Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

by David Graham Phillips

Even now I cannot realize that he is dead, and often in the city streets-on Fifth Avenue in particular-I find myself glancing ahead for a glimpse of the tall, boyish, familiar figure-experience once again a flash of the old happy expectancy. I have lived in many lands, and have known men. I never knew a finer man than Graham Phillips. His were the clearest, bluest, most honest eyes I ever saw-eyes that scorned untruth-eyes that penetrated all sham. In repose his handsome features were a trifle stern-and the magic of his smile was the more wonderful-such a sunny, youthful, engaging smile. His mere presence in a room was exhilarating. It seemed to freshen the very air with a keen sweetness almost pungent. He was tall, spare, leisurely, iron-strong; yet figure, features and bearing were delightfully boyish. Men liked him, women liked him when he liked them. He was the most honest man I ever knew, clean in mind, clean-cut in body, a little over-serious perhaps, except when among intimates; a little prone to hoist the burdens of the world on his young shoulders. His was a knightly mind; a paladin character. But he could unbend, and the memory of such hours with him-hours that can never be again-hurts more keenly than the memory of calmer and more sober moments. We agreed in many matters, he and I; in many we differed. To me it was a greater honor to differ in opinion with such a man than to find an entire synod of my own mind. Because-and of course this is the opinion of one man and worth no more than that-I have always thought that Graham Phillips was head and shoulders above us all in his profession.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

David Graham Phillips was an American novelist and journalist of the muckraker tradition.Phillips was born in Madison, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Phillips entered Asbury College (now DePauw University) - following which he received a degree from Princeton University in 1887.

After completing his education, Phillips worked as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio, before moving on to New York City where he was employed as a reporter for The Sun from 1890 to 1893, then columnist and editor with the New York World until 1902.

In his spare time, he wrote a novel, The Great God Success, that was published in 1901. The royalty income enabled him to work as a freelance journalist while continuing to write fiction. Writing articles for various prominent magazines, he began to develop a reputation as a competent investigative journalist. Phillips' novels often commented on social issues of the day and frequently chronicled events based on his real-life journalistic experiences.

He was considered a Progressive and for exposing corruption in the Senate he was labelled a muckraker. Phillips wrote an article in Cosmopolitan in March 1906, called "The Treason of the Senate," exposing campaign contributors being rewarded by certain members of the U. S. Senate. The story launched a scathing attack on Rhode Island senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and brought Phillips a great deal of national exposure. This and other similar articles helped lead to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, initiating popular instead of state-legislature election of U. S. senators.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing this novel should make you fist pump the air and shout FUCK YES when you finally, finally cast it aside after days upon days of reading drudgery.

Because this goddamn book is 900+ pages long.

It's fine I guess? I'm incapable of judging things I'm actually reading for my dissertation. But it is, as I mentioned, very, very long. I do not recommend adding this book to your dissertation if you are considering it. If you make your students read this book for class you might want to sit down and think long and hard about what made you become a teacher because it certainly isn't a love for children.

[glitrbug · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author lived from 1867-1911 so that gives you some idea of the time frame of the story. Susan Lenox is born to an unwed mother who dies after childbirth. She becomes inconvenient to her Aunt's middle class family and is forced to marry a stranger to get her out of the way. This is the story of what she makes of her life. As you read the book, you realize that things haven't changed all that much. Woman still earn 70 cents for every dollar a man earns doing the same job, it's still hard to get ahead without your family's or a man's backing. Most of us are still wage-slaves. It's a fascinating book and will give you a lot to think about.

[Polina Semenova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was edited to half its' length by removing the mind numbing repetition of events. She's up and down and up and down and up and do.. Made me want to tear out the middle part of the book and replace it with "This lady here, though portrayed as fairly intelligent seems to short circuit and make the same mistakes twenty more times with different men in different locations." Or with the (repeat x20), often seen in written song lyrics. Pavlov's dog did a much better job of adjusting to his surroundings. Without the repetitions, the character would have been much more believable. It's alright, it didn't make me feel like I'd wasted my time.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one reminds me of one of those 12 part Netflix things. You know, the one that starts slow but interesting, with a compelling lead character and a decent series of incidents that keeps the plot rolling along. But by part 7 or 8,it feels like the heroine hasn’t learned anything, the incidents in episode 8 are an awful lot like episode 2, and the cliffhangers are more exasperating than thrilling.

So it is with the story of Susan Lenox, a woman with a strong mind, a beautiful figure, a desire to succeed like a man and never be beholden to a man. Born illegitimate in Indiana, she shuffles through forced marriages, numerous false career starts, and several stints as a mostly unwilling prostitute. All the way, she fights towards a vague vision of freedom, while the author rather tediously explains his early 20th century theories on economics, elites, strong women. The novel works in bits and pieces (the first 500 page volume reads better than the second.) But it is too long, and the character’s actions (particularly in volume 2) verge on the perverse.

Nevertheless, this portrayal of a strong woman rejecting the strictures men put on her, and the cost those actions have on her has resonance today. And I think the author means for us to think about the structure of this novel — where a number of Horatio Alger moments where, in other novels, the rise would begin, end up coming to nothing. Susan Lennox’s final rise is almost entirely a function of luck and a rejection of the mantra of hard manual work bringing its own reward.

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was considered "pornographic" when it was published in 1917. The title character, Susan Lenox, falls into prostitution as her only means of survival on the mean streets of New York City. Her strength of character and determination help her to rise again, eventually (surprisingly) to succeed. The author paints a grim picture of the slums and the impoverished people who inhabit them, and he condemns the rich who profit from the grinding, underpaid work of the poor labor force. Occasionally, the rants against social injustice and corruption become repetitive, but it's clear that David Graham Phillips was an early, and sincere, supporter of women's rights. I can't wait to see the movie adaptation from 1931, starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in 1997, Ray Lewis White gave me this novel and asked me to "read and report." It was a thousand pages long so I didn't get around to it until just now. Ray Lewis is long gone, but I still feel the urge to report. This novel, published posthumously in 1917, was written by a muckraking journalist who wanted to show the degradations that poor women without protection or support may have to face. It is a strong condemnation of factories which hire poor women at less than living wages, crowded tenements, and the exploitation of workers. Susan Lennox, illegitimate daughter of a woman who dies in childbirth, is brought up in genteel circumstances although her aunt, uncle, and niece suspect that she is no better than she should be, given her parentage. She flirts with a well to do young man, is married off to a loutish farmer, runs away, joins a showboat, lives in a tenement, becomes a prostitute, and then goes downhill from there, meeting with johns for less and less money. Occasionally she gets a bit of a break, as a model, as a factory worker, but never for long, often due to stubbornness. However, despite all this, including alcohol and opium habits, she maintains a certain fascination for men--and attractive ankles. She does rise, reconnecting with a man she was once in love with who wants to be a playwright, then with a man who was her pimp and now is well to do who takes her to Paris, and finally with a successful playwright who is killed by the former pimp. But she inherits the playwright's estate and gains her freedom. I've given these spoilers because I doubt most people will read this! PS the movie of the same name, with Greta Garbo and Clark Gable has very little to do with the novel.

[Larry Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm hard pressed to figure out how to rate this book, in some ways, it's quite good, in others, rather tedious. It could use some serious editing, as the author goes on a bit much. The story itself is interesting and keeps one's attention pretty well. The social attitudes that drive the story would no longer hold sway today. I could be wrong, of course, but I doubt very many people today would think that the mere fact of one's having been born out of wedlock automatically means that one is morally tainted. Yet that is the situation with Susan Lennox. Everyone around her pretty much assumed she had the moral inclinations towards the gutter merely because of the situation of her birth. She doesn't see it that way, however, so strives through a series of trials, towards total independence. She wanted to be her own mistress, so to speak, not the kept woman, either as spouse, mistress, or one-night stand of men.

The book is somewhat flawed by Phillips' constant preaching against conventional morality, his flawed observations on the human condition and so forth. Phillips seems to think he's the only smart person in the room and that those not subscribing to his points of view are delusional fools. It's not uncommon to find jerks within the pages of literature, but one doesn't generally discover that the real jerk in the pages is the author himself.

Still, it was an interesting take on the times, times which in some ways aren't all that different from our own. The plutocrats are still fleecing the rest of us for their personal benefit. The church is still not practicing what it preaches.

[DeAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was halfway through this book when I realized I sort of hated it but by then I was involved and I need to know what eventually happened to Susan Lenox.
When I finally found out what happened to her, I realized I didn't care.
This book was VERY long and VERY repetitive.
It was exhausting how many times Susan was knocked down and it was infuriating how often she just didn't care what happened to her.

I get tired just thinking about the time I wasted reading this book.

[Destiny Hix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. Very powerful, and quite insightful. Susan is a human being and you feel that. However, there are plenty of times that it feels slow to progress. The author breaks off and philosophizes at the worst times, just when Susan's life is at the verge of major change. All in all I would definitely recommend this story to anyone

[Samantha Glasser]

This novel became a film in 1931 starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable.

Read this book for free online through Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/450.h...