Transcript Life and Work of Thedore Dreiser

Life and Work of Thedore Dreiser
09301108
赵琦
Thedore Dreiser
An American novelist and
journalist
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• An outstanding
representative of American
naturalism
Thedore Dreiser
Life
Works
Life
• Family background
• Educational experience
• Marriage experience
Family Life
• Theodore Dreiser (August 27, 1871December 28, 1945) was born in Terre
Haute, Indiana.
• He was the ninth of ten surviving children
(three others died as infants) of Säräh
Schanab and John Dreiser.
• Dreiser's childhood coincided with the
family's hard times.
John Dreiser
• He was a German
immigrant;
• He was a catholic farmer.
• He treated children
severely, only to make
them distant from him.
Säräh Schanab
• She was from a farming
community,
• She was illiterate.
• She was earnest a
christian, but disowned
for marrying John and
converting to Roman
Catholicism
Brother and Sisters
• Two of his sisters were seduced.
• Paul Dresser was a songwriter.
Educational Experience
Before
1889
• He graduated from high
school and worked on
his own.
18891890
• He attended Indiana University
but dropped out one year later.
From 1892
• He was
independently
reading and
thinking
Marriage (love affairs)
• Sara White:She was a school teacher. Their
marriage was unhappy. Dreiser separated
permanently from her in 1909, but never
earnestly sought a divorce.
Thelma Cudlipp
• She was an American artist and book
illustrator.
• They exchanged letters with each other
until Dreiser's death.
Kyra Markham
• Dreiser lived with her.
• She was an actress and painter, and
much younger than him.
Helen Richardson
• She was the cousin of
Theodore Dreiser.
• She became his
mistress from 1919 until
in 1944.
• After his first wife died,
she married him.
Works
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Trilogy of
Sister Carrie (1900)
Desire
Jennie Gerhardt (1911)
The Financier (1912)
The Titan (1914)
The Genius (1915) An autobiographical work
An American Tragedy (1925)
Dawn (1931)
The Bulwark (1946)
The Stoic (1947)
Sister Carrie
• His first novel, Sister
Carrie, was published in
1900.
• The book has since
acquired a considerable
reputation.
• It has been called the
"greatest of all
American urban
novels."
An American Tragedy
• His first commercial
success was An
American Tragedy,
published in 1925.
• In 2005, the book
was placed on Time
Magazine's list of
the top 100 novels.
Jennie Gerhardt
• His second novel Jennie Gerhardt ,
was published in 1911.
• Jennie Gerhardt, the character, was
influenced by Dreiser's sisters,
Mame and Sylvia.
Plot
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Jennie Gerhard meets Senator George Brander, while working in a hotel. He
declares his wish to marry her. Jennie agrees to sleep with him, but Senator dies,
leaving her pregnant. She gives birth to a daughter, Vesta.
She moves to Cleveland where she finds work as a lady's maid. She meets
Lester Kane. Jennie falls in love with him.
Kane wishes to marry her, but his family disapprove. But Kane does not yield to
his family's pressure to leave Jennie.
Kane's father died. He will not inherit a substantial part of the family business
unless he discards her.
Kane, marries Letty and resumes his former social status.
Kane becomes ill. He tells Jennie he still loves her, and she tends him until his
death, mourning secretly at his funeral.
Jennie Gerhardt
Senator
George
Brander
sleep
with
him
become
his
mistress
Jennie
Gerhardt
Lester
Kane
get married
Vesta
Letty
Gerald
Thedore Dreiser
• Dreiser has been a controversial figure in
American literary history.
• It is in Dreiser’s works that American
naturalism is said to have come of age.
Thank You
09301108
赵琦