68 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
NOTES
Page references are made to the following editions of the
novels of Theodore Dreiser:
Sister Carrie (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1926).
Jennie Gerhardt (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing
Company, 1951).
The Financier, rev. ed. (Qeveland and New York: The World
PubBshing Company, c1940).
The Titan (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Com-
pany, c1925).
The “Genius" (Cleveland and New York: The World Pubhshing
Company, 1946).
An American Tragedy (Cleveland and New York: The World
Pubkshing Company, c1948).
The Bulwark (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc.,
1946).
The Stoic (Cleveland and New York: The World Pubkshing Com-
pany, c1947).
1. Cf. J. D. Thomas, “The Natural Supernaturaksm of Dreiser’s
Novels,” The Rice Institute Pamphlet, XLlV, No. 1 (April, 1957),
112-125.
2. In Memoriam, lvi, st. 4; “The Dawn,” st. 5.
3. The Financier, pp. 107-108. The reference is to the Philadelphia
house of Frank Cowperwood, who is always much influenced by
his houses. (Cf. The Stoic, pp. 255-256.) One might mention,
also, the effect upon Clyde Griffiths of his first view of his
Uncle Samuel’s residence in Lycurgus, as well as Clyde’s dis-
taste for “the shabby home world” of Roberta Alden (“that
rickety house! those toppkng chimneys!”) that plays a con-
siderable part in forcing his determination to have done with
her. (See An American Tragedy, pp. 209, 471,473.)
4. This word (“interesting”) is Dreiser’s characteristic expression for
what is known in kterary criticism as pity and terror.
5. Recently, with special reference to An American Tragedy, Randall
Stewart has reaffirmed the deterministic interpretation of
Theodore Dreiser in “Dreiser and the Naturakstic Heresy,” Vir-
ginia Quarterly Review, XXXIV, No. 1 (Winter, 1958), 100-116:
“In the naturahstic view . . ., man is ruled by forces from with-
out, or forces from within, or both. Some novels stress environ-
ment more than heredity . . . and some stress heredity more than
environment . . . Some novels emphasize the two about equally.
Social and economic conditions are very important in Theodore