Dreiser (1871-1945) is still considered one of the great American realists, or naturalists. His novels deal with everyday life, often with its sordid side. The characters who people his novels, unable to assert their will against natural and economic forces, are mixtures of good and bad, but he seldom passes judgment on them. He describes them and their actions in massive detail. As Dreiser sees them, human beings are not tragic but pathetic in their inability to escape their petty fates. In the end the sheer weight and power of the author's conviction compel the reader to share his compassionate vision.
Born in small-town Indiana, Dreiser rebelled as a youth against the poverty and narrowness of the life around him. One of his high school teachers recognized his talent and paid his tuition at Indiana University. But Dreiser left college after a year because he felt it "did not concern ordinary life at all." He had various jobs in Chicago: washing dishes, shoveling coal, working in a factory, and collecting bills��experiences which he later used in his writing. He taught himself to be a newspaper reporter and supported himself as a journalist and editor for many years while he was struggling to become recognized as a novelist.
Frohock, Wilbur Merrill. Theodore Dreiser. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1972, 48 p. (813 Fro)
Gerber, Philip L. Theodore Dreiser. New York, Twayne Publishers, 1964, 220 p. (813 Ger)
Kazin, Alfred and Charles Shapiro, eds. The Stature of Theodore Dreiser;A Critical Survey of the Man and His Work. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1955, 303 p. (8L3 Kaz)
Lehan, Richard Daniel. Theodore Dreiser: His World and His Novels. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1969, 280 p. (8l3 Leh)
Matthiessen, F. O. (Francis Otto). Theodore Dreiser. William Sloane Associates, Inc., 1951, 267 p. (813 Dre)
McAleer, John J. Theodore Dreiser;An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968, 180 p. (813 McA)
Shapiro, Charles. Theodore Dreiser:Our Bitter Patriot. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962, 137 p. (813 Sha)