Theodore Dreiser: His World and His Novels

Abstract

A fresh and unusual study of Dreiser which stresses the political and philosophical theories basic to his novels.Theodore Dreiser, one of our foremost writers, has been read and reread, and abundant biographical details have been made known to shed light on his work. Yet what has remained to be done is what Richard Lehan has done here in this fresh and unusual portrait of Dreiserto re-create and relate to the works themselves the usable past out of which Dreiser wrote, the turn-of-the-century America with all of its materialism, crassness, and business immorality which attracted and repelled Dreiser and out of which came his created world of fiction. A unique feature of this book which will be of interest to Dreiser scholars is the generous use made here of original holographs from the Theodore Dreiser Collection at the University of Pennsylvania.Dreiser s characters must be understood for what they tell us about the success-driven men and women of America, Mr. Lehan maintains. They do not retreat into the world of the dead past in search of genteel fulfillment, in search of consciousness. They struggle in the modern city, chase the fantasies of their desire, and break down the doors of conventionvery much as Dreiser himself did in his personal escape and struggle and conflict with materialistic and altruistic motives which drove him compulsively and made a tormented man of hima point missed by many critics.