Theodore Dreiser简.

1、 Theodore Dreiser (18711945) 1900， 1907，reissue 1911， i). Works Trilogy of Desire 1912， 1914， 1947， Hero modeled after the business magnate, Charles T. Yerkes. 1915， a partly autobiographical novel 1925， based on a real murder case how mans desire for wealth and status overwhelms his moral sense det

2、ailed portrayal of the dark side of the American Dream political activities literary output fell off sharply 1946, Nonfictions left-oriented in his views retained a strong sympathy for communism 1945, joined the Communist Party ii). Sister Carrie seriously ill Charles Drouet takes her home as his mi

3、stress takes up with his friend George Hurstwood, a middle-aged, married restaurant manager Hurstwood embezzles money and elopes with Carrie to New York City opens a saloon the saloon a failure Carrie a chorus girl become successful Hurstwood a drunken beggar commits suicide 2). The Comment The 3 wo

4、rlds: 2her sisters working-class existence 2her life with Drouet in Chicago 2her life with Hurstwood in New York The Details ponderous the plight of the heroine her desire for a better life Carrie the fittest comes to understand the usefulness of sex rises by the means of a male stepladder Drouet &

5、Hurstwood means to an end for Carrie possess a moral fibre Carriea slave to the heredity & the environment the world is cold and harsh Carrie a feather in the wind alone and helpless drifts with the tide without judgment of her own Carriea rocking chair Carrie a seeker cannot be satisfied a new worl

6、d to conquer & new goals to achieve more complex than a simple gold digger Carrie the new woman more freedom in society more independence more ability to run her own life without being tied to a family or a husband |the beginning of womens liberation movement Hurstwood a weak man cannot adapt himsel

7、f to the new environment An Irony Carries rise & Hurstwoods fall Carrie finally arrived and there is nothing more to conquer or achieve every new horizon offers only a hollow promise Hurstwood dies tired of the struggle Real Theme the purposelessness of life uDreiser try to explain why uthe working

8、of fate can never be explained v.) Major Features of Dreisers Works stressed determinism in his novels determinism deal with everyday life, often with its sordid side characters more like moths drawn to flame than lords of creation pathetic in their inability to escape their fates responsible for ri

9、sing or falling world shaped by circumstance and disposition He was very much concerned with societys effect on a person. faithful to reality in 2 things 1). characterization inspiration his own experiences or those of his brothers and sisters main characters based on real people 2). description of

10、his novels environmental settings & social backgrounds the credibility of his works narrative method natural and free from artifice tone serious never satirical or comic v). Influences in American Literature one of Americas greatest writers, and its greatest naturalist writer “the wheelhouse of Amer

11、ican naturalism” “chief spokesman for the realistic novel” stories solid & interesting characters highly moving employ the journalistic method of reiteration to burn a central impression into the readers mind Powerful frankness widened the social and sexual range possible for literature in America works new and shocking the reading public struck at the American Dream that success an