The Stoic

The Stoic is a novel by Theodore Dreiser, written in 1945 and first published in 1947. It is the conclusion of his Trilogy of Desire, which includes The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914). This series of novels depicts Frank Cowperwood, a businessman based on the real-life streetcar tycoon Charles Yerkes.

After many years of preparatory work, Dreiser commenced writing the third volume of his Cowperwood trilogy in April 1932. By August 1932 he had completed fifty-five chapters (representing about two-thirds of the work). But he then broke-off, until resuming in mid-1945. He completed a further thirty-four chapters plus an `epilogue` by October 1945. Having circulated the draft among friends and advisors, he decided to delete the epilogue and to rewrite the final chapter. He died before he could finish the manuscript, and his widow Helen assembled the novel's final pages. Helen also acquiesced to the novel being cut from 90 chapters of 921 pages to 78 chapters with 510 pages.

A number of Dreiser`s characters in The Stoic are based on persons associated with Yerkes during his London years. For example "Elverson Johnson" was based on Robert William Perks; and "Berenice Fleming" was based on Emilie Busbey Grigsby.