Abstract
This study addresses Georg Lukács’ critique of Zolaesque naturalism; for this purpose it draws on Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie as a case study. As a champion of realist novel, Lukacs emphasizes the totality of human experience and those dimensions of reality that are permanent and are objectively depicted in the works of art. From this perspective, he presents his critique of Zola's scientific method which, according to him, distorts reality, always seeks the average and is blind to the completeness of human experience. In this study, it is argued that a reading of Dreiser's Sister Carrie in the light of Zola's ideology testifies to the fact that although the philosophical roots of naturalism in America have been associated mainly with Zola's ideology but in some cases like Dreiser's Sister Carrie Zola's tenets prove to be inadequate or inept. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2s1p225
Highlights
The Hungarian Marxist philosopher and critic Georg Lukács (1885 –1971) in "The Ideology of Modernism" presents his defense of the realist tradition of literature along with his sharp critique of modernism for its neglect of an objective reality
Lukács’ pronouncements on Zolaesque naturalism and its limitations find their vivid expression in addressing Theodor Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie (1900) from a naturalist perspective
"the philosophical roots of naturalism in America have been firmly associated with the pronouncements and fiction of Emile Zola, and especially with Zola's 1880 defense of literary naturalism in The Experimental Novel" (Pizer, 1999, p.1)
Summary
The Hungarian Marxist philosopher and critic Georg Lukács (1885 –1971) in "The Ideology of Modernism" presents his defense of the realist tradition of literature along with his sharp critique of modernism for its neglect of an objective reality As he highlights, the human subject depicted by the modernist writers is "by nature solitary, asocial, unable to enter into relationships with other human beings" (1964, p.20). Lukács' defense of realist novel which he regards as the culmination of the narrative form finds its vivid expression in his book Studies in European Realism (1964) As he states: The true great realism depicts man and society as complete entities, instead of showing merely one or the other of their aspects.... Lukács’ pronouncements on Zolaesque naturalism and its limitations find their vivid expression in addressing Theodor Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie (1900) from a naturalist perspective
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