Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser, an American novelist, is considered one of the most important literary figures of the twentieth century. Born in August 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the only son of a German immigrant, Tobias Dreiser's childhood was marked by poverty yet he would rise to become a celebrated and widely-read author.

Dreiser's upbringing was steeped in the rapidly developing industrial culture of the time. His father was a printer and his mother opened a dress-making shop, which both helped pay for his Jesuit schooling. Dreiser was drawn to the city and his early works focus heavily on the social, economic, and political landscape of the time.

Dreiser's novels are known for their extraordinary realism. In his first and most famous work, Sister Carrie (1900), he pays particular attention to the travails of the lower classes, a topic he explored in other works such as Jennie Gerhardt (1911), The Financier (1912), and The Titan (1914). He was interested in exploring the inner turmoil of ordinary people and wrote in a frank, straightforward manner that was often controversial.

In his later years, Dreiser moved away from the stark realism of his earlier works and began to incorporate metaphysical themes and perspectives into his writing. His best known later works include An American Tragedy (1925), which tells the story of a young man whose life is blighted by materialism, and The Bulwark(1946), which deals with a family’s struggles to maintain their Dutch-American heritage.

Theodore Dreiser was also one of the most important social commentators of the time. In addition to his novels, he wrote several non-fiction works, including Tragic America (1931) and America is Worth Saving (1941), that addressed America’s ills, from corporate greed to racism. His writing is known for its take on the human cost of social inequality.

Throughout his literary career, Dreiser was a prolific writer. His works have had a lasting impact on the literary world, inspiring many subsequent authors and featuring hallmarks of verisimilitude, secularism, and moral reform. Dreiser died in 1945 in Los Angeles at the age of 73.

Theodore Dreiser is remembered today as one of the greatest and most influential American authors of the last century. His legacy extends beyond his works, eagerly read to this day, to encompass his radical and compassionate view of human nature and a powerful invitation to social progress.