Theodore Dreiser moved around a lot.

I have six addresses for him in New York City's Greenwich Village, including 16 St. Lukes Place, right across the street from NYPL's Hudson Park Library. I hope he dropped in sometimes.

He also lived at 160 Bleecker Street, 165 West 10th Street, 116 West 11th Street, 118 West 11th Street, and Patchin Place. While living at St. Lukes Place, Dreiser probably worked on his best selling novel, An American Tragedy, based on a true crime involving a murder of a young woman — the motive being to clear the way for a socially advantageous marriage.

He finally holed himself up in Brooklyn to write.

Dreiser’s birthday is December 28.

Explore a small sample of Dreiser's work >>

If I were personally to define religion, I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstance.

The Genius (1915). The University of Illinois Press, 2004, page 734.