A Study Of Theodore Dreiser's Construction Of The Soviet Image In Dreiser Looks At Russia

In 1927,Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet government.This trip had a profound impact on his world outlook and political orientation.After having returned to America in 1928,he compiled and published his non-fictional work Dreiser Looks at Russia on the basis of his diary.This work obviously shows the writer's political tendency to demand changes in the United States.However,more attention has been paid to the writer's fictional works in the academic field.In view of the deficiencies of the previous studies on Dreiser's non-fictional works,this thesis attempts to use the theory and methodology of Imagology to interpret the exotic image of the Soviet Union which was constructed by Dreiser in Dreiser Looks at Russia.This thesis consists of three parts.In addition to reviewing related studies,Part I makes an introduction to the focus,the purpose and significance of the study as well as the theoretical foundation of Imagology.Part II,which constitutes the main body of the thesis,is composed of the second,third and fourth chapters.Chapter II studies the promising,backward and autocratic Soviet images constructed in Dreiser Looks at Russia.On the basis of them,it can be seen that Dreiser used a relatively objective and impartial perspective in the construction of the exotic image.But on the whole,there is a dialectical and mutually inclusive phenomena of the utopian image and the ideological image.The three construction techniques that Dreiser used in the exotic image construction are analyzed in Chapter III.These techniques are contrast technique,the multi-angle depiction technique and the combination of objective narration and subjective comments technique.Chapter IV probes into the objective and subjective factors that affected the writer's construction of these Soviet images.It not only analyzes the background of the international and domestic labour movements and the American consumerism in the early years of the 20 th century,but also examines the influences of Dreiser's rough life experience and the individualist identity on the exotic image construction.Besides,Dreiser's sublime motive to reform the United States with reference to the Soviet Union is also one of the important influencing factors.Part IIIconcludes that although the exotic image of a country partly results from the social collective imagination and partly results from the creator's own ideology,Dreiser's Soviet image was not just from the imagination of Americans,it came more from his own in-depth observation of the Soviet Union.When most foreign writers beautified or uglified the Soviet Union because of the mainstream trend of thought,their personal political positions,and the international context,it is very valuable for Dreiser,as a radical western writer,to be able to make a relatively objective evaluation of the communist country.Studying the exotic image of the Soviet Union will help to enable readers to have a deeper understanding of Dreiser's political position,ideological concept and cultural identity.