1、Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945) American author, outstanding representative of naturalism, whose novels depict real-life subjects in a harsh light Life:1. Dreiser was born in Indiana, the ninth child of German-speaking parents.2. His childhood was spent in extreme poverty.3. After some months at Indiana
2、 University, he became a reporter on the Chicago Globe before arriving in New York in 1894.4. His first novel, Sister Carrie, was rejected because of his relentless honesty in presenting the true nature of American life.5. The young author felt so depressed by “a decades delay”in the words of Larzer
3、 Ziffin social recognition that he was said to have walked by the East River at the turn of the century, seriously committing suicide.6. He faced every form of attack that a serious artist could encounter misunderstanding, misrepresentation, artistic isolation and commercial seduction. But he surviv
4、ed to lead the rebellion of the 1900s.7.Dreiser died of heart failure on December 28, 1945, before completing the last chapter of The Stoic. 8.Dreiser was buried in Hollywoods Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 3, 1946. lThe book was initially rejected by many publishers on the grounds that is was immo
5、ral. Indeed, Harper Brothers, the first publisher to see the book, rejected it by saying it was not, sufficiently delicate to depict without offense to the reader the continued illicit relations of the heroine. lFinally Doubleday and Company published the book in order to fulfill their contract, but
6、 Frank Doubleday refused to promote the book. As a result, it sold less than seven hundred copies and Dreiser received a reputation as a naturalist-barbarian. lSister Carrie, published in 1900, is one of the best-known story of American Dream, tracing the material rise of Carrie Meeber and the tragi
7、c decline of G. W. Hurstwood.The story of Sister CarrielThe three different worlds in which Sister Carrie moves:lHer sisters working-class existencelHer life with Drouet in ChicagolHer life with Hurstwood in New YorklThe tragedy of CarrielA feather in the wind, she is totally at the mercy of forces
8、she cannot comprehend, still less to say control. lThe tragedy of Hurstwoodl Dreisers portrait is an authentic one of the important modern man unfit to survive lThe theme in Sister Carrie, a novel written by Theodore Dreiser, is materialism. The theme is primarily personified through Carrie with her
9、 desire for a fine home, clothes and everything else money can buy.lMaterialism, including the desire for money, is an important theme in Sister Carrie. The materialism is shown mostly through Carries character but also through Hurstwood, a man with a respectable life and money, who still wants more
10、 and for that reason commits a crime. The city in itself is also a place of materialism, it is a place that offers all kinds of amusements, pleasures and things to buy, but to participate in what the city has to offer one has to have money.Evaluation1.Dreiser has been a controversial figure in Ameri
11、can literary history.2. His works are powerful in their portrayal of the changing American life, but his style is considered crude.3.It is in Dreisers works that American naturalism is said to have come of age.The theme of Dreisers Novels:A major theme is: men and women will, according to their plac
12、e in society, talent and temperament, seek to achieve the fulfillment of such desires as sexual gratification, power and materialism. To put it in another way, the forces ranged against an individual are so strong that he or she can either yield to them or be destroyed by them. A key word in Dreiser
13、: determinism. This theme is conveyed, to a large extent, through his openness about sexuality (although he is not explicit and graphic) and through his well-portrayed women characters. Dreisers positionlDreiser has been called the “Wheelhouse of American naturalism ” and” chief spokesman for the re
14、alistic novel”, and “a profound and prescient critic of debased Americna values”lHis fiction records the “coarse and the vulgar and the cruel and the terrible ” in life in defiance of the genteel and evasive current literatuareDeterminism:l It refers to the belief or theory that human actions and ev
15、ents are controlled by and result from causes that determine them.lKarl Marx: mans economic environmentlCharles Darwin: scientific laws governing evolutionlSigmun Freud : human unconsciouslReligious and theologians: the will of a god or godslExistentialism, invests human being with direct control ov
16、er and responsibility for their lives.Dreisers stylelDreiser is good at employing the journalistic method of reiteration to burn a central impression into the readers mind. His interest in painting is reflected in his taste for word-pictures. Sharp contrast, truth in color, and movement in outline.
17、Here lies the power and permanence that have made Dreiser one of Americas foremost novelist.Major Features of Dreisers writing:lAs a naturalistic writer, Drerser stressed determinism in his novels which deal with everyday life, often with its sordid side.lAs an naturalist, he developed the capacity for photographic and relentless observation, thereby truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time. lHis narrative method is natural and free from artifice.
