Twelve Men

Theodore Dreiser gathers twelve portraits of men whose habits, work, and personalities caught his attention. The collection opens with Peter, a newspaper art worker whom Dreiser meets at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1892. Peter's untidy clothes and irreverent jokes accompany a serious interest in art and ideas. A scene involving an exaggerated snake illustration for the Sunday paper shows how his humor enters the ordinary business of the newsroom.

Other chapters turn toward figures identified as a county doctor, a patriarch, and a mayor, alongside Dreiser's brother Paul. In the portrait of Culhane, a horse-drawn outing becomes an occasion to observe strict expectations about dress, punctuality, and competence. These sketches focus on individual temperament as well as occupation or standing. Peter's conversations and Culhane's demands give readers concrete examples of how character appears through everyday behavior, from a joke at a drawing board to preparations for a Sunday drive.