( 1 9 ) N a t u r a l i s m : C o r r u p t i o n o f t h e A m e r i c a n D r e a m
(Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair)
N a t u r a l i sm
[See Topic 17]
F r a n k N o r r i s ( 1 8 7 0 – 1 9 0 2)
- a naturalist and critical realist
- < E. Zola > his early determination to portray life with a photography-like fidelity
- < Social Darwinism > his conviction individuals must be sacrificed to the ongoing inevitable human progress
Ø M a st e r p i e c e s :
- the masterpieces he failed to publ. in the 1890s
McTeague (1899):
- an amateur San Francisco dentist experiences a sexual awakening and marries his patient x but: his wife becomes a greedy monster and he kills her in emotion
- attempts to escape from his guilt and dies in a desert
- the rather bombastic concl. contrib. to the success of a film version
- greed, lust, rage, and envy = no longer sins x but: inherited traits
- ð M. = a victim of determinism by heredity
Vandover and the Brute (1914):
- a physical and mental decay of a man allowing for his brutish impulses to master him
Ø P o p u l a r F i c t i o n :
- the pieces to satisfy pop. taste and win audience for his next achievement
Moran of the Lady Letty (1898):
- Moran = an ‘amazon’, comes to master the crew of her father’s ship after her his death
Blix (1899):
- a partly autobiog. love-story
A Man's Woman (1900)
Ø ‘ T h e E p i c o f t h e W h e a t ’ :
- the unfinished trilogy ‘The Epic of the Wheat’
The Octopus (1901):
- conc. with the production of grain
- based on an actual issue: CA wheat farmers x the Southern Pacific Railroad
- the author remains detached from the object of his study x but: incl. a symbolic incident – the wheat buries the entrepreneur who gained it by unsound methods when it is loaded by a machine on a ship
The Pit (1903):
- conc. with the commercial marketing of grain
- based on the speculation of the Chicago (IL) stock market
The Wolf:
- would have been conc. with the world-wide distribution of grain
T h e o d o r e D r e i s e r ( 1 8 7 1 – 1 9 4 5 )
L i f e :
- son of Ger. immigrants: his father a relig. fanatic, his mother kind but illiterate
- grew up poor and unhappy
- sought journalism as an escape from his childhood
- worked with regional newsps > NY > Chicago
W o r k :
- associated with the Chicago School of Realism and with the C. Renaissance
- < his own difficult childhood and knowledge of the street life
- < the contemp. figures whose stories were played out in the newsps
- < C. Darwin’s and T. Huxley’s evolutionary theories of scientific and social determinism
- conc. with the indifferent universe x but: sympathetic to his characters
- ð made money, sex, and power the major themes of the 20th c. lit.
Sister Carrie (1900):
- based on the elopement of one of his sisters and on the newsp reports on the embezzlement of company funds
- made Carrie Meeber x George Hurstwood pass one another along the lines of their ascent x descent
- combined naturalism and expressionism
- received little attention x but: reissued (1907), won him the deserved attention, and infl. the turn of lit.
Jennie Gerhardt (1911):
- based on his sister’s experience as a rich man’s mistress
“The Cowperwood Trilogy”:
- incl. The Financier, The Titan, and The Stoic
- dramatised the methods used by ruthless entrepreneurs to take control of the Am. system
An American Tragedy (1925):
- based on an actual murder trial
- the protagonist sentenced to death for the murder of one girl because of his longing for another and richer girl
- exploited both the foolish dream of upward mobility and the foolish desire for perfect love
U p t o n Si n c l a i r ( 1 8 7 8 – 1 9 6 8 )
L i f e :
- b. in a family destroyed by his father’s drinking x but: of rich relatives
- his own experience of both the poor x the rich > a desire for social justice and improvement
W o r k :
- earned for his college by writing humours stories and anecdotes for periodicals
The Journal of Arthur Stirling (1903):
- raged against the materialistic society not supporting its geniuses
- scorned the pop. writing he was forced to produce for his living
Ø ‘ M u c kr a ke r ’ F i c t i o n :
- used a detailed journalistic style
The Jungle (1906):
- orig. a series of newsp reports based on his actual journalistic examination of the Chicago slaughterhouse conditions
- depicted the exploitation of the workers in the slaughterhouse and offered socialism as a solution
- shocked the President Roosevelt, made the government attend to the hygiene of the meat-producing industry x but: did not improve the conditions of workers
The Metropolis (1907) and The Moneychangers (1908):
- conc. with the speculation of the stock market
Ø I n t e r - w a r J o u r n a l i sm :
- wrote journalistic articles against capitalism
Singing Jailbirds:
- a didactic play, expressionistic in technique
Oil! (1927):
- conc. with the government corruption and connection with the oil tycoons
Boston (1928):
- conc. with the ‘miscarriage of justice’ sentencing 2 workers to death
Ø P o st - W W I I F i c t i o n :
‘The Lanny Budd Series’:
- incl. 11 novels conc. with the illegitimate son of a weapon producer entering in disguise the top political scene and infl. the world policies
- ends up as an excuse for the Am. capitalism