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1、Naturalism&Theodore Dreiser,EM0901 徐凡,Naturalism,Naturalismwas a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailedrealismto suggest that social conditions,heredity遗传,and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.It was depicted as a literarymovement that se
2、eks to replicate abelievableeveryday reality,as opposed to such movements asRomanticism orSurrealism超现实主义,in which subjects may receive highly symbolic,idealistic,or even supernatural treatment.Naturalism is the outgrowth ofliterary realism,a prominent literary movement in mid-19th-centuryFranceand
3、elsewhere.,Naturalistic writers were influenced byCharles Darwins theory of evolution.They believed that onesheredity andsocial environmentlargely determine ones character.Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are,naturalism also attempts to determine“scientifically”the unde
4、rlying forces(e.g.the environment or heredity)influencing the actions of its subjects.Naturalistic works often include uncouth粗野的 or sordid肮脏的 subject matter,Major features of Naturalism,The core of naturalism is determinism（决定论）An individuals course in life is wholly determined by some combination
5、of animal instinct,heredity,and environment.Humans lack freedom of their own will.All of their actions are controlled,determined.The universe is cold,godless,indifferent and hostile to human desires.Life becomes a struggle for survival.Two of the naturalists recurrent concerns are:social systems tha
6、t destroy and dehumanize,and individual experience of loss and failure.,Naturalism is a harsher and extreme form of realism.The naturalists have a major difference from the realists.They feel realists as far too“genteel”.Naturalists do not look at the average,but at the violent,sensational,sordid,un
7、pleasant and ugly aspects of life.They would go to the slums and write about the life of poverty and crime.They write about war,prostitution,criminals,and all of these other aspects of life that are not too pleasant to consider.,American Naturalism,Representatives:Stephen Crane,Frank Norris,Jack Lon
8、don and Theodore Dreiser.These writers detailed description of the lives of the downtrodden and the abnormal,their frank treatment of human passion and sexuality,and their portrayal of men and women overwhelmed by blind forces of nature still exert a powerful influence on modern writers.,Theodore Dr
9、eiser(1871-1945),Catalogue,Life of DreiserWorks of DreiserWork Analysis of Sister CarrieWriting styles of DreiserEvaluation on Theodore Dreiser,Dreisers life,American novelist and journalist 1871-born in Indiana At 16 years old-forced to leave home in search of work.1889-1890-study at Indiana Univer
10、sity.In 1892-started to write for the Chicago Globe In 1898-Dreiser married,a Missouri schoolteacher in 1909-separated permanently from Sara White.In 1900-his first novel Sister Carrie was published.In 1911-Jennie Gerhardt was published.in 1912-Sister Carrie was republished.A committed socialist on
11、December 28,1945 in Hollywood,he died,aged 74.,Main Literary Works,Sister Carrie(1900)嘉莉妹妹Jennie Gerhardt(1911)珍妮姑娘Trilogy of Desire(欲望三部曲):The Financier(1912)金融家The Titan(1914)巨人The Stoic(posthumously)斯多葛The Genius(1915)天才An American Tragedy(1925)美国的悲剧Dreiser Looks at Russia1928 德莱赛对俄罗斯的观感,Sister C
12、arrie,PlotsCharactersThemes,Plots,Sister Carrie tells the story of two characters:Carrie Meeber,an ordinary girl who rises from a low-paid wage earner to a high-paid actress,and George Hurstwood,a member of the upper middle class who falls from his comfortable lifestyle to a life on the streets.Neit
13、her Carrie nor Hurstwood earn their fates through virtue or vice,but rather through random circumstance.Their successes and failures have no moral value;this stance marks Sister Carrie as a departure from the conventional literature of the period.,Characters,Carrie Meeber Charlie Drouet George Hurst
14、wood,Carrie Meeber,Caroline(Carrie)Meeber,the protagonist of the novel,travels to Chicago to stay with her sister and her brother-in-law.The world of Chicago enthralls her,and she constantly wants to buy things.Her first job is a low-paid,arduous position in a factory.When she loses her job,her sist
15、er and brother-in-law cannot support her,so she becomes Charlie Drouets mistress.Afterward,she becomes infatuated with another man,George Hurstwood.Carrie and Hurstwood run to New York,where they discover that married life is far less exciting than their affair.Carrie leaves Hurstwood because he fai
16、ls to provide her with the lavish life she wants.She becomes a famous,high-paid actress in New York City.,Nature,not social ideas,has formed Carrie Meeber.She entrusts herself first to Drouet,then to Hurstwood,not as an opportunist,but out of force circumstance.She is just like a feather in the wind
17、.Fortunate enough,she follows the right direction to a pursuit of the American Dream.Circumstances and her desires for a better life direct her to the successful goal.But she is not contented,because with wealth and fame,she still finds herself lonely.She knows that her concept of what constitutes h
18、appiness has been inadequate.This finding is a manifestation of her distinctive difference from other wealthy people:Carrie is,by nature,not a bad girl.She is a product of the society,a realization of the theory that the fittest survive.,Charlie Drouet,Charlie Drouet is a charming,flashy(浮华的)salesma
19、n with a strong appetite for romance.Although he is warm-hearted,he never takes any of his romantic affairs seriously.He provides Carrie with a place to stay after she is forced to stop living with her sister;he also promises to marry her,but he never really intends to.He loses Carrie to Hurstwood a
20、nd then,years later,after she has become a famous actress,tries unsuccessfully to win her back.,George Hurstwood,George Hurstwood is the manager of a saloon in Chicago.At the beginning of the novel,he is a wealthy,important man.He falls in love with Carrie after meeting her through Drouet.He tells C
21、arrie that he loves her,but he fails to mention that he is married.After his wife discovers his affair with Carrie and files for divorce,he steals ten thousand dollars from the saloon and flees with Carrie to Montreal.,There,he marries her before his divorce with Julia is complete.Although he keeps
22、his theft a secret from Carrie,he is discovered by an investigator and required to return most of the money in order to protect his reputation.In New York,Hurstwood slowly descends into poverty.After Carrie leaves him,he becomes a homeless beggar and eventually commits suicide.,If Carrie is the posi
23、tive conviction proof of the theory that the fittest survive,then Hurstwood is negative evidence.He is driven by his instinctive drives and elopes with Carrie to a new environment.He is still conventional and cannot throw abruptly away the long-held social morals.Therefore he is not fitted to live i
24、n New York.He has failed because he leaves his original place.His tragedy is the triumphs of the natural desires and of the theory that the fittest survive.,Themes,American Dream Change and Transformation Choices and Consequences Wealth and Poverty Identity Sex,American Dream,Each of Dreisers charac
25、ters in Sister Carrie search for their own American Dreams Carrie,a poor country girl,arrives in Chicago,filled with the expectations of acquiring the finer things in life.She imagines the elegant clothes she will wear,the exciting places to which she will go,and the fashionable people with whom she
26、 will associate,thinking that everyone who lives beyond the boundaries of her Midwestern state has achieved that higher status.Drouet seeks his own version of the American Dream.He has achieved a certain station in life and wears the clothes to prove it.He frequents the important establishments in t
27、own and has befriended many of the established people.Yet,he pursues the other appointments that represent his dream,such as a beautiful woman to adorn his arm and his own home.Hurstwood has the woman,the established home and family,and a good position.He,though,wants more.He seeks love,appreciation
28、,and more prestige.,Change and Transformation,Carrie and Hurstwood undergo dramatic changes from the beginning of the novel to the end.Carries transition takes her from country bumpkin to glamorous actress.Hurstwoods transition moves him from prominent and trusted businessman,husband,and father to h
29、omeless street beggar.,Choices and Consequences,Hurstwood makes one choice that dramatically affects the rest of his life.While all choices result in consequences,those consequences can be positive or negative.Hurstwoods decision to take the money from his employers safe starts his way to the eventu
30、al suicide.,Wealth and Poverty,Industrial growth brought the United States a period of prosperity during the late 1800s and early 1900s.With factories flourishing,job opportunities were abundant.People made good money in factory management positions and other white-collar jobs.Factory workers,howeve
31、r,not only earned low incomes,but they also worked long hours.Consequently,a wide division existed between the wealthy and the poor.Carrie comes from a lower-middle-class background and determines that she will rise above it.Carrie wants more for herself.Throughout Sister Carrie,the distinction betw
32、een social classes is obvious.The clothes people wear,the homes in which they live,and the activities in which they are involved distinguish the rich from the poor.The wealthy wear stylish clothes and attend elaborate performances of the arts.In the final chapter,the description of Hurstwoods last d
33、ays offers a vivid picture of the ultimate plight(困境)of the poorest.,Identity,Experiences contribute greatly to shaping peoples identities.Carries transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end occurs as a result of her responses to her experiences.The Carrie who boards the train in Colum
34、bia City sits primly(拘谨地),trying to ignore the glances of the man seated near her.Having certain morals,Carrie hesitates to acknowledge Drouets presence.Yet,she responds quickly to his initial comments on her and makes direct eye contact with him when she senses his interest in her.From this point o
35、n,Carrie allows herself to act in whatever manner benefits her.Leaving her sisters home and moving around with Drouet,she sees,though,that this action will get her closer to having what she wants.As she understands her value to others,she changes her identity accordingly.As a result,she never really
36、 has an identity but adjusts her“act”to fit the situation.In the end,this ability gains her recognition as an acclaimed actress but does not result in her achieving happiness.,Sex,In the early 1900s,the morals and virtues of the Victorian era still guided peoples actions.People with proper upbringin
37、g did not speak of sex.The public was shocked that Dreisers characters so openly participated in explicit relationships and that Dreiser seemed to take it granted.Carrie uses sex to gain status for herself.She sees nothing wrong in living with Drouet to get the clothes she wants and to have opportun
38、ities to move in Chicagos rich circles.Later,Carrie sees that Hurstwood can offer her an even higher standard of living.She ignores the fact that he is already married and the two of them will be committing adultery.With no regard for Drouets emotions,she breaks off their relationship and pursues on
39、e with Hurstwood.After living with Hurstwood for some time,she realizes she can no longer benefit from the arrangement and leaves him,too.,Dreisers Writing Style,Without good constructionDeficient characterizationLack in imaginationSimple wordsJournalistic method of reiteration重复新闻手法Techniques in pa
40、inting(word-picture,sharp contrast,truth in color,movement in outline),Evaluation on Theodore Dreiser,1)Dreiser has been a controversial figure in American literary history.His works are powerful in their portrayal of the changing American life,but his style is considered crude.He showed a new way o
41、f presenting reality and inspired the writers of the 1920s with courage and insight.It is in Dreisers works that American naturalism is said to have come of age.2)He embraced social Darwinism.He learned to regard man as merely an animal driven by greed and lust in a struggle for existence in which o
42、nly the fittest,the most ruthless,survive.Human tragedy comes as a result of the collision between mans biological needs and societys ruthless manipulation.,3)It is Dreisers announced intention to report the coarse and the vulgar and the cruel and the terrible in life in defiance of the genteel and
43、evasive current literature with which he had absolutely no patience and sympathy.4)Dreisers writings reveal a tremendous vital lust for life with a conviction that man is the end and measure of all things in a world which is devoid of purpose and standards.,Although Dreisers novels are formless at t
44、imes and awkwardly written and his characterization is found deficient and his prose pedestrian and dull,yet his very energy proves to be more than a compensation.6)He is good at employing the journalistic method of reiteration to burn a central impression into the readers mind.His interest in painting is reflected in his taste for word-pictures,sharp contrast,truth in color,and movement in outline.,Thanks!,
