1. Theodore Dreiser
(1871 – 1945)

2. Theodore Dreiser

4. Theodore Dreiser
American author, outstanding representative of naturalism, whose novels depict real-life subjects in a harsh light. Dreiser's novels were held to be amoral, and he battled throughout his career against censorship and popular taste. This started with SISTER CARRIE (1900). It was not until 1981 that the work was published in its original form. Dreiser's principal concern was with the conflict between human needs and the demands of society for material success.

5. Life Experience Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser
was born in Terre Haute, Indiana,
on August 27, 1871
From the age of fifteen，
he earned meager support
from a variety of menial jobs.
In 1889, a year study at Indiana
University

6. Life Experience In 1990, Dreiser’s first novel
Sister Carrie was published.
From 1892 to 1902, he worked
as an itinerant journalist.
In 1904, he was on the way to
several successful
years as an editor.
In 1910, he resigned to write
Jannie Gerharat

7. Communist Party of America
Life Experience
In 1925, his novel
An American Tragedy
Published.
In 1927, he visited the
Soviet Union and published
Dreiser Looks at Russia
In 1945, he joined the
Communist Party of America
On December 28
Dreiser was died.

8. Life
Dreiser was born in Indiana, the ninth child of German-speaking parents.
His childhood was spent in extreme poverty.
After some months at Indiana University, he became a reporter on the Chicago Globe before arriving in New York in 1894.
His first novel, Sister Carrie, was rejected because of his relentless honesty in presenting the true nature of American life.
He faced every form of attack that a serious artist could encounter misunderstanding, misrepresentation, artistic isolation and commercial seduction. But he survived to lead the rebellion of the 1900s.

9. Evaluation
Dreiser has been a controversial figure in American literary history.
His works are powerful in their portrayal of the changing American life, but his style is considered crude.
It is in Dreiser’s works that American naturalism is said to have come of age.

10. Works 1) Sister Carrie 1900 2) Jennie Gerhardt 1911
3) An American Tragedy 1925
4) The Financier 1912
5) The Titan
6) The Stoic (posthumously)
7) The Genius (autobiographically)
8) Dreiser Looks at Russia 《德莱赛对俄罗斯的观感》

11. After his first novel Sister Carrie was published in 1900 with the help of Frank Norris, Dreiser continued to work as a journalist and as well as writing for mainstream newspapers. His second novel Jennie Gerhardt was not published until This was followed by two novels The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914). The Genius was published in 1915 but it was another ten years before Dreiser greatest novel, An American Tragedy (1925) appeared, which brought him a degree of critical and commercial success he had never before attained.

12. As a socialist, Dreiser was invited to be present at the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution in Moscow in After returning to America in early 1928, he wrote several non-fiction books on political issues. This included Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928), Tragic America (1931) and America is Worth Saving (1941). Theodore Dreiser joined the American Communist Party just before he died in 1945.

13. Though his visit to the Soviet Union had left him skeptical about communism, the Great Depression (from 1929)caused him to reconsider his opposition. His autobiographical Dawn (1931) is one of the most candid self-revelations by any major writer.

14. By the time Dreiser's second novel, Jenny Gerhardt, was published in 1911, his work had found influential supporters, including the British novelists H. G. Wells and Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, and he was able to devote himself entirely to literature. Dreiser's writings continued to excite controversy. In The Financier (1912) and The Titan (1914), he drew harsh portraits of a type of ruthless businessman. In The “Genius” (1915), he presented a study of the artistic temperament in a mercenary唯利是图的society. This novel increased his influence among young American writers, who acclaimed him leader of a new school of social realism .

15. Real fame, however, did not come to Dreiser until 1925, when his An American Tragedy had great popular success. The novel, based on an actual murder case and concerned with the efforts of a weak young man to rise from pious poverty into glamorous society, was dramatized and made into a motion picture. The novels of Theodore Dreiser were deeply imbued灌输with an understanding of the brutal injustices of social class, and they rank as magnificent examples of 20th-century American naturalism.
Sister Carrie (1900) depicts the downfall of a young woman who moves from small-town America to Chicago and then to New York City. An American Tragedy (1925) shows the downfall of a weak young man who tries to rise from poverty into glamorous society

16. Analysis
Social Darwinism (man only driven by desire; only the fittest can live in the society)
Powerful depiction of American social life and moving characters

17. Major Features of Theodore Dreiser
(1) Dreiser stressed determinism in his novel which deal with everyday life, often with its sordid side. His characters are unable to assert their will against natural and economical forces. They are more like moths drawn to flame than lords of creation. They are pathetic in their inability to escape their fates. His characters are subject to the control of the natural forces of heredity and environment. He held that people are not entirely to blame for what they are and what they do. They are not responsible for rising or falling in a world so fully shaped by circumstance and disposition.

18. Major Features of Theodore Dreiser
2. He developed the capacity for photographic and relentless observation, thereby truthfully reflecting the society and people of his time. He was very much concerned with society’s effect on a person. He tried to treat human beings scientifically. He saw life is hard and found in social Darwinism and in naturalistic theory the explanation for his plots from his own experiences or those of his brothers and sisters. Nearly all of his main characters are based on real people. Besides the fictional portrayal of real persons, Dreiser was also faithful to reality in the description of his novels’ environmental settings and social background. All these factor contributed the credibility of his works.

19. Major Features of Theodore Dreiser
3. His narrative method is natural and free from artifice. Instead of winning readers with a trick of plot, he preferred to influence them with powerful narrative based on large quantities of material and detailed descriptions. He set out to record life as he saw it and consequently the massive details which abound in his novels even include descriptions of people’s clothes, their speech, and the physical environment. People appreciate him for his ability to give such a great amount of details which create penetrating displays of human experiences. His powerful frankness widens the social and sexual range possible for literature in America. He struck at the American myth that success and fame were to be achieved by work and virtue..

20. Study on Sister Carrie Different Versions

21. E-text of Sister Carrie

22. A Popular Novel in China

23. A Popular Novel in China

24. Sister Carrie
Plots
Characters
Themes

25. Plots
Sister Carrie tells the story of two characters: Carrie Meeber, an ordinary girl who rises from a low-paid wage earner to a high-paid actress, and George Hurstwood, a member of the upper middle class who falls from his comfortable lifestyle to a life on the streets. Neither Carrie nor Hurstwood earn their fates through virtue or vice, but rather through random circumstance. Their successes and failures have no moral value; this stance marks Sister Carrie as a departure from the conventional literature of the period. 
Dreiser touches upon a wide range of themes and experiences in Sister Carrie, from grinding poverty to upper-middle class comfort. The novel dwells on the moment as it is experienced; the characters’ identities are constantly subject to change, reflecting the modern American experience that at that time thousands of rural Americans rushed to the cities to find jobs and to build themselves new lives and identities. Sister Carrie captures the excitement of that experience.

26. Characters
Carrie Meeber  
Charlie Drouet 
George Hurstwood  

27. Carrie Meeber
Caroline (Carrie) Meeber, the protagonist of the novel, travels to Chicago to stay with her sister and her brother-in-law. The world of Chicago enthralls her, and she constantly wants to buy things. Her first job is a low-paid, arduous position in a factory. When she loses her job, her sister and brother-in-law cannot support her, so she becomes Charlie Drouet's mistress. Afterward, she becomes infatuated with another man, George Hurstwood. Carrie and Hurstwood run to New York, where they discover that married life is far less exciting than their affair. Carrie leaves Hurstwood because he fails to provide her with the lavish life she wants. She becomes a famous, high-paid actress in New York City.

28. Charlie Drouet
Charlie Drouet is a charming, flashy salesman with a strong appetite for romance. Although he is warm-hearted, he never takes any of his romantic affairs seriously. He provides Carrie with a place to stay after she is forced to stop living with her sister; he also promises to marry her, but he never really intends on following through. He loses Carrie to Hurstwood and then, years later, after she has become a famous actress, tries unsuccessfully to win her back.

29. George Hurstwood
George Hurstwood is the manager of a saloon in Chicago. At the beginning of the novel, he is a wealthy, important man. He falls in love with Carrie after meeting her through Drouet. He tells Carrie that he loves her, but he fails to mention that he is married. After his wife discovers his affair with Carrie and files for divorce, he steals ten thousand dollars from the saloon and flees with Carrie to Montreal. There, he marries her before his divorce with Julia is complete. Although he keeps his theft a secret from Carrie, he is discovered by an investigator and required to return most of the money in order to protect his reputation. In New York, Hurstwood slowly descends into poverty. After Carrie leaves him, he becomes a homeless beggar and eventually commits suicide.

30. Themes American Dream Change and Transformation
Choices and Consequences
Wealth and Poverty
Identity
Sex

31. American Dream
Each of Dreiser's characters in Sister Carrie search for their own "American Dreams"
—Carrie, a poor country girl, arrives in Chicago, filled with the expectations of acquiring the finer things in life. She imagines the elegant clothes she will wear, the exciting places to which she will go, and the fashionable people with whom she will associate, thinking that everyone who lives beyond the boundaries of her Midwestern state has achieved that higher status.
— Drouet seeks his own version of the American Dream. He has achieved a certain station in life and wears the clothes to prove it. He frequents the important establishments in town and has befriended many of the established people. Yet, he pursues the other appointments that represent his dream, such as a beautiful woman to adorn his arm and his own home.
— Hurstwood has the woman, the established home and family, and a good position. He, though, wants more. He seeks love, appreciation, and more prestige.

32. Change and Transformation
Carrie and Hurstwood undergo dramatic changes from the beginning of the novel to the end.
— Carrie's transition takes her from country bumpkin to glamorous actress.
— Hurstwood's transition moves him from prominent and trusted businessman, husband, and father to homeless street beggar. Behind him survive robbed employers, a dysfunctional family, and a self-satisfied woman.

33. Choices and Consequences
Hurstwood makes one choice that dramatically affects the rest of his life. While all choices result in consequences, those consequences can be positive or negative. Hurstwood’s decision to take the money from his employer's safe starts his way to the eventual suicide.

34. Wealth and Poverty
Industrial growth brought the United States a period of prosperity during the late 1800s and early 1900s. With factories flourishing, job opportunities were abundant. People made good money in factory management positions and other white-collar jobs. Factory workers, however, not only earned low incomes, but they also worked long hours. Consequently, a wide division existed between the wealthy and the poor.
Carrie comes from a lower-middle-class background and determines that she will rise above it. Carrie wants more for herself.
Throughout Sister Carrie, the distinction between social classes is obvious. The clothes people wear, the homes in which they live, and the activities in which they are involved distinguish the rich from the poor. The wealthy wear stylish clothes and attend elaborate performances of the arts. In the final chapter, the description of Hurst-wood's last days offers a vivid picture of the ultimate plight of the poorest.

35. Identity
Experiences contribute greatly to shaping people's identities.
Carrie's transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end occurs as a result of her responses to her experiences. The Carrie who boards the train in Columbia City sits primly, trying to ignore the glances of the man seated near her. Having certain morals, Carrie hesitates to acknowledge Drouet's presence. Yet, she responds quickly to his initial comments on her and makes direct eye contact with him when she senses his interest in her. From this point on, Carrie allows herself to act in whatever manner benefits her. Leaving her sister's home and moving around with Drouet. She sees, though, that this action will get her closer to having what she wants. As she understands her value to others, she changes her identity accordingly. As a result, she never really has an identity but adjusts her “act” to fit the situation. In the end, this ability gains her recognition as an acclaimed actress but does not result in her achieving happiness.

36. Sex
In the early 1900s, the morals and virtues of the Victorian era still guided people's actions. People with proper upbringing did not speak of sex. The public was shocked that Dreiser's characters so openly participated in explicit relationships and that Dreiser seemed to take it granted.
Carrie uses sex to gain status for herself. She sees nothing wrong in living with Drouet to get the clothes she wants and to have opportunities to move in Chicago's affluent circles. Later, Carrie sees that Hurstwood can offer her an even higher standard of living. She ignores the fact that he is already married and the two of them will be committing adultery. With no regard for Drouet's emotions, she breaks off their relationship and pursues one with Hurstwood. After living with Hurstwood for some time, she realizes she can no longer benefit from the arrangement and leaves him, too.

37. An American Tragedy

38. The novel relates, in great detail, the life of Clyde Griffiths, a boy of weak will and little self-awareness. He grows up in great poverty in a family of wandering evangelists福音传道者, but dreams of wealth and the love of beautiful women.
A rich uncle employs him in his factory. When his girlfriend Roberta becomes pregnant, she demands that he marry her. Mean while, Clyde has fallen in love with a wealthy society girl who represents success, money, and social acceptance.

39. Clyde carefully plans to drown Roberta on a boat trip, but at the last minute he begins to change his mind; however, she accidentally falls out of the boat. Clyde, a good swimmer, does not save her, and she drowns. As Clyde is brought to justice, Dreiser replays his story in reverse, masterfully using the vantage points of prosecuting and defense attorneys to analyze each step and motive that led the mild mannered Clyde, with a highly religious background and good family connections, to commit murder.

40. The relevant evaluation:
This novel explores the dangers of the American dream and displays crushing authority. Its precise details build up an overwhelming sense of tragic inevitability.
It is a scathing损伤的portrait of the American success myth gone sour, but it is also a universal story about the stresses of urbanization, modernization, and alienation. Within it roam the romantic and dangerous fantasies of the dispossessed.

41. 3. An American Tragedy is a reflection of the dissatisfaction, envy, and despair that afflicted折磨many poor and working people in America’s competitive, success-driven society. As American industrial power soared, the glittering lives of the wealthy sharply contrasted with the drab无生气lives of ordinary farmers and city workers. The media fanned rising expectations and unreasonable desires.