Novel Module 3: An American Tragedy
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Naturalism: A Brief Introduction: Excerpt from: "Chapter
6: Late Nineteenth Century - Naturalism: A Brief Introduction."
PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide
An Ongoing Online Project © Paul P. Reuben
"The primary goal of the late nineteenth-century
American Naturalists was not to demonstrate the overwhelming and oppressive
reality of the material forces present in our lives. Their attempt, rather,
was to represent the intermingling in life of controlling forces and individual
worth. The Naturalists do not dehumanize man." --Donald Pizer
Subject Matter & Characterization in Naturalistic Fiction
Pizer . . . suggests specific changes in subject matter and characterization
which help in defining Naturalism as different from Realism: "
1. The subject matter:
a. The subject matter deals with those raw and unpleasant
experiences which reduce characters to "degrading" behavior in their struggle
to survive. These characters are mostly from the lower middle or the lower
classes - they are poor, uneducated, and unsophisticated.
b. The milieu is the commonplace and the unheroic; life is usually the
dull round of daily existence. But the naturalist discovers those qualities
in such characters usually associated with the heroic or adventurous - acts
of violence and passion leading to desperate moments and violent death. The
suggestion is that life on its lowest levels is not so simple
as it seems to be.
c. There is discussion of fate and "hubris" that affect a character; generally
the controlling force is society and the surrounding environment.
2. The concept of a naturalistic character:
a. characters are conditioned and controlled by environment,
heredity, chance, or instinct; but they have compensating humanistic values
which affirm their individuality and life - their struggle for life becomes
heroic and they maintain human dignity.
b. the Naturalists attempt to represent the intermingling in life of the
controlling forces and individual worth. They do not dehumanize their characters.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 6: Late Nineteenth Century: Naturalism - A Brief
Introduction." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and
Reference Guide. URL:http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap6/6intro.html
(provide page date or date of your login).
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What Critics Say
"Much Dreiser criticism since the mid-1980s . . . has focused less on
the themes and quality of his fiction than on the question of the relationship
of his thought and work to large-scale social and cultural issues arising
out of our condition as an urban society and consumerist economy, issues
which still preoccupy us as a nation . . . . Several studies of this
kind attempt to open up new areas of interest in Dreiser by tracing the underlying
significance in his fiction of such major cultural realities of his day
as mass communication n (Thomas F. Strychacz), a faith in science
(Louis J. Zanine), and class values and practices
(Clare Eby) . . . . [According to t]he New Historicist criticism of Walter
Benn Michaels . . . . and other recent critics preoccupied with the cultural
dynamics of Dreiser's fiction, he is . . . of less interest as a turn-of-the-century
social realist or naturalist than as an unconscious participant in the
underlying myths and values of the American scene then and now."
[italics added] --from
Donald Pizer's "Dreiser's Critical Reputation."
Class Discussion Questions
Three-Step Discussion--These Steps Help to Analyze Important Aspects of
the Novel and Will Help You With Your Written Assignment
1. One of the most important questions we can ask about a novel is:
Does the protagonist live and breathe in our imagination--does he or she
seem real to us, and do we care about
his or her fate? Let's discuss Clyde Griffiiths.
2. Next, let's identify and discuss the various deterministic forces that
Dreiser depicts at work in Clyde's life. Cite passages from the text.
Later, we will ask: To what degree these forces
are at work in our own lives today? Compare and contrast the language
we use to talk about these forces with
Dreiser's: cite examples for the text and examples from today.
3. Every good novel has an implicit theory of what it means to be a human
being and live in this world; based on AT, let's try to articulate Dreiser's
theory.
In addition: After reading An American Tragedy, would you
agree that Dreiser as a novelist is "an unconscious participant in the
underlying myths and values of the American scene then and now," or do
you see him more as a critic of these myths and values, or is he somehow
both? Cite evidence from the text to support your view.
Bibliography for An American Tragedy
- Bloom, Harold, ed. Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy
. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
- Howe, Irving. "Dreiser: The Springs of Desire." 1964. Reprinted
in Decline of the New. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1970.
- Michaels, Walter Benn. "On An American Tragedy:
Or the Promise of American Life." Representations 25 (1989): 71-98.
- Mitchell, Lee Clark. "The Psychopoetics of Desire in Dreiser's
American Tragedy." Determined Fictions: American Literary Naturalism
. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
- Pizer, Donald. Critical Essays on Theodore Dreiser
. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1981. PS3507.R55 Z576
- - -. The Novels of Theodore Dreiser: A Critical Study. Minneapolis:
U of Minnesota P, 1976. PS3507 R55 Z79
- Orlov, Paul A. An American Tragedy: Perils of the Self
Seeking "Success." Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1998.
Writing Assignment
Paul Reuben summarizes Dreiser's contribution to the American Novel as
follows:
Achievement
Considered by many as the leader of Naturalism in American writing, Dreiser
is also remembered for his stinging criticism of the genteel tradition and
of what Howells described as the "smiling aspects of life" typifying America.
In his fiction, Dreiser deals with social problems and with characters who
struggle to survive. His sympathetic treatment of a "morally loose" woman
in Sister Carrie was called immoral and he suffered at the hands of publishers.
One of Dreiser's favorite fictional devices was the use of contrast between
the rich and the poor, the urbane and the unsophisticated, and the power
brokers and the helpless. While he wrote about "raw" experiences of life
in his earlier works, in his later writing he considered the impact of economic
society on the lives of people in the remarkable trilogy - The Financier,
The Titan, and The Stoic. His best known work is An American Tragedy which
shows a young man trying to succeed in a materialistic society. --from
PAL: Dreiser
Assignment: Write a 1 1/2 to page essay in which
you articulate and support what you believe to be Dreiser's contribution
to American literature with his novel An American Tragedy. Be
meticulous in your use of MLA format. No secondary sources are required,
but if you use them, cite them correctly. Please do cite the page numbers
of you quotations from the text.
Due: Tuesday, March 4. This is a short
writing assignment but in many ways a challenging one. Use the time you have
been given to create your best work--create rich, articulate, and thoughtful
content, and correct, craft, and polish your writing. Remember that
I am glad to help you with you on any skill and at any stage in this process.
The two pages are due at the end of class: no computer or printer
excuses accepted. Late pages will be docked a letter grade unless
official documentation for a university excused absence is provided right
away.
Relevant Web Links
Riggio, Thomas P. "Biography of Theodore Dreiser."
The International Theodore
Dreiser Society
Homepage
Syllabus
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