2. How do you see Dreiser’s naturalism influencing his work in Sister Carrie? (What is Naturalism?

What is so unique about this writer who has been scolded by some people in the American literary world for nearly a century but never failed to grow up? How is it different from other writers? In 1943, when the writer was dying, Dreiser wrote to his friend and famous critic Mencken:

You know, Mencken, I am different from you. I was born poor. In November and December I used to walk barefoot without any shoes on my feet. I saw with my own eyes that my dear mother endured all the hardships, was frightened, and was in pain. Perhaps it is for this reason that no matter what the price is, no matter what others say, I always maintain a social system that allows people - those who are humble but willing to work, to have a good life.

This is the reflection of the son of a handicraft worker who immigrated to the United States from Germany to avoid military service. Only a formalist from literature to literature would be indifferent to such words. Poverty enabled the writer to see clearly and distinguish right from wrong at the center of complex social struggles.

Poverty alone cannot create a great writer. What makes Dreiser different from other writers is that he has been engaged in a humble profession since childhood, and he has devoted himself to journalism and editing since his youth, which made him feel the pulse of the times and made him the ears of the society of the times. , eyes and nerves. He not only understands society and life in general, but laughs and cries with ordinary people, and goes deep into society and life in this way. When he was six or seven years old, he started collecting cinders with his brothers and sisters. Sometimes he had nothing to eat but yams and polenta. Dreiser sold newspapers at the age of thirteen, washed dishes in a Chicago hotel at the age of sixteen, and later worked as a warehouse manager for a metalware wholesale store. When he was eighteen years old, he received support from his middle school teacher Feilding and went to Indiana University to study for a year. After a year with no money to continue his studies, he returned to Chicago and worked for a real estate company and later delivered clothes to a laundromat, earning eight dollars a week. In this year, his mother died of illness, and the writer later said: "Our youth is over."

When he was twenty, Dreiser began to write sketches about Chicago, which were published in the "Daily News" . That same year, he found a position at the Chicago Herald, handing out toys at Christmas. Dreiser aspired to become a journalist. At the age of twenty-one, he indeed became a reporter for the Chicago Daily Globe, earning a salary of fifteen dollars per week. This year he published the short story "The Return of the Genius" for the first time in Global Daily. Since then, he has been working in various newspapers, serving as magazine editor and even editor-in-chief, while writing short stories, poems, plays and theater reviews. In 1899, when he was 28 years old, he started writing "Sister Carrie" and published it the next year. At the time, he was working as an editor for a publication. After the publication of "Sister Carrie", he continued to serve as editor of the publication. In 1904, she served as newsletter editor of the New York Daily News, in 1905 as editor-in-chief of the popular publication Smith's Magazine, and in 1907 as editor-in-chief of Broadway Magazine and other popular women's magazines. .

His career as a reporter and editor for one or two decades has helped this writer become familiar with the secrets of human nature, life and society. Here is just one example. Dreiser's masterpiece, "An American Tragedy" published in 1925, marked the victory of realism (naturalism) in the United States, and the material and prototype of the book were the magazine he served as in 1906. Received as editor (Smith's Magazine and Broadway Magazine). Moreover, according to the author, there is not one similar case, but as many as one to fifteen cases, all of which are criminals who pursue the American dream and climb up to new heights, even at the expense of their former lovers. Poisonous hands. It can be seen that the typical examples in Dreiser's works come from life, and through the artistic fiction of him as a journalist and writer, the works are as real, as simple and as aesthetically convincing as life.

Of course poverty and familiarity alone cannot produce great writers. Dreiser was able to succeed because he had the courage to master the most advanced social thoughts, philosophical thoughts and scientific theories that had just emerged at that time. For example, Spencer's social Darwinism - competition for survival and survival of the fittest. Such a theory can not only provide theoretical basis for the plunder of wealthy families, but also can be used to explain why rural girls ("Sister Carrie") have just left the country under the impact of the economic tide. When the countryside enters the city, it is impossible to escape the fate of sinking; why was a poor pastor's son who preached on the streets finally sent to the guillotine, while the infatuated female worker Robert Alton sank forever on a desolate lake ("American Tragedy" 》).

Dreiser learned about Freud at the cultural center of Greenwich Village at the beginning of this century before everyone understood what Austrian Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was. The essence of the theory, so as early as 1925, "An American Tragedy" had written a series of wonderful chapters such as Clete's nightmare after he had a murderous intention and so on. These plots are written so ferociously and horribly, yet so sensible, and vividly reveal the waves of passion in the deep psychology of this depraved young man.

Moreover, Dreiser's use of Freud's psychoanalytic theory was different from the subsequent batches of vulgar sexual description works. Instead, it focused on the description of human nature and the description of dreams and hallucinations, and then combined them with humanism and democracy. Combining socialist thought with socialist thought, the spearhead points directly at the social system, social customs and social trends in which money dominates everything that produced such a tragedy.

Of course, advanced ideas and theories alone cannot produce great writers. To become a master in the field of literature, one must inherit the skills of the predecessors, stand on the shoulders of the predecessors and climb up, innovate on the basis of inheritance, create a new realm, a new world, and create a new world for those who come after. Find a new way. If this were not the case, there would be no great writers. Throughout the ages, many writers have drifted along with the times and been quickly forgotten by the times. Some died young because they had poor skills and did not dare to inherit; more often they did not dare to innovate, or there was some force that prevented them from innovating, so they were frightened and had no choice but to cling to their old ways and live in an ignoble existence, failing the times, the people, and the people. The ambition of his youth.

The reason why Dreiser is different from other writers is that he can innovate on the basis of inheriting the works of his predecessors, break through the shackles, and open up a new world. This great writer, who was a cinder-picker and a newspaper boy, studied hard while doing a menial job. From Shakespeare to Fielding and Thackeray, from Emerson and Thoreau to Mark Twain, from Voltaire and Goethe to Ibsen and Schopenhauer, from Darwin, Huxley to Spencer "First Principles", this man with a profound nature, his extensive study and diligence are really amazing. Especially when he was working as a reporter in the coal city of Pittsburgh at the age of 23 (1894), he went to police stations and courts to cover news. During this period, Dreiser's experience of intoxication and epiphany was the reason why the great writer A great story that can make you a great writer. The following is what Dreiser wrote when he was working as a reporter in Pittsburgh at the age of twenty-four:

A new door to life with powerful appeal suddenly opened in front of me. This is a person who can observe, think and feel. This is a person who can grasp life firmly and sensitively. He is philosophical, broad-minded and full of interest. I immediately became one with his Rapha?l, his Rastignac, his Bisio and his Pianchon. Rafael and I walked into a casino next to the palace together. We were on the palace bridge together, looking down at the Seine River in despair. From here we walked into a shop that sold antiques... At the same time, because the leather was shrinking day by day. Feeling horrible. …For me, it was a literary revolution. This is not only because Balzac was able to grasp life, discover themes, and express them so brilliantly, brightly, and sharply, but also because the models he dealt with so passionately and skillfully - in human society, politics, and art Young people (Rastignac, Raphael, Luponprey, Pianchon) who are always thinking about and pursuing business, etc. - in my opinion, how much like myself... It's easy to identify myself with those ambitious young people who are always pursuing things - I am as familiar with his characters as he is. His skills are so miraculous, and his philosophy is so majestic and powerful that it is somewhat exaggerated. He handles all aspects of literature, society, politics, history, religion, etc. so well... Ah, how amazing it is to have such insight! What about Pittsburgh? What about St. Louis? What about Chicago? …I had, after all, a new and dramatic understanding of my own world.

…I marveled at the physical similarities between the two cities in my mind, and at the vastness of the world that could be described here as he did.