TheodoreDreiser西奥多德莱塞

Representative works:
• The Red Badge of Courage 《红色英 勇勋章》
• Sister Carrier 《嘉 莉妹妹》
Theodore Dreiser
(1871-1945)
Catalogue
• ☺Life of Dreiser • ☺Works of Dreiser • ☺Work Analysis of Sister Carrie • ☺Writing styles of Dreiser
In 1892-- started to write for the Chicago Globe
In 1898--Dreiser married, a Missouri schoolteacher in 1909--separated permanently with his wife Sara White
• During his absence, she falls in love with Drouet’s friend Hurstwood, a middle aged, married, comparatively intelligent culture saloon manager. They finally elope. They live together for three years.
sensational, sordid, unpleasant and ugly aspects of life. • They would go to the slums and write about the life of poverty
and crime. • They write about war, prostitution, criminals, and all of these
created by God”. “The survival of the fittest”
• Naturalists believed that one’s heredity and social environment largely determine one’s fate.
Naturalistic writing
the society, a realization of the theory that the fittest survive.
Theoretical Basis
• Influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution:
• The origin of Species (1859) • Descent of Man (1871) • “Man had evolved from lower forms of life, not
• The Genius (1915) 天才
• An American Tragedy (1925) 美国的悲剧
• Dreiser Looks at Russia
1928
《德莱赛对俄罗斯的观感》
Sister Carrie
• Plot • Characters • Themes
Major characters and their relations
The plot
• Carrie becomes mature in intellect and emotion, while Hurstwood steadily declines. At last, she thinks him too great a burden and leaves him. Hurstwood sinks lower and lower. After becoming a beggar, he commits suicide, while Carrie becomes a star of musical comedy. In spite of her success, she is lonely and dissatisfied.
பைடு நூலகம்
Dreiser’s life
American novelist and journalist 1871-- born in Indiana
At 16 years old--forced to leave home in search of work. 1889-1890-- study at Indiana University.
Characters Analysis
• Carrie Meeber • Charlie Drouet • George Hurstwood
Carrie Meeber
• Carrie Meeber gives her love first to Drouet, then to Hurstwood in order to survive.
The plot
• Meager income and terrible working condition oppress her imaginative spirit. After a period of unemployment and loneliness, she accepts Drouet and becomes his mistress.
Major features of Naturalism
The core of naturalism is determinism（决定论） • Man’s fate is wholly determined by some combination of animal
instinct, heredity, and environment. • Humans lack freedom of their own will. All of their actions are
• Drouet
lovers carrie
friends
• Hurstwood
lovers
The plot
• Carrie Meeber, penniless and full of the illusion of ignorance and youth, leaves her rural home to seek work in Chicago. On the train, she becomes acquainted with Charles Drouet, a salesman. In Chicago, she lives with her sister, and work for a time in a shoe factory.
other aspects of life that are not too pleasant to consider.
Characteristics of Naturalistic Writing:
• Subjects: the lives of the downtrodden and of the abnormal, frank treatment of human passion and saxuality
Main Literary Works
• Sister Carrie (1900)嘉莉妹妹 • Jennie Gerhardt (1911)珍妮姑娘
﹛• Trilogy of Desire (欲望三部曲): • The Financier (1912)金融家 • The Titan (1914) 巨人 • The Stoic (posthumously) 斯多葛
➢So, naturalistic writers attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness, presenting characters of low social and economic classes who were dominated by their environment and heredity.
• But she is not content. With wealth and fame, she still finds herself lonely. She knows that her concept of what constitutes happiness has been inadequate. This finding is a manifestation of her distinctive difference from other wealthy people: Carrie is, by nature, not a bad girl. She is a product of
• Fortunate enough, she follows the right direction to a pursuit of the American Dream. Circumstances and her desires for a better life direct her to the successful goal.
• Theme: man’s life is dominated by their heredity and environment.
• Language: unpolished, lacking in academic skills and unwieldy in stucture.
• The author’s tone is more ironic and pessimistic.
Major features of Naturalism
Naturalism is a harsher and extreme form of realism. The naturalists have a major difference from the realists. They
feel realists as far too “genteel”. • Naturalists do not look at the average, but at the violent,
American Naturalism & Theodore Dreiser
Naturalism
➢Naturalism is evolved from realism. It is the outgrowth of realism. ➢It appeared at the end of the 19th century.
controlled, determined. The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and hostile to human desires. Life becomes a struggle for survival. • Two of the naturalist’s recurrent concerns are: social systems that destroy and dehumanize, and individual experience of loss and failure.
Representative writers:
• Stephen Crane (1871—1900) • Frank Norris (1870—1902) • Jack London (1876-1916)
• Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)
Representative works:
In 1900-- his first novel Sister Carrie was published. In 1911--Jennie Gerhardt was published. in 1912--Sister Carrie was republished.
on December 28, 1945 in Hollywood, he died, aged 74.