Theodore Dreiser is an American writer and public figure. The famous American publicist and critic Henry Mencken wrote after Dreiser's death: “He was a great artist and no other American of his generation left such a beautiful and lasting mark in our history. American literature after him is as different as biology after Darwin's discovery. He was a man with a capital letter, possessed originality, unshakable courage and deep sensuality. "

Creativity of Theodore Dreiser

The pinnacle of Theodor Dreiser's creativity is called the book. In it, the writer managed in the best way to reflect all his talent as a humanist and artist, seeking the truth and trying to pave a new path in literature and in life.

By nature, Dreiser is a naturalist artist. He builds all his novels based on a large amount of observation and experience material. Theodor Dreiser's books are the art of images accurate to the smallest detail, the art of things and facts.

The author skillfully depicts everyday situations in all the details, sometimes he introduces original documents into the text (Roberta Alden's letters in "American Tragedy" are given almost in full), quotes the press, closely follows the business transactions of his heroes, explains exchange manipulations.

American critics have repeatedly expressed their remarks about the lack of a writer of his own style, themselves not understanding the nature of his naturalistic plot.

Theodore Dreiser's books online:

Short biography of Theodor Dreiser

Dreiser was born in 1871. The family emigrated from Germany to the United States. Parents were co-owners of a wool spinning mill, during the fire most of the yarn burned out, the writer's father was forced to go to a construction site. Hard times came, moving from one place to another, the family settled in the town of Terre Haute, where Theodore Dreiser was born.

After graduating from a local school, the writer was enrolled at Indiana University, but after a year of study, due to financial difficulties, the young man had to drop out. Having tried all the professions, he soon got a job as a reporter. In 1894 he moved to New York and founded his own newspaper with a musical direction there.

For three years he was a newspaper editor, then dropped out and began writing for more eminent publications. In 1900, his first novel, The Sisters of Kerry, was published. Critics condemned the book and severely censored the book, which plunged the writer into a prolonged depression. However, soon things went upstairs and the following works were a success.

In the 1920s, Dreiser visited the USSR. After the end of the trip, the book "Dreiser Looks at Russia" was published. In 1932, the writer signed a contract with Hollywood to film the novel Jenny Gerhardt. In 1938 he took part in a conference in Paris, where he spoke out against the bombing of Spain. In 1945 he became a member of the Communist Party in the United States. In December of the same year, Dreiser passed away.

Theodore Dreiser is an American writer and journalist, born in Indiana, in the city of Terre Haute on August 27, 1871, and died in Hollywood on December 28, 1945.

Theodore Dreiser biography and personal life

Theodore was born into a very religious family, in which his father was a pious Catholic, and his mother converted to Catholicism, the girl was from Mennon farmers.

There were thirteen children in the family, Theodore was the twelfth and ninth of those who survived infancy.

1899 to 1890 Theodore Dreiser studied at Indiana University, in addition to his studies, the young man wrote articles on various topics, and after some time became a reporter for the Chicago Globe and St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Has written in these newspapers about crime, political events, and writers such as Nathaniel Horton and William Dean Howells. In addition, he interviewed public figures: Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison.

In 1898, Theodore married the lovely Sarah White, with whom he separated in 1909.

From 1919 Dreiser went to live with his cousin Helen Richardson (1894-1955), whom he eventually married in 1944.

Theodore Dreiser, books

Dreiser is a naturalist painter. He builds his works on the colossal material of observation and experience. His art is the art of depicting accurate to scrupulousness, the art of facts and things. Dreiser conveys everyday life in all its smallest details: he introduces documents, sometimes almost entirely taken from reality (Roberta Alden's letters in American Tragedy are given almost entirely), quotes the press, explains at length the stock market speculations of his heroes, carefully traces the development of their business enterprises and etc. American critics have repeatedly accused Dreiser of lack of style, not understanding its special nature.

Drawing on intense journalism, he took great pleasure in describing the dynamic development of Chicago, extreme poverty and extreme wealth. Theodore was a pioneer of the naturalistic movement in the United States, fascinated by the novels of Zola and Balzac. He often addressed the issue of social inequality. Dreiser's influence greatly influenced the next generation, although critics sometimes accuse him of a heavy style or lack of it at all and prolonged agony.

His first novel, "Sister Carrie"(1900), tells the story of an 18-year-old girl who escapes a village in Chicago, becomes a servant, moves with her lover to New York and becomes a popular actress (1952 film by Wyler).

Theme "American Tragedy"- the pursuit of luck: a young boy kills a poor bride during pregnancy when the prospect of marrying a rich girl appears.

In turn, the so-called "The Trilogy of Desires" ("The Financier", "Titan" and "Stoic") is a story about the life of a Chicago financial tycoon, modeled on the biography of Yerkesav.

Desire Trilogy - Financier, Titan, Stoic

Trilogy of desires

In 1912, the first novel from Trilogy "Desire"- book "Financier"... The work, based on the biography of the American millionaire Charles Yerkes, tells the story of the life of Frank Cowperwood.

The main character was born into the family of a small bank clerk, who, upon reaching his son's adulthood, arranged for his beloved child to work in a company in which he worked himself. Having established himself in the organization as a talented businessman, Frank left after a while to conquer Philadelphia. There, the stockbroker did a couple of successful transactions and became a millionaire. The new status allowed the young entrepreneur to enter the elite circles of Philadelphia high society.

In the book, along with a description of the financial machinations of the protagonist, a second storyline is also carried out, which tells about Cowperwood's personal life. Dreiser described the character of his novel without embellishment, endowing him with both positive and negative qualities. In the end, not wanting to reckon with the generally accepted principles and rules of behavior in high society, Frank's rebellious nature brings him to prison.

Actions of the next novel "Titanium" 1914 set in Chicago. Unable to draw conclusions, Frank returns to his native environment of fraud. Now his target is gas and transport companies. The financial genius chooses the carrot-and-stick method for himself. He bribes some officials, and intimidates others. Competitors, whose interests were inadvertently touched by a merchant, enter into a fierce war for power with an unwanted entrepreneur.

Frank Cowperwood loses the battle and goes into the shadows. In the same period, a black streak ensues in the family life of the protagonist. The wife, having found out about the connection between her husband and a young girl, tries to commit suicide. Frank saves the faithful and persuades her to go with him to London, where, according to his assurances, they will start a new life.

Actions of the third, final novel "Stoic"(published after the death of the writer in 1947) are set in the capital of France. There Cowperwood is building a subway line. Despite his considerable age, the darling of fate is still trying to put all the money in the world in his pocket. This time, kidney disease interferes with his plans. After another exacerbation, a man whose ambitions did not allow him to live a happy and calm life dies, having managed to confess his sins to his wife and mistress before his death.

Dreiser himself had to deal with censorship(some books published in England) and financial difficulties - early books did not sell well despite criticism, so he continued to write to the press, he was also an editor for various magazines, including the prestigious women's magazine Delineator in New York (1907 -ten). In 1911-25 he published 14 books, overcoming the writer's crisis caused by problems with the release of Carrie's sister.

In 1944, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded Dreiser honorary gold medal "for outstanding achievements in the field of art and literature."

1945 December 28 Theodore Dreiser has died of heart failure in Hollywood, California, USA.

Theodore Dreiser is an American writer and public figure.

Dreiser's parents - John Dreiser (Johann Paul Dreiser, a German who emigrated to the United States in 1846) and Sarah Schöneb were co-owners of a wool spinning mill. After a fire that destroyed wool stocks, my father worked at a construction site, where he was seriously injured. Three eldest sons soon died. The family moved for a long time and, eventually, settled in the provincial town of Terre Haute in Indiana. Theodore Dreiser, the ninth child in the family, was born on August 27, 1871. In 1887 he graduated from high school. In 1889 he entered Indiana University at Bloomington. A year later, he stopped studying due to the fact that he could not pay for his studies. After that he worked as a clerk, a driver of a laundry van.

In 1892-1894 he was a reporter for newspapers in Pittsburgh, Toledo, Chicago and St. Louis. In 1894 he moved to New York. His brother Paul Dresser organizes the music magazine Every Month, and Dreiser starts working as an editor for it. In 1897 he left the magazine. Wrote on request for Metropolitan, Harper's, Cosmopolitan.

One of the first literary works published by Dreiser is the essay "The Artistic Quarter of New York: A Literary and Artistic Retreat in Brockville" (November 1897). Prior to the appearance of his first novel in 1900, Dreiser published 42 articles and a number of poems. Dreiser pointed out in an interview with Who's Who in America (1899) that he had written two books: A Study of Famous Contemporaries - essays on William II, Barnum, etc. - and Poems.

Typically a bibliography of Dreiser's work begins with his novel Sister Carrie (1900). With this work, Dreiser continued the realistic traditions of American writers at the end of the 19th century, but already in the conditions of the decline of this movement. The novel was greeted by critics and society with extreme hostility as an "immoral" work. Without prejudice and the usual puritanism of the time, Dreiser gave a realistic image of a girl who opposed generally accepted moral views. It was only in 1911 that Dreiser published his second novel, Jenny Gerhardt, in which he develops the themes of Sister Carrie. The American press passed over the publication of the novel in silence.

With the novel The Financier (1912) Dreiser began his monumental Trilogy of Desire. It is based on the life story of the millionaire C. Yerkes. The hero of the "Trilogy" (the second volume - "Titan", 1914; the third volume - "Stoic" - Dreiser began in January 1929) - Frank Cowperwood; Dreiser shows how the bourgeois and commercial environment that surrounded Cowperwood, from childhood, forms in him the psychology of a businessman and an acquirer, for whom all means are good if they help to achieve power and wealth. Starting with small speculations, Cowperwood gradually acquires a fortune, bribes officials and the municipality, illegally acquires city concessions in Philadelphia, but in the final he is defeated, goes to prison and then is forced to leave Philadelphia. In the novel "Titan" Dreiser deploys Cowperwood's life in Chicago, where the cycle of his activities in Philadelphia repeats on an expanded base. The Trilogy of Desire is the most significant work of American and European literature of the 20th century. Dreiser outlines the way of life and customs of the financial environment with exceptional graphic power.

The attacks of conservative criticism especially intensified after the publication in 1916 of the novel "Genius", which Dreiser considers his best work. At the insistence of the Society for the Elimination of Vice, the court banned the distribution of the novel, and only later this ban was lifted. The theme of the novel is the power of money and sensuality over art. The hero of the novel is the artist Vitla, whose purpose of existence is reduced only to art and women. This devastates his creativity, he becomes a successful businessman, loses his artistic ability.

In his novel American Tragedy (1925), Dreiser brings out the average American youth Griffiths, poorly educated, frivolous, weak-willed. The essence of the tragedy of Griffiths, who ends his life in the electric chair, is his social inability to adapt to the surrounding reality, combined with the desire to advance, take an exceptional position, enter bourgeois circles. Griffiths is a victim of American pseudo-democracy. As in all his novels, Dreiser in American Tragedy gives a broad picture of the customs and everyday life of the environment he portrays. The novel is considered one of the most successful works of the writer. Immediately after its release, it received good reviews from critics.

Dreiser is a naturalist painter. He builds his works on the colossal material of observation and experience. His art is the art of depicting accurate to scrupulousness, the art of facts and things. Dreiser conveys everyday life in all its smallest details, he introduces documents, sometimes almost entirely taken from reality (Roberta Alden's letters in American Tragedy are given almost entirely), quotes the press, at length explains the stock exchange speculations of his heroes, carefully traces the development of their business enterprises and etc. American critics have repeatedly accused Dreiser of lack of style, not understanding the special nature of his naturalistic style.

Dreiser in all his works gravitates towards social themes, which does not prevent him from being an artist-psychologist. Taking social topics, he moves them into the plane of the individual psyche, showing as a result the psychologically individual side of large social phenomena. The limitation of the topic in volume is accompanied by Dreiser's deepening.

Dreiser owns two collections of stories - "Liberation" and "Chains", in which mainly psychological and sexual motives are developed. He also wrote two volumes of plays: The Potter's Hand (1919) and Plays Natural and Supernatural (1916).

Dreiser's early essays on New York are collected in his book A Picture of a Great City (1923). Beat, Drum (1920) - a collection of Dreiser's articles, of which the most interesting article is "The American Financier". In 1926, a volume of Dreiser's poems, Moods, was published, similar in form to Walt Whitman.

Dreiser's biographical sketches are collected in the "Gallery of Women" (1928), as well as in the book "Twelve Men". Dreiser addresses the most diverse social strata, looking for original, outstanding people. But the "Gallery of Women" sharply differs from the "Twelve Men" in that Dreiser emphasizes the sexual, it is in the sexual that he seeks an explanation of not only purely subjective, but also social actions and processes. Dreiser's novel Madness (1929) is a series of love episodes, united by the fact that one hero is placed in the center of them - the author himself.

In 1930 Dreiser's candidacy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In May 1931, Dreiser's autobiographical book Zarya was published, where he described his childhood and youth.

In 1927 Dreiser accepted an invitation to visit the USSR and take part in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. In early November, he arrived in the Soviet Union and on November 7 was in Red Square. During his 77-day trip, Dreiser visited Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don, Baku, Tbilisi, Odessa and other Soviet cities, met with Vladimir Mayakovsky and Sergei Eisenstein. After the trip, he published the book "Dreiser Looks at Russia".

In the early 1930s, miners clashed with the police in the mining regions of the United States - Harlan and Bella. Together with the commission of the committee for the protection of political prisoners, Dreiser goes to the scene. He was met with physical threats from the mine owners and the police. A lawsuit was filed against Dreiser and it was offered to withdraw it on condition that the writer ceases coverage of the events. However, Dreiser continued to speak in newspapers and on the radio, reporting on the state of affairs - beatings of union members and police reprisals. In 1932 he published the book Tragic America.

Dreiser often spoke at rallies, published in the pages of the US communist press. In 1932 he supported the candidate from the American Communist Party, William Foster, in the election campaign. In 1932 he was a member of the World Antiwar Congress, whose initiative committee included Henri Barbusse, Maxim Gorky, Albert Einstein.

In 1938 Dreiser was delegated to an anti-war conference in Paris, opened in connection with the bombing of Spanish cities. In the summer he visited Barcelona, ​​where he met with the President and Prime Minister of the country. On the way back, he visited England, where he hoped to meet with members of the British government. In the United States, he managed to achieve a short meeting with Roosevelt. After that, he unsuccessfully tried to organize a committee for the supply of food to Spain. As a result, several cargo ships with flour were sent to Spain at the direction of Roosevelt.

In July 1945 Dreiser joined the US Communist Party.

One of the brightest representatives of the classical school of naturalism, Theodore Dreiser, came to literature when readers around the world were already immersed in the works of Gamlin Garland, Stephen Crane and Frank Norris.

The writer, who developed the main ideas of his contemporaries in his works, studied the interweaving of the forces of nature and social trends using the example of concrete human life. As a novelist, Dreiser did not forget about the theme of the "curse of the flesh", invariably compassionate to the heroes of his creations.

Childhood and youth

Theodore Hermann Albert Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871 in the Midwestern city of Terre Haute, Indiana. Dreisers lived in poverty. The head of the family took on any job, but the money to support the nine children was sorely lacking. Due to the deplorable financial situation, the future writer after graduating from school left his father's house and went to Chicago to work. There, the guy, who was not afraid of hard work, managed to work as a cleaner in a restaurant, as a handyman in a shop, and even as a loader.

In 1889, the ambitious young man successfully passed the entrance examinations at Indiana University in Bloomington. True, due to lack of money, Herman did not succeed in graduating from an educational institution. In search of a better life, Dreiser moved from city to city. Over the years of wandering (from 1892 to 1894) Theodore managed to visit a reporter in the newspapers of Pittsburgh, Toledo, Chicago, St. Louis and New York.

Literature

The debut novel "Sister Carrie" was released in 1900. The plot is based on the story of a provincial girl Carolina (Kerry) Meber, who came to Chicago in search of a better life. The work clearly traces the motive of money, traditional for the American author. The writer describes in paints the meanness to which a person is capable of going for the sake of his own welfare.

The key characters of the novel - Kerry and two men (Drouet and Hurstwood), who played a decisive role in her life - are physiologically alien to attachment, appreciation, true gratitude, compassion and love. All three of them care only about their own benefit and are ready to go over their heads at any time to please their interests.

The second work, Jenny Gerhardt, was published in 1911. The work is about a sweet, but poor as a church mouse, a girl with a complex of sacrifice, who, for the sake of the well-being of her loved ones, becomes a kept woman. In 1912, the first novel from the Desire trilogy was published - the book The Financier. The work, based on the biography of the American millionaire Charles Yerkes, tells the story of the life of Frank Cowperwood.

The main character was born into the family of a small bank clerk, who, upon reaching his son's adulthood, arranged for his beloved child to work in a company in which he worked himself. Having established himself in the organization as a talented businessman, Frank left after a while to conquer Philadelphia. There, the stockbroker did a couple of successful transactions and became a millionaire. The new status allowed the young entrepreneur to enter the elite circles of Philadelphia high society.

In the book, along with a description of the financial machinations of the protagonist, a second storyline is also carried out, which tells about Cowperwood's personal life. Dreiser described the character of his novel without embellishment, endowing him with both positive and negative qualities. In the end, not wanting to reckon with the generally accepted principles and rules of behavior in high society, Frank's rebellious nature brings him to prison.

The next novel "Titan" from 1914 is set in Chicago. Unable to draw conclusions, Frank returns to his native environment of fraud. Now his target is gas and transport companies. The financial genius chooses the carrot-and-stick method for himself. He bribes some officials, and intimidates others. Competitors, whose interests were inadvertently touched by a merchant, enter into a fierce war for power with an unwanted entrepreneur.

Frank Cowperwood loses the battle and goes into the shadows. In the same period, a black streak ensues in the family life of the protagonist. The wife, having found out about the connection between her husband and a young girl, tries to commit suicide. Frank saves the faithful and persuades her to go with him to London, where, according to his assurances, they will start a new life.

The third and final novel "Stoic" (published after the death of the writer in 1947) takes place in the capital of France. There Cowperwood is building a subway line. Despite his considerable age, the darling of fate is still trying to put all the money in the world in his pocket. This time, kidney disease interferes with his plans. After another exacerbation, a man whose ambitions did not allow him to live a happy and calm life dies, having managed to confess his sins to his wife and mistress before his death.

Between the publications of the Desire series, Genius (1915), American Tragedy (1925) and Oplot (1946) appeared on the shelves. The semi-autobiographical novel "Genius" introduces the reader to the life of the artist Eugene Whitla, whose personality undergoes changes when he finds himself in a bourgeois environment. Dreiser divides the entire life path of Eugene, described in the novel, into three stages: adolescence, struggle, rebellion. A story woven from creativity and passion, from love for women and painting, from dizzying success and bitter falls, will not leave anyone indifferent.

The plot of the second work (American Tragedy) is based on real events that took place in America in 1906. This work can logically be divided into three parts. In the first, the reader meets the main character, Clyde Griffiths, who, together with his devout family, travels to the cities of America on a religious mission. A young man living in poverty is alien to the worldview of his parents, who consider it their duty to guide as many people as possible on the right path.

A young guy, with all his heart striving for a better life, got a job as a messenger in a hotel, where new friends introduced a guy who did not know a good life to alcohol and visiting prostitutes. The desire of Clyde, who watched the idle pastime of wealthy guests, for wealth grew inexorably. The second part of the novel begins in Chicago. It was there that the main character fled after an unpleasant incident with him in his native land.

In a city of great opportunity, he met his uncle, who offered him a job in a collar factory. Griffiths accepted the offer and immediately moved to Lycurgus, New York. In production, a hardworking young man achieves a promotion in the shortest possible time. In the same period, his personal life is undergoing changes. He falls in love with his subordinate - Roberta - and, seeking the location of a modest young lady, he cools down to the person who once arouses interest in him. Then the wayward aristocrat Sondra appears in his life.

The third part is devoted to the tossing of Griffiths between a rich flirt and a girl who loves him unselfish love. The situation is complicated by the fact that Roberta is carrying a child under her heart, so Clyde cannot just leave her. The book "Stronghold" tells the story of the life of the Barnes family belonging to the orthodox religious movement of the Quakers. The generational conflict associated with the growing up of five children is the central line of the work.

Personal life

The first wife of a literary genius was Sarah Osborne White. The writer met the red-haired beauty in 1893. Theodore Dreiser, a young reporter for the St. Louis newspaper Republic, was then assigned to accompany the winners of the Best Teacher competition to the Chicago World's Fair. Among the prize-winners was his future wife. The girl's innocence, beauty and shyness captivated the writer. In a state of love euphoria, the couple got engaged. However, soon after this, the prose writer began to notice significant differences between him and his beloved.

Society of that time condemned physical contact between young people who did not legitimize their relationship. Dreiser was not close to such a philosophy, but White believed in the institution of marriage and for five years did not allow Theodore to approach her, declaring that intimate intimacy would happen only after the wedding. December 28, 1898 in Washington, Herman Theodore Dreiser and Sarah Osborne White were legally married.

Since the writer was in constant contact with the then intellectual bohemian, he tried to introduce Sarah into this circle. The attempt was unsuccessful: the girl could not relax in a bourgeois atmosphere alien to her. However, this circumstance did not prevent the young lady with a purely feminine insight to observe the indifferent attitude of the representatives of this society towards her husband.

It is known for certain that Dreiser had other women in New York. He quickly fell in love and cooled down just as quickly. This happened until the moment when Thelma Kudlipp appeared in the life of a writer. Thelma was the daughter of one of the employees of the magazine, which was edited by Dreiser. Herman confessed to his wife that he was inflamed with feelings for another. In 1909, their divorce took place. Already at the end of his life, in 1944, Theodore married his cousin Helen Richardson.

Death

Theodore Dreiser died of heart failure on December 28, 1945 in Los Angeles (California).

The writer's creative heritage has been preserved in collections of novels and short stories. Among other things, in 1931 and 1951 in the United States directed by Joseph von Sternberg and George Stevens based on the novel by the prose writer "American Tragedy" were filmed. The works of the writer "Jenny Gerhardt" (1933) and "Sister Carrie" (1952) were also filmed.

Bibliography

• 1900 - Sister Carrie
• 1911 - Jenny Gerhardt
• 1912 - The Financier
• 1914 - Titan
• 1915 - "Genius"
• 1925 - American Tragedy
• 1946 - Oplot
• 1947 - Stoic

Quotes

• "Happiness comes to the one who knows how to wait."
• "Money quickly reveals its powerlessness as soon as a person's desires touch the area of ​​the senses."
• "People who deeply and seriously love each other do not care much about the opinion of outsiders."
• “Don't be proud when you help a poor man. Be grateful for this opportunity. ”
• "Nothing is real and eternal, except for the heart, human kindness."
• "The world passes coldly by those who do not take part in its follies."
• "Time strengthens our habits, desires and feelings."
• "Do good for the sake of good, and then you will achieve complete detachment"
• "Blessed is not the one to whom it is given, but the one who gives."
• "It is foolish to give advice to people who do not want to take it."

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser - American writer and social activist - born August 27, 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana (USA).

Dreiser's parents - John Dreiser (Johann Paul Dreiser, a German who emigrated to the United States in 1844) and Sarah Schöneb were co-owners of a wool spinning mill. After a fire that destroyed wool stocks, my father worked at a construction site, where he was seriously injured. Three eldest sons soon died. The family moved for a long time and eventually settled in the provincial city of Terre Haute (Indiana). Theodore Dreiser was the ninth child in the family. In 1889 entered Indiana University at Bloomington. A year later, he stopped studying due to the fact that he could not pay for his studies. After that he worked as a clerk, a driver of a laundry van.

After a while, Dreiser decided to become a reporter. In 1892-1894 was a reporter for newspapers in Pittsburgh, Toledo, Chicago and St. Louis. In 1894 moved to New York. His brother Paul Dresser started the music magazine Every month, and Dreiser began working as an editor for it. In 1897 left the magazine. He wrote for the Metropolitan, Harpers, Cosmopolitan. In 1899 Dreiser began work on his first novel, Sister Carrie, published in 1900.

In 1898 Dreiser married Sarah White, whom he separated from in 1909. Since 1919 of the year Dreiser began to live with his cousin Helen Richardson (1894-1955), whom he eventually married in 1944.

In 1927 Dreiser accepted an invitation to visit the USSR and take part in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. In early November, he arrived in the Soviet Union and on November 7 was in Red Square. During his 77-day trip, Dreiser visited Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov, Rostov-on-Don, Baku, Tbilisi, Odessa and other cities, met with Vladimir Mayakovsky and Sergei Eisenstein. After the trip, he published the book "Dreiser Looks at Russia".

In 1930 Dreiser's candidacy was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The prize went to the writer Sinclair Lewis by a majority vote.

May 1931 Dreiser's autobiographical book "Zarya" was published, where he described his childhood and youth. November 1932 Dreiser has signed a contract with Paramount to direct a film based on the novel Jenny Gerhardt.

Early 1930s in the mining regions of the United States - Harlan and Bella - there were clashes between miners and police. Together with the commission of the committee for the protection of political prisoners, Dreiser went to the scene. He was met with physical threats from the mine owners and the police. A lawsuit was filed against Dreiser and it was offered to withdraw it on condition that the writer ceases coverage of the events. However, Dreiser continued to speak in newspapers and on the radio, reporting on the state of affairs - beatings of union members and police reprisals. In 1931 he published the book Tragic America.

Dreiser often spoke at rallies, published in the pages of the US communist press. In 1932 supported the candidate from the American Communist Party William Foster in the election campaign. V 1932 was a member of the World Anti-War Congress, whose initiative committee included Henri Barbusse, Maxim Gorky, Albert Einstein.

In 1938 Dreiser was delegated to an anti-war conference in Paris, opened in connection with the bombing of Spanish cities. In the summer he visited Barcelona, ​​where he met with the President and Prime Minister of the country. On the way back, he visited England, where he hoped to meet with members of the British government. In the United States, he managed to achieve a short meeting with Roosevelt. After that, he unsuccessfully tried to organize a committee for the supply of food to Spain. As a result, several cargo ships with flour were sent to Spain at the direction of Roosevelt.

In 1944 Dreiser's Honorary Gold Medal for Excellence in Arts and Literature has been awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

July 1945 Dreiser joined the US Communist Party.

Theodore Dreiser dies in the Los Angeles suburb of Hollywood December 28, 1945 at the 75th year of life.

Works:

Novels:
1900 - Sister Kerry
1911 - Jenny Gerhardt
1912 - Financier
1914 - Titanium
1915 - Genius
1925 - American tragedy
1946 - Stronghold
1947 - Stoic

Collections of stories:
1918 - Liberation
1919 - 12 men
1923 - Paints of the big city
1927 - Chains
1929 - Gallery of women

Autobiography:
1929 - Newspaper weekdays
1931 - Zarya

Publicism:
1920 - Bey, drum
1928 - Dreiser looks at Russia
1931 - Tragic America
1941 - America is worth saving