浅谈西奥多_德莱赛的人生经历对其作品的影响_英文_

大 众 文 艺大106Theodore Dreiser is an outstanding representativeof realism and naturalism in American literature. His creative work represents the highest achievements of American realism. Dreiser is also remembered as the pioneer of American modern novels and is considered as one of the three great writers in America apart from Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. It is Dreiser who breaks through the Victorian “genteel tradition” and gives stinging criticism to what Howells described as the “smiling aspects” of life typifying America. His writing style leads to a new field to American literature, and creates a path for other writers followed behind. Sinclair Lewis used to say “It is Dreiser who portrays the real life in American society and leads to a new field of faithful, bravery and passion of life.”1A proverb said that: “As a man thinks, so is he.” In other words it means that thinking affects one’s behavior and character. But what affects a writer’s thinking? A writer’s experiences could deeply influence his thinking, his writing style, and moreover, be reflected in his works. And a successful writer cannot get any achievement without the influence of other great writers or thinkers. So by the effect of his own experiences and the influence of other writers and thinkers, Dreiser gains his own position in American literature, and gets a reputation as one of the most important novelist of realism in America.1. Effects of family backgroundTheodore Dreiser had a kind of suffering experience in his childhood. That was a painful memory to him.The ninth of ten children in his family whose father, a German immigrant used to be very successful in the woolen business. But after his factory was burned to the ground by a terrible fire, the whole family never recovered from this economic fall. Because of poverty, Dreiser’s elder brothers and sisters had to drop out of school to find jobs. Dreiser and his younger brother were in rags and had to sneak coal from the tracks of the railroad. When grew older, Dreiser also had to go out of home to Chicago and to work at whatever jobs he could find. Because the family moved from town to town, Dreiser did not receive a systematic education. He used to go to a German American parochial school and a public school, and only had one-year college life.Poverty and unstable life left a deep impression on young Dreiser. Many years later when he saw the poor in the street, he still felt “a kind of unknown fear …and this kind of painful feeling is just as the real pain on body”.2 Such suffering experience in Dreiser’s life let him always pay more attention to the poor and lower-class people who struggled to live, and he also always concerned himself with the social problems.Lack of systematic education also brought pains to Dreiser and affected him a lot. Although he used to go to a German American parochial school, he learnt nothing there. The boring preachments and the strict Roman Catholic training let Dreiser fear to go to that school, and then made him dislike it very much.Lack of education also made Dreiser have some shortcomings in his writing, although his later experiences——being a newspaper reporter strengthened his ability of writing. He never mastered the grammar or developed a rich vocabulary. So in his works, he had to put much of his energy on materials and facts instead of the genteel wording.2. Experiences of his career in journalismIn the year 1897, Dreiser found a job on “Chicago Globe” and began his life as a newspaper reporter. Later he worked for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, St. Louis Republic, Pittsburgh Dispatch, Globe-Democrat and Republic and he used to be editor of several women magazines. Dreiser’s sensitivity and intense curiosity about life made him fit for the position of an investigative newspaper reporter. He got success in the press circles. He once believed that to interview those important and dignified people of upper-class meant that he was on equal term with them.But his career in journalism did have uses in his writing. First, Dreiser learnt all the aspects of American society when working as a newspaper reporter. Such experiences broadened his vision and enlarged his scope of knowledge. He accumulated many materials for his later creations from his observation as the big-city reporter who had traveled to many big cities. He tried to use the local settings, dialogues and character sketches to write some special feature stories which were more useful for his later creative works. As his eyes always “stared at” all kinds of adversities in the society, he could depict the lifelike wretched character in his works. That’s why Dreiser could create one of the most浅谈西奥多・德莱赛的人生经历对其作品的影响程筱筱（西安外事学院外国语学院 陕西 西安 710077）【摘 要】一个作家一生的经历会给其思想，作品带来极深的影响，塑造了其自身的写作特点。