Cambridge University Press
052181555X - The Cambridge Companion to Theodore Dreiser - Edited by Leonard Cassuto and Clare Virginia Eby
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INDEX



A. L. Burt (publisher) 19

Ackroyd, Peter 41

Adams, Henry 30

African Americans, exclusion from modern selfhood 164

Agnew, Jean-Christophe 103

Alden, Roberta (in An American Tragedy) 72

   as affected by industrialization 3

   journalistic realism 54

   portrayal 146

   poverty 211

   problems arising from lack of family support 199

   sexuality and pregnancy 151, 154–156

   treatment by Clyde Griffiths 197, 202, 203–205, 207, 208

Alfred A. Knopf (publisher) 26

Alger, Horatio 56, 113, 115

American Academy of Arts and Letters xx

American Bar Association 27

American culture, and the theme of desire 63–66

American Medical Association 27, 180

American Play Company 27

American Spectator xix

An American Tragedy (TD) xvii, 8, 11, 24, 26, 151

   and consumerism 4

   and criminology 42

      crime fiction genre 196–198, 209–210

   desire theme 65, 71–73

   documentary base 212

   dramatization 20, 27, 28

   film xviii, 58

   and gender 5, 10

      portrayal of masculinity 5

      and sentiment 201

   Gilbert Griffiths (cousin of Clyde Griffiths) 71, 76, 205

   Hortense Briggs 153, 154, 155, 159, 201, 207

   industrialization and its effects 3

   journalistic realism 54, 57

   paperback issue 19

   politics and personality theme 6

   and poverty 212

   pregnancy theme 149, 152, 156

   printing history 26

   rags-to-riches paradigm and journalism 57–58

   Samuel Griffiths (uncle of Clyde Griffiths) 71, 75, 76, 202, 205

   and sentimentalism 196, 197, 201, 210

   social respectability and the maintenance of appearances 75, 77

   Sondra Finchley 72, 76, 154, 155, 202, 203, 204, 205, 207

   stage adaptation xvii

   style 58–59

   TD’s difficulties with conclusion 196

   trial for suppression (1929) xviii

   upward mobility theme 115

   see also Alden, Roberta; Griffiths, Clyde

Anderson, Sherwood xviii, 10, 28

anti-Semitism, TD accused of xix

appearances

   maintenance

      and sexual propriety, in Jennie Gerhardt 73

      and social respectability 73, 78

Appleton (publisher) 26

Armour, Philip D. 32

art

   and commerce 9

      in The “Genius” 127–128, 129–130, 131–134

Ashcan School 94, 98, 130, 139

Athens, significance 161

Authors’ League of America xvi, 5

B. W. Dodge and Company (publisher) xiv

Baguley, David, and naturalist fiction 53

Balzac, Honoré de 35, 85, 174

Barr, Amelia E. 128

Baum, Frank 91

Baym, Nina 100, 211

Bell, Michael Davitt, on TD’s understanding of women 157

Bellow, Saul, critical appreciation of Dreiser 47, 48

Benjamin, Walter 91

Berryman, John 48

biographical methods, TD’s use 30–45

Bloom, Marion xvi

Blue Ribbon Books (publisher) 19

Bok, Edward 30

Bon Marché 89

Boni and Liveright (publisher) xvi–xvii, 5, 24, 139

A Book About Myself see Newspaper Days

book clubs 18

Book Find Club 19

A Book of Prefaces (Mencken) xvi

Book-of-the-Month Club 19

Bookman (magazine), serialization of A Book About Myself 19

Booth, Franklin (illustrator) xvi

Bourne, Randolph, TD and ethnicity 56

Bowlby, Rachel 164

Brennan, Austin (husband of Mame Dreiser) 40

Brown, Bill 2, 9, 169

Brown, Grace (murder victim) 42, 57, 212

Bryant, William Cullen 32

Buck, Carrie, sterilization 211

Buck v. Bell (1927), significance of attitudes towards poverty 211

The Bulwark (TD) xv, xvi, xvii, xx, 8, 11

   as book club selection 19

   concerns with material details 85

   materialism and spirituality 91, 96

   mysticism 51

   and Quakerism 42

burlesque 52

Burns, Sarah 132

Burr, Albert H. 180

Butler, Aileen (Frank Cowperwood’s second wife)(in The Trilogy of Desire) 44, 120, 135, 136, 150

   affair with Cowperwood 69, 70, 112, 113, 114, 124

   Cowperwood’s loyalty towards as commitment to speculation 115

   portrayal 146–147

Butler, Edward (politician), TD interviews 45

Butler, Edward Malia (in The Trilogy of Desire) 44, 69, 70, 146, 148

   desire theme 65

   employment of Pinkerton detectives 112, 113, 122

   promotes Frank Cowperwood’s career 124

   upward mobility 112, 113, 117

Butterick (publisher) xiv, 7, 15, 18

Cain, James M. 108, 196, 209

Camera Club (NY) 131

Campbell, Louise (TD’s literary adviser and lover) xvi, xvii, xx

Capote, Truman 42

Carnegie, Andrew 3, 32, 49, 138

Cassuto, Leonard 7, 10

Cather, Willa 26

Century (magazine), serialization of A Traveler at Forty 19

Century Company (publisher) xv, 24

Chandler, Raymond 26

Chaplin, Charlie, and burlesque 52

Chicago

   role in Sister Carrie 86, 87–89, 186

   significance 161

   TD’s attitude towards 93

Chopin, Kate 171

“Christian Gentleman” 205, 212

Christian Science 94, 95, 96

cinema, and materialism 91

cities

   aesthetic appreciation, in The “Genius” 94, 98

   as promiscuous spaces 182

commerce, and art, in The “Genius” 127–128, 129–130, 131–134

communism, TD’s involvement xviii, xix, xx, 8

conspicuous consumption 3

Constable (publisher) 21

consumerism 3, 4, 83, 84

   commodity fetishism 90

   see also desire; materialism

Cooper, James Fenimore 43

copyrights 25, 28

corporations, emergence 118

Cowley, Malcolm 12

Cowperwood, Frank (in The Trilogy of Desire) 3, 9

   ability to inspire loyalty 117, 125

   artistic and commercial experiences 127, 134, 140

   character 33

   character modeled on Charles T. Yerkes 43–45

   desire theme 63, 65, 69

   domestic alienation 100

   as financier and philosopher 49

   materialism 86

   rags-to-riches paradigm 56

   relationship with Aileen Butler 124, 146–147

      investigated by Pinkerton detectives 112

   relationship with Stephanie Platow 147, 148

   self-interest 201

   social mobility and class structure 10

   social respectability and the maintenance of appearances 75

   upward mobility 6, 113, 114–115, 116, 119–122, 125

Crane, Stephen 164

crime

   crime fiction genre, An American Tragedy 42, 196–198, 209–210

   criminality, TD’s understandings of 198

Cudlipp, Thelma (model for Suzanne Dale of The “Genius”) xv, 68

Culin, Stewart 91

Cummings, E. E. 23

Daly, Carroll John 209

Darrow, Clarence xviii

Davies, Jude 164, 165

Davis, Richard Harding 20

Dawn (TD)

   and autobiography 40

   and The Financier 44

   portrayal of masculinity 5

   publication (1931) xviii, 8

   use of biographical material in the character of Carl Dreiser 40

   withheld from publication xvii

Defoe, Daniel, realism 50

Delbanco, Andrew, TD’s Germanic inheritance and its influence on style 55

The Delineator (magazine) xiv, 7, 68, 70

Dell, Floyd xv

desire

   An American Tragedy 65, 71–73, 74

   and consumer culture 83, 84

   and development of American culture 63–66

   The Financier 68, 70

   Jennie Gerhardt 68

   Sister Carrie 63, 65, 66, 67

   social construction 7

   and social respectability 78

   The Titan 70

   see also consumerism; materialism

Dickens, Charles 41

Dobson, Joanne 199

Doctorow, E. L. 112, 115, 124

domesticity

   domestic alienation 108–109

      in The “Genius” 106

      in Sister Carrie 100, 102, 103, 106, 107–108, 109

   in Jennie Gerhardt 106, 107

   see also families

Dos Passos, John 58, 60

Doubleday, Frank 16, 24, 178, 192

Doubleday, Mrs., objections to Sister Carrie 53

Doubleday, Page and Company (publisher) xiii, xx, 7, 16, 17, 23, 24, 157

Douglass, Frederick 164

Dreiser, Al (TD’s brother) 44

Dreiser, Carl (TD’s nephew), use as biographical subject 40–42

Dreiser, Emma (TD’s sister) xii, xiii, 36, 38, 179, 193

Dreiser, Helen Patges (née Richardson; TD’s lover and second wife) xvii, xix, xx

Dreiser, Johann Paul (TD’s father) xi, xii, xiv, 40

Dreiser, Mame (TD’s sister) xi, 40

Dreiser, Rome (TD’s elder brother) xii

Dreiser, Sara Osborne (née White, “Sallie”/“Jug”, TD’s first wife) xii, xiii, xiv, xv, xx, 7, 15, 16, 17, 151

Dreiser, Sarah Schänäb (TD’s mother) xi, xii, 40

Dreiser, Sylvia (TD’s sister) xii, 40

Dreiser, Theodore

   accused of plagiarizing Dorothy Thompson’s work 11

   biographical methods 30–45

   biography xi–xx, 7–8, 142–143

   characterization and fashion 12

   consumerism and its effects on his work 3, 4

   copyrights 28

   editorial experience 15

   experience of art and commerce 127, 128

   fascination with politics and personality 5, 7

   fiction development 9

   and gender and sexuality 4, 5

   Germanic background and its influence on style 55–56

   industrialization and its effects on his work 2, 3

   interview techniques 31–33, 34

   and journalism 16, 128

   and literary agents 26

   literary reputation 1–2, 11

   political views 8, 12

   and professional authorship 9, 15, 16–26

   sexual anxieties 159

   style 9, 47–60

      and biography 9

   use of family’s history as basis for works 40–42

   visual arts and the use of biographical techniques 34–39

   works xx, 25, 28

      “About the Hotels” 31

      An Amateur Laborer xiv, 7, 27, 40

      America Is Worth Saving xix, 8

      Chains: Lesser Novels and Stories xviii, 20

      “Christmas in the Tenements” 83

      The Color of a Great City xvii, 20, 83

      “A Doer of the Word” 33, 200, 201, 212

      Dreiser Looks at Russia xviii, 8, 20

      Free and Other Stories xvi, 20

      A Gallery of Women xviii, 20, 33, 156

      “The Girl in the Coffin” xv

      “Gossip of Chicago’s Big Show” 31

      The Hand of the Potter xvi, xvii, 61, 165, 197

      “Heard in the Corridors” (column in Globe-Democrat) xii, 31

      Hey Rub-A-Dub-Dub xvii, 8, 20

      A Hoosier Holiday xvi, 8, 40

      “Jeremiah I” 52

      “Laughing Gas” 51

      “A Lesson From the Aquarium” 44

      “McEwen of the Shining Slave Makers” xiii

      Moods: Cadenced and Declaimed xviii, 20

      “My Brother Paul” 20, 31

      “Nigger Jeff” xiii, 30, 197, 210

      Notes on Life xviii

      “Old Rogaum and His Theresa” xiii

      “Peter” 31, 34

      Plays of the Natural and Supernatural xvi, 20

      “The Rake” (unpublished novel) xiv

      “This Madness – The Story of Elizabeth” 42

      Tragic America xix, 8

      Twelve Men xvi–xvii, 8, 20, 31, 33, 34

      see also An American Tragedy; The Bulwark; Dawn; The Financier; Jennie Gerhardt; Newspaper Days; Sister Carrie; The Stoic; The Titan; A Traveler at Forty; The Trilogy of Desire

Dreiser, Vera (TD’s niece) 41

Dreiser Edition xx, 1, 11, 28, 214

Dresser, Paul (TD’s eldest brother) xi, xiii, xiv, 17, 20, 31, 38, 68

   “On the Banks of the Wabash” xiii

Drouet, Charles (in Sister Carrie) 36, 87, 88, 104, 105, 178

   character contrasted with that of Carrie 144–145

   characterization and its socialization 186, 187, 188, 189, 194

   desire theme 66

   dines out with Carrie, TD’s approach to realism 50

   relationship with Carrie 154, 171

Dudley, Dorothy xvi

Eby, Clare Virginia 5, 9, 45, 49, 124

Eddy, Mary Baker 95

editorial work, Dreiser’s experience 15

“The Eight” 98

Eisenstein, Sergei xviii

Eliot, T. S. 40, 41

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 116

ethnocentrism 51

   effects on TD 55–56

   see also race

European culture, influence over American culture 129, 135, 138, 139, 140

Ev’ry Month (monthly magazine) xiii, 17

Exposition see World’s Columbian Exposition

“The Fair”, and retailing 89, 90

fallen women narratives 9, 178–179, 184

   Sister Carrie 4, 35–39, 178, 179

   see also fiction; New Woman; women

families

   social role 198

   women as homemakers, Jennie Gerhardt 149–150

   see also domesticity

family history, TD’s use as basis for works 40–42

Farrell, James T., TD’s realism 52

Faulkner, William 23, 26, 43, 59

Fauset, Jessie 179

Ferrero, Guglielmo 193

fiction

   crime fiction genre 42, 196–198, 209–210

   sentimental fiction 199, 200

   see also fallen women narratives

Fiedler, Leslie, on TD’s understanding of women 157

Field, Eugene 83

Field, Marshall 88

Fielding, Mildred (Warsaw teacher) xii

financial returns, for authors 21–23

The Financier (TD) 11

   biographical techniques 33

   Black Grouper allegory 43, 121

   desire theme 68, 70

   Lillian Semple Cowperwood (wife of Frank Cowperwood) 114, 120, 121, 135

   publication (1912) 7

   quotation from Richard III 43, 46

   shortened version published xviii

   social respectability and the maintenance of appearances 75

   sources 44

   upward mobility 6, 112–119, 124

      and accountability 119, 122

      and class structure 10

      and loyalty 122

   women’s role 142

   see also Cowperwood, Frank; The Trilogy of Desire

Fisher, Philip 103, 164

Fitzgerald, F. Scott 23, 26, 57, 65, 154

“The Flesh and the Spirit” see Sister Carrie

Ford, Ford Madox 58

Ford, Henry 3

Foster, Hannah 178

Franklin, Benjamin, rags-to-riches paradigm 56

Frost, Robert 21, 26

Frye, Northrop 53

Gair, Christopher 6, 9

Garden City Publishing (publisher) 19

gender

   attitudes towards 205–206, 212

   and loyalty 117

   male heroism 206

   male proprietorship 145

   “Masculine Achiever” 205, 212

   masculinity 5, 10, 95, 205–207, 211

   men, domestic alienation 100

   portrayal 9

   and sentimentality, An American Tragedy 201

   separate spheres concept 198, 211

   and sexuality 4, 5, 10

   see also pregnancy; women

gender stereotypes 9

   inversion 148

   portrayal of women 142

The “Genius” (TD) xv, xvi, xvii, 7, 11

   Angela Blue 146, 151, 158

   artistic and commercial themes 127–128, 129–130, 131–134, 139

   court case thrown out xvi

   desire theme 70

   domestic alienation 106

   and materialism 9, 84, 85, 86

   publication (1915) 8, 139

   republication 19

   sexual desire and materialism 93–96

   social respectability and the maintenance of appearances 75

   suppression 5, 157

   Suzanne Dale 72, 146

   and visual arts 34

   women’s superiority and pregnancy themes 149, 151, 158

   see also Witla, Eugene Tennyson

George, Henry, and consumerism 4

Gerhardt, Jennie (in Jennie Gerhardt) xv, 40

   desire theme 63, 68, 84

   domesticity 106–107

   as homemaker and pregnancy 149–151

   power 157

   sexual propriety and maintenance of appearances 73, 74

   and social respectability 77

gifts, nature 115, 116, 125

Giles, Paul 2, 9

Gillette, Chester (model for Clyde Griffiths in An American Tragedy) 42, 57, 212

glass windows, role in Sister Carrie 87–89, 91–92

Globe-Democrat (St. Louis newspaper) 31

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 35

Grant Richards (publisher) 21

Griffiths, Clyde (in An American Tragedy) 209

   awareness of family attitudes towards poverty 199

   characterization 57

      as criminal and sentimentalist 5, 197, 198

      selflessness and ineffectualness 200, 201–209

   and consumerism 4

   desire theme 64, 65, 71–73

      and tragedy 73, 74

   domestic alienation 100

   execution 196

   journalistic realism 54

   masculinity 5

      and sentimentality 10

   politics and personality theme 6

   poverty 211

   problems arising from lack of family support 199

   relationships with women 152–156

   social respectability and the maintenance of appearances 75–77

   subserviency to Roberta Alden 151

   thought patterns 58

Grosset and Dunlap (publisher) 19

Hall, G. Stanley 205

Hals, Franz 139

Hammett, Dashiell 26, 196, 209

Hapgood, Hutchins xix

Harcourt, Alfred (publisher) 23

Hardy, Thomas 35, 52

Harper and Brothers (publisher) xiii, xv, 24

Harris, Neil 86

Hartley, J. Scott 35

Hawthorne, Nathaniel 32

Heinemann (publisher) 21

Hemingway, Ernest 23, 26, 28, 48, 152

Henri, Robert 98

Henry, Arthur xiii, xiv, 7, 17

Henry, Maud xiii

Henry Holt (publisher) 26

Hoffenstein, Samuel xviii

Holmes, Bayard 180

Holmes, Justice Oliver Wendell, attitudes towards poverty 211

Horace Liveright, Inc. (publisher) xviii, 24, 26, 28

Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz, on cultural taste between the sexes 140

Horwitz, Howard 119

Houghton Mifflin (publisher) 26

Howard, June 164

Howells, William Dean 32, 56, 128, 133, 174, 185

Howley, Haviland and Company (music production firm) xiii

Hume, David 212

Hurstwood, George (in Sister Carrie) 36–37, 148, 179

   characterization

      contrast with that of Carrie 144–145

      and socialization 190

   and criminal motivations 197

   domestic alienation 100, 101, 103–105, 107–108, 109

   lack of decisiveness 208

   masculinity 5

   materialism 66, 67, 87, 90

   ornithological characteristics 52

   racial otherness 9, 166–170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175

   social respectability and maintenance of appearances 74

   social selfhood 165

Hutchinson, Francis 212

industrialization 2, 3, 9

Inness, George 35

J. F. Taylor (publisher) xiv

James, Henry 21, 40, 47, 59, 85, 147, 155

James, William 86, 206

Jameson, Frederic 91

Jehlen, Myra 167, 169, 171

Jenney, William Le Baron 89

Jennie Gerhardt (TD) xiv, 10

   completion 16

   desire theme 68, 84

   domesticity 106, 107

   dramatization 20

   editing and publication xv

   ethnocentrism and Germanic style 55–56

   as family chronicle 40

   film xix

   language 152

   Lester Kane xv, 5, 40, 74, 100, 106–107, 150

   and modernity 92–93

   mysticism 52

   portrayal of masculinity 5

   pregnancy theme 149, 151

   publication (1911) 7

   sexual propriety and maintenance of appearances 73

   as study of selflessness 200

   “The Transgressor” (working title) 6

   women’s role 142

   see also Gerhardt, Jennie

Jesus Christ, characterization 206

John Lane Company (publisher) xv, xvi, 5, 24, 139

Johnson, Andrew 31

journalism

   in An American Tragedy 57

   Dreiser’s experience 16

   TD’s interview techniques 31–33

Joyce, James 58

Jurca, Catherine 6, 9

Kaplan, Amy 51, 101, 102

Karaganis, Joseph 57

Katz, Michael 211

Kazin, Alfred 48

Kearney, Patrick (dramatist) 27

Kerlin, Louise (Paul Dresser’s mistress), as model for Carrie Meeber 38

Kimmel, Michael 206

Kruger, Barbara 4

Kubitz, Estelle Bloom (TD’s lover) xvi

Larsen, Nella 179

Lasch, Christopher 121

Lauter, Paul, critical appreciation of TD 48

Leach, William 96

League of American Writers xix

Lears, Jackson 4, 9

Lehan, Richard 57

Lewis, Sinclair xviii, 1, 11, 23, 26, 108, 109

Lindsay, Vachel 91

Lingeman, Richard 41, 106, 158

literary agents 26

Literary Guild 19

Liveright, Horace xvi, xvii, xix, 24

lobster and squid allegory in The Financier 43, 44, 114, 122

Lombroso, Cesare 193

London, Jack 21, 163, 164

loyalty, and upward mobility 113–115, 122, 124

McCord, Peter, as interviewee 31

McCullagh, Joseph B. (editor, Globe-Democrat) 31

magazine serialization 19

Mailer, Norman 42, 49, 57

Marden, Orison Swet 31–34, 128

Markham, Kirah (TD’s lover) xv, xvi, 148

Martin, Karin A. 158

Martin, Ronald E. 163

Martin, Wendy 171

Marx, Karl 90

   masculinity see gender

mass culture

   industrialization, as reflected in An American Tragedy 200

   and modernity, in Jennie Gerhardt 92–93

   see also consumerism

mass production, TD’s interest in 2

material culture 9

materialism

   and sexual desire 93, 96

   Sister Carrie 85, 86, 87, 92

   TD’s concerns with 9, 84–86

   see also consumerism; desire

Matthiessen, F. O. 47, 51, 55, 57

Mauss, Marcel 116

media, theme in An American Tragedy 57

Meeber, Carrie (in Sister Carrie) 147, 148, 150, 154

   acquisitiveness 136

   characterization 35, 36–39, 58, 144, 146

      and its socialization 185

   and consumerism 4

   desire theme 63, 65, 66–67

   dines out with Drouet, TD’s approach to realism 50

   as fallen woman 178, 179

   Germanic background 56

   identity commodified in the economic cycle 49

   materialism 87, 90–92, 95

   racial otherness 9, 166, 167, 169, 170–175

   social respectability 77, 78

      and maintenance of appearances 74

   social selfhood 165

   superiority over Drouet 154

   as unattached woman 179

   urban and domestic alienation 103, 104, 105

   and the use of mirror images 54

Melville, Herman 43

Mencken, H. L. xiv, xvi, xvii, xix, 8, 11, 23, 26, 142

   assessment of Frank Cowperwood 43

   brokers TD’s visit to “Sing-Sing” Prison during writing of An American Tragedy 196

   cooling of friendship with TD 210

   on Cowperwood’s character 33

   defends The “Genius” 5

   role of women in An American Tragedy 152

   TD and ethnicity 56

   TD’s understanding of women 157

Metropolitan (magazine) xvii, 5, 19

Michaels, Walter Benn 49, 102, 114–115, 116, 117, 119, 164, 167, 173

middle class, estrangement from 9

Midway Plaisance see White City

Miller, Henry 40

“Mirage” see An American Tragedy

Mizruchi, Susan 184, 194

Modern Age Books (publisher) xix, 24

Modern Library (publisher) 19

modernity, in Jennie Gerhardt 92–93

Moers, Ellen 43, 196

movie rights 20

museums

   cultural standing as means of artistic patronage 137–138

   role 127

Myers, Gustavus 138

mysticism, and realism 51, 52

Nathan, George Jean (editor and journalist) xix, 23

National Commitee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, TD’s role in investigation (1931) xix

National Institute of Arts and Letters, TD refuses to join xix

Nazism, TD accused of 8

neurasthenia 67, 93, 94, 95

New American Library (paperback publisher) 19

New Criticism 1, 48

New Journalism 57

New Woman 177, 179, 193

   Sister Carrie 180

   as threat to society 181–184

   see also fallen women narratives; prosititution; women

New York Society for the Suppression of Vice xvi, 5, 139, 157, 196

New York Times, significance of the White City 162

Newspaper Days (TD) xvi, 163

   and autobiography 40

   journalistic attitudes 49

   publication xvii, 8

   renaming and republication xviii

   serialization 19

   World’s Columbian Exposition’s significance 161

Norris, Frank xiii, 7, 152

Oberholtzer, E. P., work used as source for The Trilogy of Desire 44

O’Neill, Eugene xix

Orvell, Miles 6, 9

paperbacks 18

Paramount Pictures xviii, xix

   filming of TD’s novels 20

   TD sues over filming of An American Tragedy 58

Park, Robert E. 184, 191

passing narratives 182

Paten, Simon, and materialism 86

Peiss, Kathy 193

Pennsylvania Edition xx, 1, 11, 28, 214

Petrey, Sandy, TD’s realism 52

Philadelphia city 117, 119, 124

photography, cultural standing 131–132

Pinkerton detectives 112, 122

Pittsburgh Dispatch 49

Pizer, Donald 30, 142

Pocket Books (paperback publisher) 19

Poirier, Richard, TD’s style contrasted with that of Henry James 59

politics and personality, TD’s fascination with 5, 7

poverty

   attitudes towards 199, 211

   TD’s concerns with 6

pregnancy 149

   An American Tragedy 149, 152, 156

   The “Genius” 149, 151

   Jennie Gerhardt 149, 151

   see also gender; women

professional authorship, Dreiser’s attitudes towards 15, 16–26

prostitution

   threat arising from the unattached woman 183–184

   see also New Woman

public libraries, establishment 138

publishers, TD’s attitudes towards 24–26, 28

Quakerism 42

race

   race suicide 181

   racial evolution, as illustrated at the World’s Columbian Exposition 162–163, 171

   racial otherness 9

      Sister Carrie 163, 175

   see also ethnocentrism

rags-to-riches paradigm 56–58

Random House (publisher) 23, 26

realism

   approaches to

      dialectical approach to 50–51

      journalistic approach to 47–50, 53

      materialism and rarefaction 52–54

   complex realism 10

   and mysticism 51, 52

   new realism, influence on biographical techniques in Sister Carrie 35–39

Rembrandt 139

reprinting practices 18–19

retailing

   and modernity

      in Sister Carrie 3, 89–91

      see also mass production

Richardson, Samuel 178

Riggio, Thomas P. 6, 9, 56, 158

Riis, Jacob 83

Rinsen Book Co. (publisher) 28

Robbins, Bruce 6, 9

Rockefeller, John D. 3

Romero, Lora 100

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (President) xix, 211

Roosevelt, Theodore 205

Rosen, Ruth 178

Rosenberg, Charles 212

Rosenthal, Elias (New York attorney) 16

Ross, Edward Alsworth 181, 184, 193

Rotundo, Anthony 205, 206

Rowson, Susanna 178

Russia, TD visits xviii, 8

Salinger, J. D. 40

Santayana, George 50

Sartre, Jean-Paul 91

Scribners (publisher) 26, 28

self-interest 201

selflessness, TD’s concerns with 200–209

semi-welfare state 199, 211

sentimentality 10

   in An American Tragedy 196, 197, 201, 210

   in fiction 199, 211

sexuality

   desire and materialism 93, 96

   propriety and maintenance of appearances, in Jennie Gerhardt 73, 74

   subjectivity 148, 158

sexually transmitted diseases, and concerns about women’s social role 180

Seyhan, Azade 56

Shakespeare, William 43, 46

Shaw, George Bernard 182

Sherman, Stuart P. 50, 56

Shinn, Earl 135

Shinn, Everett 98, 130

Simmel, George, urbanization and indifference 102

Simon and Schuster (publisher) xix, 24

Sinclair, Upton 151

Sing-Sing (Ossining State Prison) 196

Sister Carrie (TD) xvi, 10, 24, 151

   authorial control 54

   biographical improvisations 40

   British publication 21

   censorship difficulties 53

   composition 17

   and consumerism 3, 4

   desire theme 66, 67

   domestic alienation 100, 102, 103, 106, 107–108, 109

   Dreiser Edition xx, 11

   fallen woman narrative 4, 154

   and materialism 9, 85, 86, 87, 92

   mirror images 54

   mysticism 52

   new realism influences TD’s biographical techniques 35–39

   paperback issue 19

   plot xii

   portrayal of masculinity 5, 144–146

   publication and suppression 16, 26, 127, 128, 157

   racial otherness 163, 175

   racial unconsciousness 9

   realism 48, 50

   reflects economic cycle 49

   reflects socialization process 185, 192, 194

   reissue xiv

   Robert Ames 52, 77, 78, 173, 190

   sales of first edition 178, 192

   and the significance of crime 197

   social mobility theme 6

   social respectability 74, 77

   style 48, 59

   Sven Hanson 66, 104, 165

   theatricality 51

   Thomas Hardy’s influence 52

   and upward mobility 112

   and urban alienation 102

   virtue unrelated to reward 115

   women’s portrayal 142–146

      economic vulnerability 68

      sociological understanding 177

      unattached women 180, 184

   working title “The Flesh and the Spirit” 2

   writing and publication xiii, 7

   see also Drouet, Charles; Hanson, Sven; Hurstwood, George; Meeber, Carrie

Sloan, John 130

Smiles, Samuel 32

Smith, Adam, on sympathy 200

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll 179, 193

social control 181, 184

social Darwinism 10, 43, 44, 163, 199

social respectability

   and desire theme 78

   and maintenance of appearances 73, 78

      in An American Tragedy 75, 77

   in Sister Carrie 74, 77

   see also upward mobility

social welfare 200, 211

socialization process, reflected in Sister Carrie 185, 192, 194

society, developments post-American Civil War 198–200, 211

sociology, and literature 184–185

Sonntag, William Louis (illustrator and painter; interviewee) 35, 130

speculation 115

Spencer, Herbert 163

Stearns, Peter N. 206

Stein, Gertrude 30

Stieglitz, Alfred 130, 131, 132

The Stoic (TD) xvii, xix, xx, 8, 11

   Berenice Fleming 51

   biographical techniques 33

   mysticism 51

   social mobility theme 6

   sources 44

   see also Cowperwood, Frank; The Trilogy of Desire

Stowe, Harriet Beecher 173, 209

Strychacz, Thomas 58

Stuart, Gilbert 140

success motif 33–34

Sullivan, Louis H. 88

Sun Dial Books (publisher) 19

Sundquist, Eric 164

sympathy 200–201, 203, 212

Tarde, M. Gabriel 194

Tatum, Anna (TD’s lover) xv, 42

Terre Haute, Indiana (TD’s birthplace) xi

theater

   Carrie Meeber’s experience 172–173, 174

   as communication 191

   imitation 189, 194

   stage adaptations 20

Thomas, W. I. 177–178, 179, 181, 184, 187, 193

Thompson, Dorothy xviii, 11

The Titan (TD) xv, 11

   biographical techniques 33

   desire theme 70

   publication (1914) 8

   sources 44

   Stephanie Platow 135, 147, 148

   women’s role 142, 147

   see also Cowperwood, Frank; The Trilogy of Desire

Trachtenberg, Alan 185–186, 194

“The Transgressor” see Jennie Gerhardt

A Traveler at Forty (TD) xv

   and autobiography 40

   Marcelle Itain as model for Carrie Meeber 39

   publication (1913) 8

   serialization 19

   women’s role 142

Trilling, Lionel

   criticisms of TD 47, 48

   TD’s control of the reader’s imagination 55

The Trilogy of Desire (TD) xv, 8, 11

   artistic and commercial themes 127–128, 134

   Berenice Fleming (Frank Cowperwood’s lover) 51, 149

   biographical elements 42–45

   fictional representation of economics 49

   portrayal of masculinity 5, 147–148

   portrayal of women 146, 149

   rags-to-riches paradigm 56

   see also Butler, Aileen; Butler, Edward Malia; Cowperwood, Frank; The Financier; The Stoic; The Titan

Twain, Mark 1, 30, 167, 169

Twentieth Century-Fox 20

unattached women see New Woman

upward mobility 112–113

   and the accountable self 119, 122, 125

   fault’s relationship with 115–119

   and loyalty 113–115, 122

   see also The Financier; social respectability

urbanization, and indifference 102–106

Veblen, Thorstein 3, 45, 66, 77, 115, 124

Veritas Press (publisher) xix

visual arts, TD’s use of biographical techniques when writing about 34

von Sternberg, Josef xviii

Wald, Priscilla 4, 9

Walker, Sallie (Paul Dresser’s girlfriend) xi

Warner, Susan 92

Warren, Kenneth 166

welfare state, development 119, 121

West III, James L. W. 6, 9

Wharton, Edith 20, 21, 26, 163, 189

Whipple, T. K. (reviewer) 2, 11

Whistler, James McNeill 140

White City 160–161, 162, 163, 174

   see also World’s Columbian Exposition

Whitman, Walt 1, 30

Wilde, Oscar 41

William Heinemann (publisher) xiv

Williams, Raymond 103

Williams, William Carlos 2

Wilson, Edmund 23

Wilson, Sloan, and domestic alienation 109

Witemeyer, Hugh 51

Witla, Eugene Tennyson (in The “Genius”) 9, 98, 148

   alienation 106

   artistic and commercial experiences 127, 129, 131–134

   artistic standing in contrast to preferences for European art 136

   desire theme 63, 70

   domestic alienation 100

   masculinity 5

   sexual desire and materialism 93–96

   sexual propriety and maintenance of appearances 73

   social respectability and maintenance of appearances 75

   subservience to Angela Blue 151–152, 158

Wolfe, Thomas 26, 57

women

   criminality 193

   Frank Cowperwood’s attitudes towards as artistic objects 135, 140

   portrayal 9, 142–143

      Sister Carrie 68, 144, 146, 177, 180, 184

      The Trilogy of Desire 142, 146, 149

   power, A Gallery of Women 156

   social role and sexually transmitted diseases 180

   sociological understanding about, and Sister Carrie 177

   TD’s relationships with 158

   see also fallen women narratives; gender; New Woman; pregnancy

Woods Hole Biological Laboratory xviii

World’s Columbian Exposition 9, 31, 160–164

   layout and racial significance 171

   significance in Sister Carrie 165–166

   see also White City

Wright, Richard 42

Yerkes, Charles Tyson 3, 33, 43–45, 68, 140

“yielding” 207–209

Zola, Émile 35, 53, 89





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