The One Woman

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

The One Woman: A Story of Modern Utopia
Title page of the first edition of The One Woman.
AuthorsThomas Dixon Jr.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDoubleday, Page[1]
Publication date
1903[1]
Pages350[1]

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 millionnaire 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. HathiTrust
  2. Anthony Slide, American Racist: The Life and Films of Thomas Dixon, Louisville, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2004, pp. 118-126
  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. 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. 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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