Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser is indisputably one of America's most important twentieth-century novelists. "An American Tragedy," "Sister Carrie," and "Jenny Gerhardt" have all made an indelible mark on the American literary landscape. And yet remarkably few critical books and no recent collections of critical essays have been published that attempt to answer current theoretical questions about Dreiser's entire canon. What were Dreiser's relationships with women and how did they inform his characters? What can we learn from his work about the lives and struggles of working women in turn-of-the-century America? Why did Dreiser appropriate the romance form to comment about life in the 1890's? This collection, which presents new essays that raise contemporary theoretical questions about his work as a whole, is the first to appear in twenty-four years. The ten contributing essayists offer original interpretations of Dreiser's works from such disparate points of view as new historicism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, feminism, film studies, and canon formation. A vital reassessment, "Theodore Dreiser: Beyond Naturalism" brings this influential modern writer into the 1990s by viewing him through the lens of the latest literary theory and cultural criticism.