Almanac of Story Tellers: Theodore Dreiser

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of Aug. 27th

 ___________________________________________________________________________

    It is the 239th day of the year, leaving 126 days remaining in 2022.

   

    On this date in 1871, the writer Theodore Dreiser was born in Terra Haute, Ind.

    Dreiser told his stories about those who lived and acted in an amoral manner with an unflinching gaze. He explored social problems, including poverty amid industrialization. He was instrumental in leading novelists away from a Victorian leisure style to one that showed a more realistic portrayal of life in cities and towns.

    He began his writing career as a journalist, first in the Midwest and later in New York. He often was underpaid, and struggled to survive, living in flophouses in the city. But he soon was getting work on some of the major magazines of the day.

    His first novel, Sister Carrie, was somewhat based on the early life of one of his sisters. It told the story of a young woman who moves to the city. She is first used by men, but soon turns the tables and begins to use them to advance her fortunes and her acting career.

    Critics originally panned the book because Carrie's actions went unpunished, and publishers were reluctant to be associated with it. Indeed, for 80 years, the novel sold was a different version than what Dreiser wrote. In 1981, one of his original copies was found and published. 

    It is now considered one of the "greatest of all American urban novels."

    In 1925, Dreiser finished An American Tragedy, loosely based on celebrated murder case in upstate New York. The novel, about a man who drifts through life avoiding consequences for a string of questionable acts and behaviors, is eventually convicted of charges that he killed his fiancée. But in addition to showing the immorality of protagonist Clyde Griffiths, Dreiser also shows the criminal justice system may have ethical problems of its own.

    Dreiser died in 1945 in Hollywood, Calif.