The One Woman

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The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia
The One Woman (1903) frontispiece.png
Frontispiece of the first edition of The One Woman
Authors Thomas Dixon Jr.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDoubleday, Page [1]
Publication date
1903 [1]
Pages350 [1]

The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia is a 1903 novel by Thomas Dixon Jr.

Contents

Plot summary

Reverend Joseph Gordon, a preacher in New York City, clashes with church elders because of his socialist views. [2] [3] Despite being a socialist, his best friend, Mark Overman, is a millionaire Wall Street banker. [2]

Meanwhile, Gordon grows apart from his wife, Ruth, who disapproves of his politics. [2] After he starts a relationship with Kate Ransom, a wealthy female parishioner, he divorces his wife. [2] Kate Ransom donates a million dollars for him to start a new church and thus get rid of the disapproving church elders. [2] [3] The new church is called the "Temple of Man". [3]

Unfortunately, Kate Ransom falls in love with his friend Mark Overman. [2] The two men have a fight over the woman, and Gordon kills Overman. [2] Ransom tells the police about the murder and Gordon is sentenced to the death penalty. [2] Meanwhile, his faithful ex-wife asks her childhood lover, now the Governor of New York, to grant him a pardon, which he does. [2] Gordon is rescued from execution at the last minute. [2]

Main themes

The novel's primary theme is socialism, [2] and it has been described as an 'anti-socialist novel.' [4]

Another theme is feminism. [2] [5] However, biographer Anthony Slide explains that it is construed as a by-product of socialism. [2]

Critical reception

The book was widely reviewed and became a best-seller. [2]

It has been interpreted as an attack on socialist clergyman George D. Herron, who had recently divorced. [6]

Theatrical and cinematic adaptations

The novel was adapted as a play in 1906. [4] The first performance took place in Norfolk, Virginia, October of that year. [2] [4] It was performed on a tour in the American South. [2] The main character, Frank Gordon, was played by D. W. Griffith. [4] His wife, Linda Arvidson, also acted in the play. [4] Two months later, they were replaced with cheaper actors. [4]

The novel was adapted into a film in 1918. [2] [5] The screenwriters were Harry Chandlee and E. Richard Schayer. [2] It was directed by Reginald Barker. [2] It was shot in May–June 1918 at Paralta Studio on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. [2] Actors included W. Lawson Butt, Clara Williams and Adda Gleason. [2] The film, which is now lost, was reviewed in Variety . [2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 HathiTrust
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Anthony Slide, American Racist: The Life and Films of Thomas Dixon, Louisville, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2004, pp. 118-126
  3. 1 2 3 Edward J. Blum, W. Scott Poole, Vale of Tears: New Essays on Religion and Reconstruction, Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2005, p. 242
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Melvyn Stokes, D.W. Griffith's the Birth of a Nation : A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time: A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 52
  5. 1 2 Cary D. Wintz, 'Introduction', in Thomas Dixon, The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, M.E. Sharpe, 1941, p. xv
  6. ↑ Ralph E. Luker, The Social Gospel in Black and White: American Racial Reform, 1885-1912, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1998, p. 293
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