The Nine-Tenths

Oppenheim, James, 1882-1932Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 381K words
Chapters: 39

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Nine-Tenths by James OppenheimAuthor: Oppenheim, James, 1882-1932,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

Oppenheim's novel turns its attention to the everyday circumstances of the urban working class, and the title itself suggests a reflection on the social structure of majority and minority. The work carries the idealism common in early twentieth-century American literature; its characters struggle among poverty, labor, and dignity, and the narrative combines plot momentum with debate over ideas. Its value lies not in offering solutions but in showing how intellectuals of an era understood class issues and wrote social concern into the fate of characters. The language is straightforward and the length moderate, making it a suitable entry point for understanding American social fiction of the Progressive Era. Readers who place it in the context of the labor movement and urban immigration of the time will better grasp the weight of the characters' words and actions; at the same time, they should recognize the era-bound limitations of its perspective and not treat it as sociological fact. As a public-domain work, it is best read slowly as an intersection of literary and intellectual history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in early twentieth-century American social fiction and labor themes
Students seeking to understand Progressive Era social thought through literature
General readers who enjoy ensemble characters and debates over ideas and can accept older narrative styles
Teachers of American literature or social history survey courses seeking supplementary reading

Not a good fit for

Readers of genre fiction expecting fast pacing and strong suspense
Academic researchers needing systematic sociological data and conclusions from contemporary labor studies
Those sensitive to old-style social reform discourse who wish to see diverse contemporary perspectives

Reading tips

First gain a rough background in early twentieth-century American urbanization and the labor movement; the characters' circumstances will then read more smoothly.
While reading, note the disagreements among characters about poverty and labor, treating them as contrasts of ideas rather than plot accessories.
After each chapter, summarize the core conflict in two or three sentences to keep the discursive passages from slowing the overall pace.
Read alongside social fiction of the same period, noting the author's stance and era-bound limitations; there is no need to fully agree with the characters' views.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this book mainly about, and is it easy to read?

It revolves around the circumstances of the urban working class, interweaving characters' fates with discussions of social ideas; it is a social-problem novel. The language is straightforward and the plot not overly complex, but there are many discursive passages. Readers accustomed to late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century narrative rhythms will find it flows well; those who prefer fast-paced stories will need some patience.

How should the title "The Nine-Tenths" be understood?

The title points to the circumstances of the majority, suggesting the laboring population that makes up the vast majority of the social structure yet is often overlooked. It need not be read as a precise statistic but rather as a rhetorical device: through the contrast between majority and minority, the author asks who bears the cost of keeping the city running, and what literature can do for these people.

Do the book's social arguments still apply today?

They should not be applied directly. The work reflects the reformist imagination of a particular era, and its views on class, poverty, and morality bear clear historical marks. Its value for today's readers lies in understanding how people of the time posed the questions, not in accepting its conclusions; it can be critically compared with contemporary labor research and social policy debates.

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About the author

Oppenheim, James, 1882-1932 Author · American · 1882–1932

James Oppenheim (1882–1932) was an American poet, novelist, and editor. His writing focused chiefly on the lower classes, immigrant communities, and city life, often portraying with sympathy the struggles and survival of ordinary people in the urban environment; his work thus carries a clear sense of social concern. His representative work is The Nine-Tenths. Because publicly available information is limited, a full account of his life and complete body of work is difficult to provide, and only one work can currently be confirmed. Nevertheless, judging from his choice of subjects and his literary orientation, he belongs among the early twentieth-century American writers concerned with social reality, and his work offers a noteworthy perspective on the urban lower classes and immigrant experience of his time.