Theodore Dreiser

A representative American naturalist novelist. Based on his own experiences and fact-finding, he candidly portrayed people stimulated by their social environment and tossed about by dreams of success, criticizing America's superficial material civilization and narrow-minded moral concepts. He was born on August 27, 1871, in Terre Haute, Indiana, as the 12th child of German immigrants. Due to poverty, he moved around the state, and spent his childhood witnessing the free-spirited lifestyle of his older brothers and sisters who rebelled against his father's strict Catholic education, as well as the nagging customs of the rural town. Not yet 16, he went to Chicago on his own to work, and studied at Indiana University for a year, but at the age of 20, he became a newspaper reporter. In March 1904, at the age of 22, he headed east, spending seven months in Pittsburgh as a reporter, during which time he witnessed firsthand the disparity in wealth between the managers and workers of steel companies, which deepened his doubts about society. At the same time, he was opened to new horizons in life by reading Balzac's social novel "Old Goriot" and Spencer's evolutionary philosophy "First Principles" in the library.

In New York, he worked as an editor for a music magazine and a freelance magazine journalist, and in the summer of 1899, at the urging of a friend, he wrote four or five short stories, including "Jeff the Negro," and then completed the full-length novel "Sister Carrie" (1900) in seven months. This was a work of devotion to realism. The life of the protagonist, Carrie, who uses her natural beauty to succeed as an actress by using men as a stepping stone, was deemed "immoral," and the book struggled to be published. It sold poorly and was generally unpopular, causing a major financial and emotional blow. Due in part to a discord with his wife Sally, whom he had married two years earlier, he suffered from neurosis for the next three years, and for the next few years he worked as an editor for popular magazines and women's fashion magazines. In 1910, after quitting his job due to a woman-related issue, he returned to writing novels, publishing Jenny Gerhart (1911), the story of an innocent woman who lives in the shadows while pursuing true love, and The Capitalist (1912), the first part of his "Trilogy of Desire," which depicts a tough businessman in capitalist society based on a real person from the late 19th century, and The Giant (1914). His next work, The Genius (1915), was a full-length autobiographical novel that depicted the life of a painter whose talent was prevented from manifesting by the customs of those around him, but it was attacked as obscene by the National Society for the Prevention of Vices and banned, leading to its defence by critics such as Mencken.

After that, he wrote a collection of short stories, "Freedom" (1918), a collection of essays, "Hey Mule Dab-Dab" (1920), and other works, and then completed his masterpiece, "An American Tragedy" (1925), about a poor young man who commits "murder" in order to succeed. It was highly praised by the literary world of the time as "the greatest American novel of the modern era." His visit to the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1928 and the economic depression of 1929 led him to turn to social activism, and in his social commentary, "Tragic America" ​​(1931), he criticized capitalism and advocated a socialist people's government. He also made an effort to investigate the actual situation of the miners' strike and to support the Spanish People's Government. However, Dreiser's dream was an ideal society that aimed for people's freedom and happiness based on spiritual values, and in his posthumously published "The Fortress" (1946), he called for mutual love and respect for goodwill among human beings based on the beauty of the individual spirit (inner light). He joined the Communist Party in July 1945, and died on December 28 of the same year. The third part of his "Desire Trilogy," The Ascetic (1947), and a collection of philosophical essays, Notes on a Theory of Life (1974), were also published posthumously.

[Akio Oura]

"Dreiser" edited by Katsuji Takamura ("Guide to 20th Century English and American Literature 11", 1990, Kenkyusha Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカ自然主義の代表的小説家。社会環境に刺激され成功の夢に翻弄(ほんろう)される人間の姿を、自己体験や事実調査に基づいて赤裸々に描き、アメリカの皮相な物質文明と偏狭な道徳観念を批判した。1871年8月27日、インディアナ州テレ・ホートにドイツ系移民の第12子として生まれる。貧困のため州内を転々としながら、父の厳格なカトリック的教育に反発する兄や姉たちの奔放な生き方と、口うるさい田舎(いなか)町の因習をみながら幼少時代を過ごす。16歳たらずで単身シカゴに出て働き、1年間はインディアナ大学に学んだが、20歳のとき新聞記者になる。94年3月、22歳で東部へ向かい、途中ピッツバーグで7か月の記者生活を送る間、鉄鋼企業の経営者と労働者の貧富の格差をまざまざと目にして社会への疑問を大きくする一方、図書館でバルザックの社会小説『ゴリオ爺(じい)さん』やスペンサーの進化論哲学『第一原理』を読んで、人生に目を開いた。

　ニューヨークでは音楽雑誌の編集やフリーの雑誌記者を経験し、1899年夏、友人の勧めで『黒人ジェフ』など4、5編の短編小説を書き、続いて長編『シスター・キャリー』（1900）を7か月かけて完成した。これは写実主義に徹した作品。生来の美貌(びぼう)を利用し男を踏み台に女優として成功する主人公キャリーの生き方が「不道徳」だと出版が難航し、売れ行きも悪く一般に不評で、経済的、精神的に大きな打撃を受けた。2年前に結婚した妻サリーとの不仲もあってその後3年間は神経症に悩み、その後数年は大衆雑誌や服飾女性雑誌の編集に従事した。1910年、女性問題で職を退いてからふたたび小説に向かい、真実の愛を貫いて日陰者として生きる純朴な女性の物語『ジェニー・ゲアハート』（1911）、19世紀後半に実在した人物をモデルに資本主義社会のたくましい経営者像を描く「欲望三部作」の第一部『資本家』（1912）と第二部『巨人』（1914）を発表した。次作『天才』（1915）は自伝的長編で、周囲の因習に才能の発現を妨げられる画家の生き方を描いたが、悪徳防止協会から猥褻(わいせつ)と攻撃されて発禁処分を受け、批評家メンケンらが弁護した。

　その後、短編集『自由』（1918）、評論集『ヘイ・ラバ・ダブダブ』（1920）などを経て、成功のために「殺人」を犯す貧しい青年を描いた大作『アメリカの悲劇』（1925）を完成、当時の文壇で「現代最高のアメリカ小説」とまで絶賛された。1927年から1928年にかけてのソ連訪問と1929年の経済恐慌をきっかけに社会運動に傾き、社会評論『悲劇的なアメリカ』（1931）では資本主義を批判して社会主義的な人民政府を提唱、炭鉱ストの実態調査やスペイン人民政府支援にも力を尽くした。だが、ドライサーが夢みるのは精神的な価値を基礎として人々の自由と幸福を目ざす理想的社会で、死後出版の『とりで』（1946）でも、個人の精神の美（内なる光）に基づく人間相互の愛と善意の尊重を訴えている。1945年7月共産党に入党し、同年12月28日没。「欲望三部作」の第三部『禁欲の人』（1947）、哲学的随想集『人生論ノート』（1974）も死後の出版。

［大浦暁生］

『高村勝治編『ドライサー』（『20世紀英米文学案内11』1990・研究社出版）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例