Theodore Dreiser - Complete Works of Theodore Dreiser

The Complete Works of

THEODORE DREISER

(1871-1945)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2017

Version 1

The Complete Works of

THEODORE DREISER

By Delphi Classics, 2017

Complete Works of Theodore Dreiser

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 079 7

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: sales@delphiclassics.com

www.delphiclassics.com

Parts Edition Now Available!

Love reading Theodore Dreiser ?

Did you know you can now purchase the Delphi Classics Parts Edition of this author and enjoy all the novels, plays, non-fiction books and other works as individual eBooks? Now, you can select and read individual novels etc. and know precisely where you are in an eBook. You will also be able to manage space better on your eReading devices.

The Parts Edition is only available direct from the Delphi Classics website.

For more information about this exciting new format and to try free Parts Edition downloads , please visit this link .

Explore American Masters with Delphi Classics

For the first time in digital publishing history, Delphi Classics is proud to present the complete works of these important American authors.

Explore Americans

(1912)

(1914)

(1947)

Terre Haute, Indiana where Dreiser was born to German immigrant parents in 1871

The house at Terre Haute, now demolished, where the Dreiser family lived from 1872 to 1877 and which may also be Theodore Dreisers birthplace.

Published in 1900, this was Dreisers first novel and established the realist mode for which he was to become famous. The novel portrays a changing, industrialised society, through the story of a young woman that flees rural life for Chicago and struggles with poverty, complex relationships with men and prostitution. It sold poorly and was considered controversial because of moral objections to the ambiguous and pragmatic morality of its central character, who pursues her dreams of fame and fortune through relationships with men.

The novel is a classic example of the naturalist mode of realism, influential among literary writers in Britain, France and America at the end of the nineteenth century. In a move away from the moral trappings of nineteenth-century realism, naturalism focused on the baser instincts of human nature and strove to portray human relationships more realistically, as products of specific socio-economic environments, with all of the complexity, unpleasantness and lack of clear-cut morality that often entailed. Consequently, Dreiser presents Carries actions as the natural consequences of urban economic life at the turn of the twentieth century and does not judge his characters morally. This narrative approach proved controversial, especially as regards Carries sexual liaisons and Dreiser fought against censorship of the novel. Other critics, including fellow novelist Arnold Bennett, complained that Dreisers writing style was clumsy and unimaginative. Even so, the book has since acquired a considerable reputation, being hailed as the greatest of all American urban novels and gaining praise for its powers of realistic observation. It has been adapted many times for radio, film and opera, most notably William Wylers Carrie (1952), starring Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones.

Cover of the first edition, which was kept intentionally bland by the publishers, who were hesitant to promote what was then regarded as an immoral work