The Characteristics Of Modernism In Theodore Dreiser's Works

Theodore Dreiser is one of greatest writers of naturalism(realism) in America.His works embody the features of naturalistic literature as the follows: the livelydescription of social life, the exposition of the springs of one's conduct, and vividdescription in details. In addition, his works are also characterized by some obviousmodernism. Therefore, it is a problem deserving of study in the vision of modernculture to explore the modernism characteristics in his works and his impact on thelater modern literature.The dissertation has an analysis on the modernism characteristics in Dreiser'works from three aspects: Firstly, it's about his bold rebellion and negation against the traditional culturalvalues. It can be divided into two sides: one is on the modernity of theme. The themesand modern characteristics of alienation, the trend of desire and freedom are discussedin this part. Dreiser had a lively description of social life to reveal the seamy side oflife in some places of American society. The major theme of his works is to exposethe problems of life and social system in American way. In fact, the characteristics ofrealism and modernism in Dreiser's works are not contradicting. The other is aboutreexamination of the traditional moral. Dreiser was influenced by Darwinism morality,biological determinism and social fatalism, which regards existence is the ultimategoal of life. Ideals and endeavors or sadness and happiness are just a kind ofbiological impulse or a physiological mechanism. There is no standard of traditionalmoral. Secondly, the concept of the ultimate meaning is re-established. This part focuseson the re-building of art and religious utopian world in Dreiser's works. Dreisercontinued to search for the ultimate value and an ideal realm with great enthusiasmwhen he was subverting the traditional cultural values. And the reconstruction ofsignificance is one of the basic spirits of modernism literature. Dreiser's Utopia worldshowed his desire for an ideal world under the pressure of life.Thirdly, the modernity of the narrative technique in his works is discussed. Dreiseradopted some modern narrative techniques consciously or unconsciously, whichmainly come from Symbolism and Stream of Consciousness. The modern narrativetechniques not only made his works demonstrate the realm of unconsciousness andirrational content, accelerating the aesthetic perspective transformation from outwardto inward, but also made them go further into human psychological nature and surpassthe category of theory of social epistemology. So his works are closely related withthe literature characterized by modernism.According to the aesthetic psychological mechanisms, the works were aestheticviewed from both Metaphysical aspect and the works themselves. This part exploredthe reasons for the formation of modernism factors that influenced Dreiser. There arethree factors: the inherent physical qualities, life experiences, and the thoughts fromsome philosophers. Schopenhauer had a profound impact on Dreiser. Schopenhauerplayed a foundation role in the style of modernist literature in the 20th century.Dreiser and modernist writers have accepted the common philosophy, which providesa prerequisite of their works interlinked in the spirit. The discussion on characteristicsof modernism in Dreiser' works provides a new angle to have a better understandingabout the author.According to the above, Dreiser's position in the history of literature will bereevaluated. He has a significant impact on modernist literature. He continued toponder humanity and thought in-depth to modern times. His works explored theconflictions between body and soul, the contradictions between reason and desire, andthe paradox of the human beings themselves. He jumped out of the tendency viewedfrom the social criticism to show fate of human beings and had a deep thought in lifevalues and humanity nature on the level of philosophy. Dreiser realized that peoplecouldn't escape from the biological control and the fate of failure, which hassurpassed the traditional realism literature and was the prelude of modernismliterature. At the same time, he gave emphasis on significance of human himself. Heinsisted that people should achieve their significance through their own actions. Thatidentified with the modernism literature. So it's obvious that Dreiser played animportant role between the preceding and the following in the literature history, andwe should have a full understanding of his position in American literature.