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Dreiser's Tragedy: The Distortion of American Values
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
Extract
Dreiser seems to have thought for years about the book that eventually became An American Tragedy. For years he had wanted to write about a crime. He kept clippings of various murder cases, and before the Chester Gillette-Grace Brown case in upstate New York in 1906 he had clippings about other murders, including one about a minister who committed a murder.
- Type
- An American Tragedy: A 50th Anniversary
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976
References
* This paper is derived from tapes of two talks given by James T. Farrell at Glassboro State College on September 18 and 25, 1973. The tapes have been transcribed and edited by Professor Dennis Flynn of Hofstra University.
* This differentiates Clyde from some of the earlier main characters of Dreiser. Sister Carrie's success is due to her emotional nature. In Dreiser's The Genius, the material success of the principal character, Eugene Witla, is due to the fact that he has talent, that he is more or less of a genius as a painter. In Dreiser's trilogy about the financier Cowperwood, again, Cowperwood shows from his early teens that he has a genius in manipulating stocks. He becomes a millionaire in his early twenties. In each of these cases where there is material success, it is related to the capacity within the personality and the organism of these characters.