An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser

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Résumé :
American author Theodore Dreiser published his first book, An American Tragedy, in 1925. The murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the subsequent trial of her lover served as the basis for the story.Poor and ardently religious parents raise Clyde Griffiths to assist in their vocation as street missionaries.As he gets used to his new way of life, Clyde develops a love on manipulative Hortense Briggs, who gets him to purchase her expensive presents. When his friend Sparser strikes and kills a little girl while driving Clyde, Hortense, and other friends back from a remote meeting in the country, Clyde's life is forever changed.Roberta Alden, a destitute and naive country girl working in his business, attracts Clyde's attention. In the end, Roberta becomes pregnant as a result of Clyde's covert courtship. The stylish young socialite Sondra Finchley also shows interest in Clyde around this period, despite his cousin's attempts to keep them away.For the killings of his wife Roberta and her lover Sondra, Clyde is put to death in the electric chair. When Roberta unintentionally hits herself in the face with a camera while boating, she drowns since she is unable to swim. The story suggests that the blow was unintentional, but the circumstantial evidence suggests that it was murder.

Biographie:
American author and journalist Theodore Dreiser (1871-December 28, 1945) was a naturalist. In several of his works, the main characters achieved their goals despite the absence of a clear moral code. The best-known books of Dreiser are An American Tragedy and Sister Carrie (1900). John Paul Dreiser and Sarah Maria (n?e Schanab), his parents, welcomed him into the world in Terre Haute, Indiana. German immigrant John Dreiser came to Prussia from Mayen in the Rhine Province. Near Dayton, Ohio, Sarah was a native of a Mennonite agricultural village. Dreiser began working for newspapers in Chicago, Saint Louis, Toledo, Pittsburgh, and New York in 1892 as a reporter and theatrical critic. An American Tragedy, which was published in 1925, was Dreiser's first literary triumph. His older brother Paul Dresser, who rose to fame as a musician in the 1890s, was the subject of Dreiser's short tale My Brother Paul. In 1918, he released his first collection of short tales, Free and Other Stories. The idea of poverty and ambition is continued in his poem The Aspirant from 1929....

Sommaire:
American author Theodore Dreiser published his first book, An American Tragedy, in 1925. The murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the subsequent trial of her lover served as the basis for the story.Poor and ardently religious parents raise Clyde Griffiths to assist in their vocation as street missionaries.As he gets used to his new way of life, Clyde develops a love on manipulative Hortense Briggs, who gets him to purchase her expensive presents. When his friend Sparser strikes and kills a little girl while driving Clyde, Hortense, and other friends back from a remote meeting in the country, Clyde's life is forever changed.Roberta Alden, a destitute and naive country girl working in his business, attracts Clyde's attention. In the end, Roberta becomes pregnant as a result of Clyde's covert courtship. The stylish young socialite Sondra Finchley also shows interest in Clyde around this period, despite his cousin's attempts to keep them away.For the killings of his wife Roberta and her lover Sondra, Clyde is put to death in the electric chair. When Roberta unintentionally hits herself in the face with a camera while boating, she drowns since she is unable to swim. The story suggests that the blow was unintentional, but the circumstantial evidence suggests that it was murder....