Within months, the two separated permanently, and Dreiser became a nomad. While wandering, he studied the writings of Balzac, Darwin, Freud, Hawthorne, Huxley (wwnorton.com 1), Poe, and Spenser, from which he created two philosophical theories: social Darwinism governs society (Parker 203), and man's greatest appetite is sexual (kirjasto.sci.fi 1). Dreiser followed his philosophy; he typically had several affairs at once. In New York, Dreiser started Sister Carrie, a brilliant naturalistic piece. The book was sold only 500 copies; it was so "scandalous" that its owned publishers censored its printing in 1900 (Bucco 5). Dreiser was nearly suicidal (kirjasto.sci.fi). However, the novel's 1907 reissue was a best seller. (When the book was banned from Massachusetts, its publisher sold a copy to the police chief; Dreiser rode the national scandal and made tens of thousands of dollars.) After publishing Sister Carrie, Dreiser resigned from New York's music journal, Every Week. He then worked for an eclectic group of magazines, including three women's magazines, until 1910, when his in-office love affair went public. During the next six years, he gained recognition for his writing and published Jennie Gerhardt and the "Trilogy of Desire" (Bucco 6), stories based on transportation mogul Charles T. Jerkes's life. The series won him numerous acclaims. After eight abysmal novels, Dreiser published his best selling novel An American Tragedy. The novel, later adapted to Broadway and the screen, netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Soon, he turned to the glittering promises of communism to escape his feelings of inadequacy. When his wife died, he married his cousin, Helen Richardson, his "companion" of five years. He died in Hollywood, California on December 28, 1948. Since his death, Dreiser's critics have diminished his writing; his plot structure is imperfect, his style sometimes dreadful. For more than 75 years, critics have cited his gr...
