarlem) is something more than an advertiser's dream. Any one of these brief excursions is worth the cost of the fireside trip to which Dreiser invites us.
"A Traveler at Forty" abounds in human interest because more attention has been paid by its author to people than to places.
The illustrations are done by William Glackens who was one of artists from the group now known as "The Eight," or the "Ashcan Group."
