Teaser Tuesday: An American Tragedy

You know how sometimes you finish one book with the anticipation of the next giving you itchy fingers.  Now I've finished reading one book and have cracked open Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy and I hope that my fingers continue to feel itchy (as in keep turning those pages) as I have 856 pages of small print text just waiting for me.  It may take me a while to work my way through this one, but I hope to stick it out.  Perhaps regular updates (as I did with Anna Karenina) will keep me on track and motivated.

The novel was published in 1925 just one year before Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises to give things a little perspective.  According to the introduction Dreiser was at a low point in his career whilst writing this.  He was forty-nine and living in Hollywood in relative obscurity.  His last work had been published five years previously but was banned as being obscene and had been pulled from the market by his publisher.  His earlier works were out of print.  Suggestions of immorality had plagued his work but younger critics championed his use of realism as a more truthful form of fiction.  He was interested in the theories of Freud, which helped shed light on the psychology of his characters particularly since he had been interested in writing a story about a murderer.  Earlier attempts hadn't been successful.

An American Tragedy is based on a murder that took place in upstate New York in 1906.  Chester Gillette became Clyde Griffiths, who is the central character in the story.  "...the novel represents a massive portrayal of the society whose values both shape Clyde's tawdry ambitions and seal his fate: It is an unsurpassed depiction of the harsh realities of American life and the dark side of the American Dream."  

My teaser is from the opening pages of the novel as Clyde and his family singing religious hymns on a busy street corner.

"The boy moved restlessly from one foot to the other, keeping his eyes down, and for the most part only half singing.  A tall and as yet slight figure, surmounted by an interesting head and face--white skin, dark hair--he seemed more keenly observant and decidedly more sensitive than most of the others--appeared indeed to resent and even to suffer the position in which he found himself.  Plainly pagan rather than religious, life interested him, although as yet he was not fully aware of this.  All that could be truly said of him now was that there was no definite appeal in all this for him.  He was too young, his mind too responsive to phases of beauty  and pleasure which had too little, if anything, to do with remote and cloudy romance which swayed the minds of his mother and father."

So now I will follow the trajectory of this young life from the son of parents with deep religious convictions to that of a murderer. 

Comments

[Sam Sattler]

I absolutely love this book and have read it, I think, three times since first encountering it in a high school English class. I think it might surprise you a bit at how easy it is to get through...great story.

[Danielle]

Sam--Wow, that's impressive. I got as far as Clyde working as a bell hop the first time around--I think I just felt overwhelmed by the size of the book, but I've always been curious about the story. I'm hoping it turns out to be the sort of book that I don't want to put down, and I suspect once I really get into the story it will indeed go smoothly.

[cathy]

I remember this book being on our high school English optional reading list; no-one ever read it because of the size but it sounds good and I will give it a try this summer.

[Marina]

I haven't read this one, but I really enjoyed Sister Carrie by the same author! So I'm definitely looking forward to reading this as well. Looking forward to seeing what you make of it

[Caroline]

I was always tempted to read this as my mother told me many good things about it. I think she liked this and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn quite a lot. I don't think they can be compared or only for their social realism. I'm interested to see how you like it.

[Vipula]

This sounds really interesting - infact I didn't even go as down as the plot ..I was fascinated by the life of the writer!

[Stefanie]

Off to a good start! I am sure you can make it through this one. I look forward to your updates on your progress!

[JoAnn]

I've been considering this one for a long time! Will look forward to you updates in hopes that they'll help me make a decision.

[Kate S.]

I'm planning to read "An American Tragedy" this summer as well (in connection with my research on a lawsuit Dreiser brought against Paramount over their film adaptation of the book), so I'll be following your posts on it with interest!

[Danielle]

Cathy--I can't imagine choosing to read a book like this in high school even though I'm sure the subject matter would have been interesting. I have a feeling I'll be working on this for the better part of the summer, but as long as I finish I don't mind reading slowly.
Marina--I have Sister Carrie, too, and even downloaded the ebook onto my Nook. Not sure when I'll get to it, but I'd like to read it as well.
Caroline--I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and was thinking of it when I was writing about Kate Simon's memoir Bronx Primitive--in many ways they were very similar. How cool that your mom read it--it's such an intriguing story and I think once I get into the story and past the parts when he is growing up it will go very quickly!
Vipula--Some authors do have really interesting lives. I don't know much about him only that his books had stirred up controversy. I'll be curious to learn more about him and the period, too.
Stefanie--If only it didn't have such tiny print! I think this may be my "Edith Wharton" book--I remember your posts on the bio of her you were reading. This one may take a while but I hope to stick it out this time.
JoAnn--I've also been eyeing it for quite some time! I like the premise and have heard (rather read in the intro) that while it has a slow start (the beginning could have used a little cutting) that once you get into the thick of the story it becomes very engrossing. I hope that it the case.
Kate--Was it the Elizabeth Taylor movie/adaptation? I watched the trailer and they passed it off as a great love story, which seems a little curious since this was cold blooded murder. Leave it to Hollywood to give it a happy spin! ;) I'll have to look up the court case--I'm not familiar with it.

[litlove]

I'll be interested to see how you get on with Dreiser. I have one of his (Sister Carrie, I think) but hold back from his work because of the impression I've got from somewhere that he's a terribly sad writer. Goodness knows where I picked this up! This one sounds really good, but I always hesitate before chunksters; sometimes my stamina isn't quite what it should be!

[Danielle]

Litlove--I think his books are somewhat bleak--at least that's how I imagine them. Other than my failed attempt at this book years ago, I've never read any of his other books. I do hope now that I've gone on and on about it I stick it out. Maybe if I make myself write about it I will keep going--it is long and with tiny print, so my stamina may also not be up to it! :)