西奥多德莱赛. 美国悲剧.ppt

Theodore Dreiser (1871 – 1945)One of the greatest American naturalist writers.,,About his Life,Born in Indiana,1871 Indiana University, Reporter on the Chicago Globe,1894 Married Sara White in 1898. Separated in 1909 and got married with his cousin Helen Richardson again in 1944. Died in Hollywood,1945,His Great 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 (1945) 《斯多葛》 The ‘Genius’ (1915) 《天才》 An American Tragedy (1925)《美国的悲剧》,His Writing Style,Language: very awkward, crude [unrefined] on the bordering of line of grammar. Serious in tone: never satirical or comic His narrative is very natural, based on quantities of materials and detailed descriptions.,Main Themes,American Dream Change and Transformation Choices and Consequences Wealth and Poverty Identity Sex,About his Childhood,Theodore had un unhappy childhood. He was the ninth of the ten surviving chilren of his family. His father was a severe and intensely religious, often unemployed and tearted his children badly. At his age of eight, forced by the poor life, his mother took him out of his family with other three young chilren.,,They strayed from one town to another, living a very tough life. So Dreiser's childhood was full of poverty and ignorance and it had a great affect on his writting.We can see the bitterness of his childhood experience in the first few chapters of the “An American tragedy“.,plot summary,The ambitious but ill-educated and immature Clyde is raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, and on reaching young adulthood takes low-status jobs There, his more sophisticated colleagues introduce him to alcohol and prostitutes.,,But Clyde's life is changed when the driver of a stolen car in which he is traveling runs over and kills a young child. Clyde flees and meets his wealthy uncle , the owner of a shirt-collar factory .Feeling guilt for neglecting his poor relations, offers to help him, while not accepting him into the Griffiths' upper-class social circle.,,In his uncle’s factory, he is attracted to Roberta, a poor and innocent farm girl working here, who falls in love with him. he ultimately have sex with Roberta and makes her pregnant. Meanwhile the elegant Sondra , daughter of a factory owner, takes an interest in Clyde and provides him with opportunities to be rich. Pregnant Roberta expects him to marry her, but Clyde dreams of marrying Sondra.,this part,Clyde plans to murder Roberta in an boating accident,he takes Roberta on a row boat on Big Bittern Lake and rows to a remote area. As he speaks to her regarding the end of their relationship, Roberta moves towards him, and he strikes her in the face with his camera, stunning her and capsizing the boat. Roberta, unable to swim, drowns while Clyde, unwilling to save her, swims to shore. The Clyde implies that the blow was accidental, but the trail of evidence left by the panicky and guilt-ridden Clyde points to murder. Fianlly, Clyde is convicted, sentenced to death.,,The novel is a tragedy in the strict sense, Clyde's destruction being the consequence of his innate weaknesses: moral and physical cowardice, lack of scruple and self-discipline, muddled intellect and unfocused ambition; additionally, the effect of his ingratiating {Dreiser uses the word “soft“) social manner places temptation in his way which he cannot resist.,,从某种程度上来说是美国梦的寓言，那些出生低微，家境贫寒的人们，无不梦想在社会上能出人头地，或一夜之间突然成为百万富翁，或痴心妄想，有朝一日能高攀上富家女，享受荣华富贵。

而寓言却使他反其道而行之，将大团圆结局颠倒过来显而易见，能园这美国梦的是绝无仅有的，大多数人只能遗憾终生，甚至丧命正如德莱塞小说中说写：“社会活动的范围毕竟划得泾渭分明，谁要是越出一步，就注定要灭亡why,obviously the tragedy has a duai nature.it is both personal and social.clyde is a murderer, but also a victim of the social system.it is the social division between rich and poor that lures him into a ruinous way.his doom is logical result of the amercian way of life.,,20世纪20年代，美国社会崇尚伪善的奢侈谈，没有好好地去培养年轻一代美国的现实主义，是青年人认为，有了金钱便能拥有一切，包括美色在内这就是对当时社会现实的控诉 《美国的悲剧》是一部含有普遍真实和客观性的作品,。