Chapter 10 American Naturalism Crane Norris Dreiser Robinson

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Chapter 10 American Naturalism Crane Norris
Dreiser Robinson

• I. Naturalism
• II. Stephen Crane
• III. Theodore Dreiser
• IV. Other Authors of the Period

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I. Naturalism

• 1. Background
• Industrialism Industrialism produced financial
  giants as well as an industrial proletariat.
  Slums appeared in great numbers and the city poor
  lived a life of insecurity, suffering, and
  violence. Self-reliance disappeared in the fast
  development of economy
• Charles Darwins theory the struggle for
  existence, survival of the fittest, and natural
  selection.
• Herbert Spencers social Darwinism --- the weak
  and stupid would fall victim in the natural
  course of events to economic forces.
• Emile Zolas theory The purpose of a novelist
  was to be a scientist, to place his characters in
  a situation and then to watch the influences of
  heredity and environment destroy them, or, if
  they were good enough, to watch them overcome the
  inimical force of heredity and environment.

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• 2. Features
• Humans are controlled by law of heredity and
  environment. And since they are controlled, they
  lack freedom of their own will.
• The universe is cold, godless, indifferent and
  hostile to human desires. Life becomes a struggle
  for survival.
• The naturalists dismiss the realists as far too
  genteel. They find real life at the violent,
  sensational, sordid, unpleasant, and ugly aspects
  of life. They write about the life of poverty and
  crime, and all of these other aspects of life
  that are not too pleasant to consider.
• 3. Representatives Stephen Crane, Norris and
  Theodore Dreiser
• Stephen Cranes Maggie A Girl of the Streets
  (1893) is the first naturalistic novel in
  America.
• Norris McTeague is the first full-bodied
  naturalistic American novel and a consciously
  naturalistic manifesto.
• Theodore Dreisers Sister Carrie is the greatest
  naturalistic work.

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II. Stephen Crane

• novelist, poet
• pioneer in the naturalistic tradition
• precursors of Imagist poetry Crane, Dickinson
• 1. life (1871-1900)
• Crane was born in a clergymans family.
• He attended a military preparatory school where
  he stayed for less than a year.
• He moved into New York to earn his living as a
  journalist.
• Crane wrote his first book, Maggie A Girl of the
  Streets (1893).
• In 1895 the publication of The Red Badge of
  Courage and of his first book of poems, The Black
  Riders, brought him international fame.
• He died of tuberculosis in Germany at the age of
  28.

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• 2. Works
• Maggie A Girl of the Streets 1893 ??????
• The Red Badge of Courage 1895 ??????
• The Black Riders 1895 ???? ??
• The Open Boat ????

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III . Theodore Dreiser

• 1. life (1871-1945)
• Dreiser was born in Indiana, in a German-speaking
  family.
• His childhood was in extreme poverty.
• After some months at Indiana University, he
  became a reporter on the Chicago Globe before
  arriving in New York in 1894.
• His first novel, Sister Carrie, was rejected many
  times because of his relentless honesty in
  presenting the true nature of American life.
• In his later life, he turned to Communism.

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• 2. Works
• Sister Carrie 1900 ????
• Jennie Gerhardt
  1911 ????
• The Financier 1912 ???
• The Titan 1914 ??
• The Genius 1915 (autobiography)??
• An American Tragedy
  1925 ????
• Dreiser Looks at Russia
  1928 ???????
• The Stoic (posthumously) ???

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• 3. Sister Carrie
• 4. Evaluation
• 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.
• It is in Dreisers works that American naturalism
  is said to have come of age.

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IV . Other Authors of the Period

• 1. Edwin Arlington Robinson(1860 --- 1935)
• a. Introduction
• Robinson is the first important poet of the
  twentieth century
• Poet of transition
• Pulitzer Prize winner for three times
• b. Works
• The Man Against the Sky
• The Three Taverns
• Richard Cory
• Miniver Cheevy

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• 2. Jack London (1876 1916)
• The Call of the Wild
• White Fang
• The Sea Wolf
• Martin Eden
• 3. O. Henry(1862 --- 1910)
• The Gift of the Magi
• The Cop and the Athem2. Jack London (1876 1916)
• The Call of the Wild
• White Fang
• The Sea Wolf
• Martin Eden
• 3. O. Henry(1862 --- 1910)
• The Gift of the Magi
• The Cop and the Athem