| An American Tragedy | |
 First edition book cover of An American Tragedy |
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| Author | Theodore Dreiser |
|---|---|
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime |
| Publisher | Boni & Liveright |
| Publication date | 1925 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 880 (reissue) |
| ISBN | NA & ISBN 0-451-52465-9 (reissue) |
An American Tragedy (1925) is an American novel by Theodore Dreiser. Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( August 27 1871 &ndash December 28 1945) was an American novelist and journalist The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Horace Liveright (1884 &ndash September 1933 was an American publisher and stage producer. The year 1925 in literature involved some significant events and new books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. The year 1925 in literature involved some significant events and new books Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( August 27 1871 &ndash December 28 1945) was an American novelist and journalist The book is the story of a young man, Clyde Griffiths, whose troubles with women and the law take him from his religious upbringing in Kansas City to the fictional town of Lycurgus, New York. Clyde Griffiths is the protagonist in Theodore Dreiser 's classic novel An American Tragedy. Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Among Clyde's love interests are the materialistic Hortense Briggs, the charming farmer's daughter Roberta Alden, and the aristocratic Sondra Finchley. Hortense Briggs is a character in the novel An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser. Roberta Alden is a character in Theodore Dreiser's naturalist novel An American Tragedy. Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations Sondra Finchley is the rich society girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser 's novel An American Tragedy. The book is naturalistic in style, containing subject matter such as religion, capital punishment, and abortion. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. An
The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and [1]
Contents |
Plot summary
Raised by poor and devoutly religious parents, who force him to participate in their street missionary work, the ambitious but naïve and immature Clyde is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bellboy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are much more sophisticated than he, and they introduce Clyde to the world of alcohol and prostitution. Clyde enjoys his new lifestyle and does everything in his power to win the affections of the flirtatious Hortense Briggs. Hortense Briggs is a character in the novel An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser. But Clyde's life is forever changed when a stolen car he is traveling in with friends kills a young child. Clyde flees Kansas City, and after a brief stay in Chicago, he reestablishes himself as a foreman at the collar factory of his wealthy long-lost uncle in Lycurgus, New York, who meets Clyde through a stroke of fortune. Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Though he does not necessarily adopt Clyde into the Lycurgus Griffiths family, he does his best to help Clyde and advances him to a position of relative importance within his collar factory.
Although Clyde vows not to consort with women in the way that caused his Kansas City downfall, he is swiftly attracted to Roberta Alden, a poor and very innocent farmgirl working under him -- thus breaking the factory rules. Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages Roberta Alden is a character in Theodore Dreiser's naturalist novel An American Tragedy. While Clyde initially enjoys the secretive relationship and virtually coerces Roberta into sex, his ambition forces him to realize that he could never marry her. He dreams of the elegant Sondra Finchley, the daughter of a wealthy Lycurgus man and a family friend of his uncle's. Sondra Finchley is the rich society girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreiser 's novel An American Tragedy. As developments between him and Sondra begin to look promising, Roberta discovers that she is pregnant.
Having unsuccessfully attempted to procure an abortion for Roberta, who expects him to marry her, Clyde procrastinates while his relationship with Sondra continues to mature. When he realizes that he has a genuine chance to marry Sondra and after Roberta pushes an ultimatum of marriage or revealing their relationship, Clyde hatches a plan to murder Roberta in a fashion that would seem accidental.
When he takes Roberta for a canoe ride on Big Bittern lake in upstate New York, Clyde rows into a remote portion of the lake. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous As he speaks to her regarding the end of their relationship Roberta moves towards him. As she does so Clyde strikes Roberta in the face with his camera, stunning her and upsetting the boat to the point that it capsizes. Unable to swim and Clyde unwilling to save her, Roberta drowns while Clyde swims to shore. The narrative is deliberately unclear as to whether he acted with malice and intent to murder or if his striking her was merely instinct. The trail of circumstantial evidence points to murder, and the local authorities are only too eager to convict Clyde. Following a sensational trial before an unsympathetic audience, despite a vigorous defense by two lawyers hired by his uncle, Clyde is found guilty and sentenced to death. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. The jailhouse scenes and the correspondence between Clyde and his mother stand out as exemplars of pathos in modern literature. Pathos (ˈpeɪːθɒs ( πάθος) is one of the three Modes of persuasion in Rhetoric (along with Ethos and Logos)
Inspiration
Dreiser based the book on a notorious criminal case. On July 11, 1906, tourists found an overturned boat and the body of 20-year old Grace Brown at Big Moose Lake in upstate New York. Events 911 - Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy. Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Grace Minerva Brown ( March 20 1886 – July 11 1906) was an American skirt factory worker whose murder became the basis for the Big Moose Lake, at the head of the Moose River, is a large lake about five miles (8 km north of Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. Chester Gillette was put on trial and convicted of killing her, though he claimed it was an accident. Chester Gillette ( August 9 1883 - March 30 1908) an American convicted murderer Gillette was executed by electric chair in 1907. Execution by electrocution (usually referred to after its method of implementation as the Electric Chair) is an execution method originating in the United States in which the [1] The murder trial drew international attention when Brown's love letters to Gillette were read in court. Theodore Dreiser saved newspaper clippings about the case for some 15 years before writing his novel. Clyde Griffiths was based on Chester Gillette, right down to the same initials.
In popular culture
An American Tragedy has been adapted into opera, at the hands of composer Tobias Picker. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Tobias Picker (born New York City, 1954) is an American Composer. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera starring Nathan Gunn in New York on December 2, 2005. The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880 is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Nathan Gunn (born 1970 South Bend, Indiana) is a Baritone Opera singer from the United States Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The well-known MGM film A Place in the Sun (1951) is also based on An American Tragedy. A Place in the Sun is a 1951 film which tells the story of a working class young man who is entangled with two women one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory Dreiser strongly disapproved of a 1931 film version directed by Josef von Sternberg and released by Paramount Pictures. Josef von Sternberg aka Jonas Sternberg ( 29 May 1894, Vienna, Austria &ndash 22 December 1969, Los Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Sergei Eisenstein prepared a screenplay in the late 1920s which he hoped to have produced by Paramount or by Charlie Chaplin during Eisenstein's stay in Hollywood in 1930. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada Many critics and commentators have also compared elements of Woody Allen's film, Match Point (2005) to the central plot of An American Tragedy. Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1 1935 is an American Film director, Writer, Actor, Comedian, and Match Point is a 2005 film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer
The novel inspired an episode of the award-winning old-time radio show Our Miss Brooks, an episode known as "Weekend at Crystal Lake" and sometimes known as "An American Tragedy. Old-Time Radio (OTR and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of Radio programming lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until Our Miss Brooks, an American Situation comedy, starred Eve Arden as a sardonic High school English Teacher. " The episode revolved around the characters misinterpreting the intentions of biology teacher Philip Boyton (played by Jeff Chandler), Connie Brooks's (Eve Arden) high school colleague and love interest, paralleling them to the theme of "American Tragedy" and fearing Boynton planned to kill Miss Brooks during a leisurely weekend at their boss's lakeside retreat. Jeff Chandler ( December 15, 1918 - June 17, 1961) was an American Film Actor and Singer in the 1950s Eve Arden ( April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an Academy Award -nominated and Emmy -winning American The episode was broadcast twice, on September 19, 1948 and---with very minor changes---on August 21, 1949. Events 335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the De facto ruler of Japan. Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The episode was also repeated in 1955, at a time the show was a hit on both radio and television. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic [2]
Also, in the Marx brothers' film Horse Feathers,Groucho Marx claims that he hasn't been in a canoe since he saw the American Tragedy.
Further reading
- Jude Davies, King Alfred's College. "An American Tragedy." The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 October 2001. Events 1740 - Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The Literary Dictionary Company. Accessed on 29 October 2005. Events 437 - Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
- An American Tragedy: A Study Guide
- Theodore Dreiser: An American Tragedy The Library of America. The Library of America (LoA is a Nonprofit Publisher of classic American literature. Accessed on October 28, 2005. Events 306 - Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor. 312 - Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
- "Double Exposure," an article about differences between the two film versions of An American Tragedy, in Opera News, December 2005, pp. 24–31.
References
- ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc. , 1981: 195–196. ISBN 086576008X
- ^ www.vicandsade.net
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