Theodore Dreiser

,*,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,Theodore Dreiser,(Aug.27, 1871 Dec.,28, 1945),1,Life and career,born in Terre Haute, Indiana, a strict Catholic family,a decidedly unhappy childhoodpoverty, and left home when he was 16 and worked at whatever jobs he could find,spent a year (1889-1890) at Indiana University with the help of his former teacher,in 1892, entered the press and began his career as a reporter,in the last months of his life, Dreiser joined the Communist Party,2,Major works,Novels:,Sister Carrie,嘉莉妹妹,Jennie Gerhardt,珍妮姑娘,The Genius,天才,An American Tragedy,美国的悲剧,The Bulwark,堡垒,The Financier,金融家,The Titan,巨人,The Stoic,斯多葛,Trilogy of Desire,欲望三部曲,3,Major works,A Gallery of Women,妇女群像,Twelve Men,Plays of the Natural and Supernatural,Dreiser Looks at Russia,德莱塞访苏印象记,A Traveler at Forty,A Book About Myself (Newspaper Days),America Is Worth Saving,Notes on Life,4,An American Tragedy,a novel of naturalism presenting the story of a man struggling against social, economic, and environmental forcesas well as forces within himselfthat slowly drown him in a tide of misfortune.,Dreiser depicts a crime motivated by the pursuit of the American dream, which, in the end, reveals itself to be only an illusion.,5,An American Tragedy,Themes:,One mans losing struggle against forces that shape human destiny,-,According to Theodore Dreiser and other writers of naturalism, the destiny of a human being results from hereditary, environmental, economic, social, and fatalistic forces that act upon him. Clyde Griffiths attempts to break free of these forces but fails.,The impossible dream-,-,Americans grow up with the idea that anyoneregardless of his or her familys backgroundcan achieve success. Clyde Griffiths was quietly desperate and failed to achieve his dream. People like Clyde Griffiths continue to struggle in todays society.,6,Features,His writing is basically realistic, but there is also,naturalism leaning,good at depicting real-life subjects in a harsh light,vividly portraying a historical era,Eg,. his short story,Nigger Jeff, probably based on a,lynching he witnessed,An American Tragedy,based on the actual case of,Chester Gillette, who murdered Grace Brown - he hit,her with a tennis racket and pushed her overboard at,Big Moose Lake in the Adirondack in July 1906.,7,Features,his,works of long sentence, has a great attention,to detail, explore social status and the peoples pursuit,of materialism,not famous for his writing style, but for the reality of,his works, the change of the characters in his works,and his view on American life,His novels tend to combine writers inner conflict,with the objective social reality,8,Comments,an outstanding representative of realism,Dreisers principal concern was with the conflict between human needs and the demands of society for material success,a controversial figure,for his personalized individual lives-,the desire for women led him to carry on several,love,affairs,became the member of communist party,and,entered the Hollywood,i,n his life, as well as the publication of,An American Tragedy,which made people extremely sad after read it,9,Comments,started,a novel form,which faces up to life and reflects the reality, and opened a new road to the creation of American novel.,Ranked as the only three novelist with Faulkner, Hemingway in America after the first world war,He had an enormous influence on American literature during the first quarter of the century - and for a time the only writer worth talking about in the same breath with the European masters,10,Thank you!,11,