Release date is 2022-07-17

Free -- McEwen of the shining slave makers -- Nigger Jeff -- The lost Phœbe -- The second choice -- A story of stories -- Old Rogaum and his Theresa -- Will you walk into my parlor -- The cruise of the "Idlewild" -- Married -- When the old century was new.

Amber Black, Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

"Free and Other Stories" by Theodore Dreiser is a collection of narratives written in the early 20th century. The initial story, "Free," revolves around the introspective and complex struggles of Rufus Haymaker, an architect grappling with the illness and potential death of his wife, Ernestine. As he reflects on his life and marital dissatisfaction, the tension between his desires for freedom and his sense of duty creates a poignant exploration of happiness, regret, and the societal expectations surrounding marriage. The opening of the collection introduces Rufus Haymaker in his Central Park West apartment, where he contemplates the gray morning outside while dealing with the anguish of his wife's serious illness. Throughout this thoughtful segment, Haymaker oscillates between feelings of sympathy for his wife and a deep-seated yearning for liberation from his long-unhappy marriage. As he interacts with medical professionals and reflects on their life together, the narrative delves into his bleak realizations about love, obligation, and the complexity of marital dynamics. This opening segment sets a melancholic tone, urging readers to consider the costs of societal conventions on personal happiness. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: United States: Boni and Liverlight, 1918