Theodore Dreiser’s novel “An American tragedy”

MINISTRY OFHIGHER AND SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATION
OF THEREPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
GULISTAN STATEUNIVERSITY
«TheodoreDreiser’s novel «An American tragedy», its translation into Uzbek andRussian»
Gulistan‑2006

1.Theodore Dreiser
 
1.1Some notes on Theodore Dreiser’s literary activity
Thewriter provides a third approach to this all absorbing social-biologicalproblem of Clyde Griffiths is totally lacking in either the artistic gifts (ofWitla) or the strong personality of Cowper wood. He is more like Carrie andJennie in that his attitude toward life is passive; but he lacks their innerpoise. From start to finish of his short career he is a victim of the socialand biological forces which operate upon him. His instinct for fulfillment isnot only thwarted by the forces without himself; his inner weakness makes eventhe development of a Carrie or a Jennie impossible. Thus, by choosing for hiscentral character a boy who had practically no strength within himself throughwhich mastery could be achieved, Dreiser in this novel throws all his emphasison those forces of biological and social necessity which had shaped the careersof his stronger characters in spite of their protests. But by removing the onlyopposition that the individual can supply, the force of his own will formastery, Dreiser here descends to the lowest possible plane of pure mechanisticdeterminism. The scene of the downing of Roberta Alden is carefully planned inorder to remove the factor of will as an instrument. Clyde plots his act withthe greatest care and carries it to its climax with apparently self-directedintention. But his hesitancy at the final moment transforms the murder into anaccident, and his swimming away makes his act passive. The description of thisstory as a «tragedy» is almost ironic, even though Dreiser probably intended noirony. For the Fate of classical tragedy there were now substituted thenecessities of social and biological mechanisms. But result is less tragic, inthe classical sense, than are almost any other of Dreiser’s novels because theopposition of man to his destiny, in whatever terms, is not even provisional.To raise necessity to the level of tragedy there must be at least the illusionof possible mastery. In Carrie and Jennie and Cowper wood this illusion ispresent; in Witla and Clyde it is not. The unknown creative force in life, Theforce that drove Cowper wood to the heights of power, that tore the soul ofEugene Wilta, that sent Clyde to the electric chair is now revealed asuniversal love.
An American Tragedy was written about a man's life. If you read this book you can learn that you should make your general behaviors better. This story was based on his general behaviors. It was written about from his childhood to his death. Of course, he had experiences of sympathy to his family, bad behaviors, loving someone and the atonement. This book was very interesting on human living. You will be able to enjoy reading it. Because I think that you have seen people like him. If you not so, at least you have had to hear about them like him. This book consists of three sections. First section explained his poor childhood and what he was as a young man: As his family was very poor they earned living by singing in the street. Then he longed for being rich. He had shown bad behavior. He also had loved a girl for the first time. Second section accounted for his growth to adulthood and love to some girls: For his first love he had the heart which was very pure. But he was getting used to love girls. For that reason he could even love, two girls at the same time. So, he had not only made many good memories with them in love but also so many accidents with them. Third section was written about his atonement: he was arrested for his girl-friend's death by officer. I think that anyone must has shown bad behaviors in the past. For example, telling a lie, hurting a person and deceiving one. Considering to this story, he was very loose, as it were, he did not have distinctions. The reason was why he became very crazy to separate her and he atoned for his crime of killing her. I think that if he had had distinctions he would have not committed a murder. Shortly, if his regular behaviors were better such a happening would have surely never occurred. When you read this book you will look at your regular behaviors over again. So, if you find something wrong you should try to change the parts of your thoughts. You will make yourself better. That is why I think you should read this book.
Inminor characters, Dreiser reveals the plight of the individual in Americansociety; but that society itself is not static. The span of years encompassedin his novels and short stories coincides with a period of tremendous socialchange in America. «The Financier» opens before the Civil War. In it, as in «SisterCarrie», The «Cenius», and other novels dealing with an alder form of Americansociety, success comes early to those who use what abilities they have. Thereis no contradiction between their careers and their inner natures, becausesociety itself is plastic. But Clyde and the younger generation in «The Bulwark»are their dialectic opposites. Clyde is the most pathetic failure in Dreisereven more so than Hurstwood, Carrie’s second lover. In order to get ahead, hehas to pretend, to tell social lies, and to act deceitfully. In his time thepath of opportunity is no longer open, there have been alterations in theAmerican Dream. In the early works, this dream operates as a motivation to riseon the basis of one’s talants, energies, and capacities; in the later, thedream becomes one of success by marriage in order to have a life of leisure andenjoyment. Clyde is an ambitious youth in an America more stratified than thatof Cowper wood and Witla. Thus Dreiser not only reveals the meaning of Americansocial ideals in his own lifetime and during the period immediately precedinghis birth; his works also mirror the changes in those ideals, and the change inthe social structure of Americans life.
1.2The place of «An American tragedy» in Theodore Dreiser works
Dreiser’smethods of characterization are consistent with these attitudes and socialrevelations. Just as he does not conceive the individual as individual, so hischaracterizations are not mere representations at atomized men and womenstraggling in the American society of their time. They appear in their socialroles, and their natures as well as their actions are involved in the functionswhich they perform in society. Carrie’s first lover, Drout, is one of the mostsuccessful and attractive of Dreiser’s minor characters. He is jolly, genial,superficial, yet he is strikingly different from the salesmen of, for example,Sinclair Lewis. Drogue does not subordinate himself to the «fetish ofcommodities»; a successful salesman, he is concerned with a life of pleasure,he feels secure in his world. He appears in a social role which is an integralfeature of his «individuality», similarly. Hurst wood has the charm, thesavoir-faire, the sophistication of the professional major-domo in a high-classsaloon, concerned with meeting important personages, when he loses thisposition, he lasses also the personality that goes with it. His character issocial rather than individual, and his defeat is that of a man who has lost hisfunction and place in society. The tragedy in Dreiser’s novels is socialtragedy. His characters do not merely represent themselves; they speak fortheir classes and their occupations. «An American Tragedy» would remain atragic work even if Clyde and Roberta had not died; but it is tragic in a newsense. In Dreiser, the old terms of art are reset by the social thinking of hisday. He wrote what he knew what he was. His many colloquialisms were part ofthe coinage of his time, and his sentimental and romantic passages were writtenin the language of the educational system and the popular of his formativeyears. In his style, as in his material, he was a child of his time, of hisclass. Self-educated, a type or model of the artist of plebeian origin inAmerica, his language, like his subject matter, is not marked by internalinconsistencies. As a style, in the formal sense, it never developed at all,and he frequently permitted his novels to be revised by others beforepublication.
Thereare many passages in these novels that rise to high levels of passionatewriting. In Dreiser the subject matter is always more important that theexpression. Because he reveals the very nerves of American society he hasexerted a more profound, a more lasting influence than any other novelist ontwentieth century realistic fiction in America. Several generations of writersare already his debtors. His influence is discoverable in a seriousness ofapproach to the material of American life, in a greater freedom of theme, inthe parallelism of ideas and phenomena. Dreiser desorbed the broad patterns ofmodern American experience; his successors have been more intensive in theirtreatment. Because he was faithful to his art and made no compromises with thecensors and the pudes, his work gives a sense of totality and finality.

1.3The Aims and task of the papers
Americanliterature is very rich and unlimited. We know it well. Its role in worldliterature is huge. One of its great representatives is Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945).He is known in Uzbekistan mainly as the author of «Sister Carrie» and «AnAmerican Tragedy». Both these nice novels are translated into Uzbek language.The fifth novels was translated from Russian into Uzbek in 1971 by ErkinNosirov. The first part of «An American Tragedy» was also translated into Uzbekby Erkin Nosirov but it was done in 1976. But these books are not studied inUzbek literature. While to study these books and their Russian and Uzbektranslations have valuable significance not only for Uzbek but for Americanliterature as well. The interrelations between the culture as well as theliterature of the Republic of Uzbekistan and America is developing day by day.There are still a lot of things to do in these branches. One of these problemsis to study the peculiarities of Theodore Dreiser’s literary activity on theone hand and his works on the other. Fictional translation plays a great rolein the development of Uzbek literature as well. Fictional translation has agreat importance in the churchmen of our national literature, our social views.We must learn Theodore Dreiser’s depiction methods and it will feel our worldviews.
Inour final graduation paper aims at studying Theodore Dreiser’s creative masteryskill. For this purpose we analyzed Russian Translation of «An American Tragedy»as the Uzbek translator chose for his brave the Russian translation. We muststudy the translation comparing English-Russian-Uzbek versions.
Forfictional translation every author, every text should be carefully selected.When translated any work becomes the spiritual heritage of the people into whosetongue it is transferred as a Russian text we have the translation made byVershinina and N. Gall. (Some Notes on Theodore Dreiser’s literary activity)
Теодор Драйзер «Американская Трагедия» Часть первая (книга первая и книга вторая) Часть вторая. Оба они печатались поизданию «Художественная литература» Москва, 1978 год, в издательстве «Узбекистан»1984 года.
OnceSherwood Anderson wrote that Theodore Dreiser’s feet were paving a path, thosefeet were heavy, cruel feet. They are walking among the steppe of lies and selfling heavy steps paving the path. We must mention that Sherwood Anderson wasTheodore Dreier’s follower Theodore Dreiser widened the horizons of Americanrealistic literature, while bourgeois America was always setting bars and hardslaps before him.
TheodoreDreiser left broad and picturesque trays. His literature, his works are quitedifferent from those of other writers. He is brave, he never shatteredshivered. He worked hard, he tailed, he hoped, he believed. We try to see suchCourageous.
Dreisernot in the original, not in Russian, but also in Uzbek too.
Onwriting our final graduation papers we have the following aims and tasks:
1. To speak about American literature in Connection with TheodoreDreiser’s literary activity.
2. To enlighten specific features of Theodore Dreiser in connectionwith the creation of «An American Tragedy».
3. To talk about «An American Tragedy» not only in Theodore Dreiseror in American but both in the world and Uzbek literatures.
4. To study the characters of Clyde Griffith and its reproduction inUzbek. To see Clyde’s attitudes to Hortense, Roberta and Sondra.
Eachof the character takes separately and in connection with the main hero. Tostudy ways and principles of reproductively of every image.
5. To pay attention to the fact how the characters examined arereflected in the Uzbek language.
6. To express our point of view about the texts translated.
Americansliterature is wide and endless. It’s great role in the development of worldliterature is also an ocean self evident. One of the greatest representativesof this literature is Theodore Dreiser. His literary activity is not studiedspecially. Theodore Dreiser as an author of a number of novels holds his strongposition in the history of the American literature of the XX century.
Dreisercritical as a great writer social conditions of the society of his time, asnamely these social conditions are the bearers of hardships which Clyde was toovercome in order to become a man of his own ideal. The reasons of Clyde’s fallare shown in the book clearly. One of the reasons of his fall should be thoughtthe social surrounding in which he had grown up. But we must hot barged onemore truth; «The creator of each man’s or woman’s fate, first of all, he or sheonly. Clyde became the sacrifice, not a winner in an American society becausehe had not been brought up in proper way.[1] The tragedyshould be sought in Clyde first of all, because he could not stop himself intime. He let the life to load him towards his tragedy. He moved forwardshappiness without difficulties. He didn’t pay attention, did not take intoconsideration the proverb «There is no sweet without sweat». He wanted to getthe sweat from heaven.
Sometimeswe feel sorry for Clyde, but unfortunately we understand that are not right.
Thething that most interested Clyde at first was how, it at all, he was to keepthe major portion of all this money he was making for himself. For ever sincehe had been working and earning money, it had been assumed that he wouldcontribute a fair position of all that he received at least three fourths ofthe smaller salaries he had received up to this time-toward the upkeep of thehome.
Больше всегозанимала Клайда мысль, как сохранить для себя львиную долю денег, которые онзарабатывал. С тех пор как он впервые начал работать, установился такойпорядок, что большую часть своего заработка, по крайней мере, три четвертиКлайду приходилось вкладывать в общее хозяйство.
Клайднихаммасидан хам топган пулиленинг анга мунчасини кандай килиб узимда олибколсамикин, деган уй купрок бошни котиради. У иш бошлаганидан бери дастёрларорасида вужудга келган келишувга кура, пулнинг купрок кисмини, кам дегандатуртдан учини умумий харажатга бериш керак эди.
Clydedid not set before himself great aims. His dreams were huge but his acts wereon the contrary too small. If he worked properly; if he behaved well himselftowards people who surrounded him he would may be, achieved success, butinstead of it he wanted to kill two girls with one stone and it is impossibleto do it. Clyde’s case should be taken into consideration by Clyde like youth.
«Whatwe mean is that instead of working for good things his starvation burnedtowards any form of pleasure».
Weknow that everything ought to be in necessary portion. But Clyde wanted morepleasure. We want the author to centime our thoughts «from the first helistened with all too eager ears to any account of anything that spelled ofadventure or pleasure. Not that he approved of these types of adventures».
«…beinginvited by them to a joy night supper a «blow-out»
Hisknowledge about adventure was too little before and he tried to seize everyhint about the pleasure with great thirst. And the next «blow-out» was to takeplace at Frissel’s. Clyde looked forward to it with interest, with anxiety.
Theaim of the author is given by Russian and Uzbek translators well. They readDreiser truly. The main hero’s intentions are reproduced both in Russian andUzbek translations adequately. Dreiser’s realism probably finds its roots inhis drifting childhood and in the poverty of his family background his fatherwas a ruined and brooding man. These experiences had their effects on hisbrothers and sisters: one of his brothers was imprisoned for forgery (подлог, подделывание, фальшивые деньги), one of hissisters had an illegitimate child and was east out by the family. As areaction, Dreiser lauded for money, success, and power and developed afatalistic vision of life; men are not responsible for their actions offeelings, but are determined by the saltine in which they grow up and bybiological factors which leave then powerless to resist temptations andimpulses. In his own words, they are «more chemists», «helpless in the clutchof relentless: неумолимый, неослабевающий, безжалостный, непреклонный, fate». Hisreading of Nietzsche, Darwin, Spencer, Thomas Hurley and Machiavelli reinforcedthis determinism and tinged it with cynicism. As he wrote, «success is whatcounts in the world, and it is little mother how success is won.»
Dreiser’saim was to show life as it was, its poverty and sordidness, its vice andmisery. He was fascinated by cities, the way they could make and unmake a man,the wealth of experiences they could provide hutted, her naturalism was muchinfluenced by the work of Balzac. He also attacked the hypocrisy he saweverywhere and debunked the American myth, believing that work and good moralsdo not necessarily lead to success. Towards the end of his life Dreiser turnedto political commitment and joined the Communist party. Dreiser’s first novel, «SisterCarrie», is the story of the successful ascent of an actress, paralleled by thedownfall of her lover, Hurstwood, who had tricked her into an illegal marriage.The book shocked its American readers who could not find any morality in it andwho did not accept that Carrie should go unpunished. «The Trilogy of Desire»related the soaring career of an unscrupulous and ruthless magnate. An AmericanTragedy was inspired by a true murder case. Driven by his ambition and eager tomarry into opulent society, Clyde Griffiths plans the death of his pregnantgirlfriend and is executed at the end of the novel, even though she probablydies accidentally. Here again, the author does not take sides, does not try tojustify or to condemn the ultimate fate of Griffiths.
ThoughDreiser’s prose is often ponderous, repetitive and full of clichés, henonetheless succeeds in painting a simple and powerful, if sometimes brutal,portrait of his time.
TheodoreDreiser wrote on the city: The failure of an individual is as characteristic ofthe city, and of life as a whole. Nature is so grim. The city, which representsit so effectively, is also so grim. It does not care at all. It is notconscious. The passing of so small an organism at that of a man or woman isnothing to it. Beside a star or a great force at any kind the beginning or endof a little body is so ridiculous and trivial, that it is almost like that ofan insect or a warm. And yet to the individual who is thus ground between theupper and the nether millstone of circumstance, the indifference of the city,and of the world and of life, comes as a terrible revelation. He learns thatone way really die of starvation in a great city full of wealth, full of power,in a way, full of sympathy (misdirected, perhaps). The houses with which thestreets are lined may be full of the comfort which attaches to happiness: thestores and offices crowded with those who are industriously bettering theirfortune. On every hand are piled up the evidences of wealth great structures,well stocked stores, energetic factories, and the masses of material for sale,which can only be had for a price, and yet you may die.
(«TheMan on the Sidewall,» in Bohemian, XVII, October 1909)
TheodoreDreiser once wrote on his art: The sum and substance of literary as well associal morality may be oppressed in three words tell the truth. It matters nothow the tongues of the critics may wag if the voices of a partially developedand highly conventionalized society may complain, the business of the author,as well as of other workers upon this earth, is to say what he knows to betrue, and, having said as much, to abide the result with patience.
Truthis what is; and the seeing of what is, the realization of truth. To express whatwe see housel and without subterfuge (увертка, отговорка): this is morality aswell as art.
Whatthe so-called judges of the truth or morality are really inveighing againstmost of the time is not the discussion of were sexual lewdness, (кокетливый, распутный, непристойный) for no workwith that as a basis could possibly succeed, but the disturbing and destroyingof their own little theories concerning life, which in some cases may benothing more than a quite acceptance of things as they are without any regardto the well being of the future. Work for them is made up of a variety ofinteresting but immutable forms and any attempt either to picture any of thewretched results of modern social conditions or to assail the criticaldefenders of the same is naturally booked upon with contempt or aversion.
Itis true that the rallying cry of the critics against so called immoral virtueof the reader must be preserved: but this has become a house of refuge to whichevery form of social injustice hurries for protection.
Theinfluence of intellectual ignorance and physical and moral greed upon personalvirtue produces the chief tragedies of the age, and yet the objection to thediscussion of the sex question is so great as to almost prevent the handling ofthe theme literary. Immoral! Immoral! Under this cloak hide the vices of wealthas well as the vast unspoken blackness of poverty and ignorance: and betweenthem must walk the little novelist, choosing neither truth nor beauty, but somehalf-conceived phrase of life that bears no honest relationship to either thewhole of nature or to man.
Theimpossibility of any such theory of literature having weight with the trueartist must be apparent to every clear reasoning mind. Life is not made up ofany one phase or condition of being nor can man’s interest possibly be soconfined.
Theextent of all reality is the realm of the author’s pen, and a true picture oflife, honestly and reverentially set down, is both moral and artistic whetherif offends the conventions or not.
Dreiser,DRY seer, Theodore (1871–1946), ranks as the foremost American writer in thenaturalism movement (a pessimistic form of realism) Dreiser’s characters arevictims of apparently meaningless incidents that result in pressures they canneither control nor understand. He based such novels as «Sister Carrie» and «AnAmerican Tragedy» on events from real life. He condemned not his villains, butrepressive, hypocritical society that produced them. Dreiser’s style lacksgrace, but his best stories are powerful and sobering.
TheodoreDreiser grew up in a large, poor family in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Severalof his brothers and sisters would later rescue Dreiser at low points in hiscareer – two of his protagonists were based on sisters, and his brother, Paul,sent Dreiser to a resort when he was broke. A high school teacher paid to sendhim to Indiana University for one year, but Dreiser did not fit in, and he leftcollege to become a reporter. News papering took him to Chicago, St. Louis,Pittsburgh, and New York City, where he gathered his first observations of theAmerican cities that would play large roles in his upcoming novels.
Dreiser'snovels are prime examples of literary naturalism, with characters driven byselfish motives and influenced by the privileges and limitations of socialclass. He was often criticized for telling amoral tales that could outragereaders or convince them that bad decisions would be rewarded. Among his mostsignificant influences are Herbert Spencer and Honore de Balzac. Dreiser was afinalist for the Nobel Prize in 1930; when Sinclair Lewis won, he acknowledgedDreiser in his speech.
Hisfirst novel, «Sister Carrie,» based on the misadventures of his own sister,sold very poorly at first, and Dreiser lashed out against the publisher,Doubleday Page. Dreiser despaired of ever succeeding as a writer and resignedhimself to life as a laborer in the Brooklyn slums. During these dark daysDreiser wrote a journal; although he intended it for personal use only, it wasdiscovered and published in 1983. When his brother, a composer, found out aboutDreiser's bad luck, he plucked him out of his tenement and, much to Mrs.Dreiser's relief, sent him to a resort for the wealthy. Dreiser regained hiscourage and wrote «Jennie Gerhardt,» based on the life of another sister. «Jennie»was a hit, and led readers to rediscover «Sister Carrie.» Just as his writingcareer was taking off, Dreiser separated from his first wife, Sara Osborne «Jug»White. His books after this point convey his philosophy more clearly, becauseDreiser had always depended on the suggestions and criticism of Jug (who wasalso a reporter) and other friends. He married once more, in 1944, the yearbefore he died.
Anotherof Dreiser's best-known novels is «An American Tragedy» (1925), which was adaptedfor the screen in 1951. «American Tragedy» is the story of a man driven tocommit murder by the desire for financial gain, which he believes is thecentral part of the American dream. Clyde Griffiths wants to kill his poor,pregnant lover so he can marry his rich, beautiful lover. When the poor womandies accidentally, Clyde's plot comes to light, and a jury finds him guilty ofmurder. Dreiser was born in Terne Haute Ind. His older brother was PaulDreiser who wrote the song «On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away», Dreiser’sfamily was very poor, and he soon saw a profound difference between the promiseand the reality of American life. This realization was a major source ofDreier’s discontent and an important influence on his works. Dreiser attended IndianaUniversity for a year. In the 1890’s he worked as a newspaperman in Chicago andst. Louse, by 1907, he was the successful editor of the very sort of woman’smagazine whose sentimentality and super facility he despised. Dreiser’s firstnovel, «Sister Carrie», was partly based on the experiences of one of hissisters. The novelist Frank Norris, on editor at Doubleday, Page, and Co.,enthusiastically accepted the manuscript for publication. But Nettle Doubleday,wife of the president of the company, was chocked by the manuscript’samorality, and the publisher tried to cancel the contract to publish the book.Dreiser insisted the agreement be honored. Doubleday printed the book in 1900,but did not advertise or distribute in. The novel became generally available in1912, after another publisher is sued it. «Sister Carry» is the story ofCarries Muber, a poor girl alone in Chicago. She likes with a travelingsalesman and then runs off to New York with George Hurstwood a prosperousmarried man. Hurstwood’s fortunes decline, and he becomes a bum and commitssuicide. Carrie find’s success, but not happiness, as an actress.  Dreiserwrote «Jennie Gerhardt» (1911y) another novel of desire and fate. However, hisreputation was assured with the publication of «The Financier» (1912), the mostpurely naturalistic of his works. It is the story of an industrial tycoon whoclaws his way to great power; Dreiser intended the novel as the beginning of a «Trilogyof Desire». But the second volume, «The Titan» (1914) was a failure, and thethird volume. «The Stoic», was not published until two years after his death.
«AnAmerican Tragedy» (1925) is possibly the most impressive of Dreiser’s books. Itconcerns a weak young man who in executed for the murder o f his pregnant girlfriend, again Dreier did not condemn his villain but the society that producedand destroyed him.
Afterhaving denounced Dreiser’s «barbaric naturalism» in 1915, he had the courage in1925 to accept «An American Tragedy» as «the worst written great novel in theworld» – but none the less great for its moral integrity and it’s final masteryof the novel form. With «The Genius» he bucked the censorship of the press andagain held back his novels except for «An American Tragedy» (1925), the storyof a boy who, like Carrie and Jennie, failed to come to workable terms withAmerican society.
Hisfather was an immigrant German, is mother the daughter of German parents whobelonged to a small religious sect in a farming region of Pennsylvania. Dreiserhas described his father as a fanatically religious man, honest, hard – working,plodding. He might have been an American success on a small scale but wasdevoid of will and too persistently concerned with trying to avoid the fires ofa theological hell. In Dreiser’s writing he emerges as a strangely appealingand rather pathetic figure.
Forhis mother, Dreiser felt a lifelong devotion. His description of her in Dawnreveals her as a deeply emotional woman who gave to her large family maternalaffection, warmth, and security, but for her, his life might have been asineffectual as that of some of his own characters. In boyhood he was shy,eager, timid, brooding, bewildered, and slow to develop. He has himselfconfessed how important his mother’s love and some measure of security were tohim as well as to his brothers and sister.
Hischildhood and youth were not happy. His father was almost continually poor, andthis family moved constantly from house to house, from one Indiana community toanother; they spent one period on the crowded west side of Chicago. Besidespoverty, the usually faced social ostracism. With each move, their hopes ofeconomic and of social betterment reawakened, only to be disappointed, andagain the Dreiser’s children were rejected by their fellows. Theodore’s sufferingwas further aggravated, when he passed the age of poverty, by severe fear ofcastration and impotence, which intensified his shyness and coursed sexualpanic in the presence of girls. These difficulties, with the rigid conceptionsof hell taught in the Catholic parochial school and reinforced by his father,played their part in his relative slowness of mental development. He was aninconsistent pupil, responding well only when his teachers took a sympathetic interestin him a brooding, groping boy and youth who had to learn everything forhimself.
Thebrooding and groping style which he often used in his novels was a reflectionof these inner struggles, and they provided him with one of the chief motivesof his fiction; the conflict between what was then loosely termed «instinct» bythe psychologists, and convention. The biological needs of his characters leadthem to actions, particularly in love affairs, which result in infringements onthe social code. His autobiographical writings tell us that he experienced thisconflict constantly and poignantly in his own early life. The bewilderments ofhis teenage period of drifting from job to job he worked in a Chicagorestaurant, drove for a laundry, collected for an easy payment furniturecompany, helped in a real estate, office, in the stockroom of whole sakehardware company, and soon suggest the later fictional wanderings of ClydeGriffiths in «An American Tragedy». His characters usually receive theireducation in life itself, in a real and savage struggle for place, money, andsocial prestige, rather than in schools.
Dreiserwas educated, like his characters, not so much by his schooling as by hirepeated moves with their resulting contrasts of urban and rural life. From thefarm lands and the many towns of Indiana, he came to know the vigorous youngcity of Chicago in the seventies and eighties. The moral and socialconsequences of the triumph of town over country were impressed upon him. Inhis early stories his characters, whenever they move to the city, find it anexciting adventure. The growth of cities is an integral motif of all hisstudies of youth. The decade of the nineties, when Dreiser was a youth inChicago, was a crucial period in its history. By the time of the world’s fairit was beginning to play an increasingly important role in national life,especially in finance and politics. No wonder he wrote, in Newspaper Days.
Tome Chicago at this time seemed with a peculiarly human or realistic atmosphere.It is given to some cities, as to some lands, to suggest romance, and to meChicago did that hourly. It sang, I thought, and …I was singing with it.
Therehe saw the contrasts of grandeur and misery which he was later to describe somovingly; there his dreams and hopeless of love, success, knowledge, prestigewas born. It seemed to be a world city in the mating, a center of gravity forthe American Success Dream.
Dreiseras a boy absorbed this dream of social power and easy money as if by osmosis,at the some time that he saw poverty, failure, ignorance, and defeat all abouthim, even in his own family. Attending popular lectures and reading EugeneField, he determined to understand it and to report it faithfully; to become anewspaperman. He inescapably was that Norris, Crane, and Carlen envisioned themodern American to be.
Therehas been much debate among the critics as to whether Dreiser was a «naturalist»after the manner of Zola. Only when it serves to confine creative genius withina formula must it be rejected, for Dreiser belonged to no school, studied nosources with intent to obey, knew little of literary movements at home orabroad.
Hewas an objective realist who gathered his facts impersonally, but he was more.He lived in his dreams, his hopes, his brooding. For this reason, he absorbedboth the realistic method and the new conceptions of the universe from scienceinto his thought and his writing. His views are loose in formulation, andinconsistent. For example, his theory of the relativity of morals is asinconsistent as it is challenging. But such views of man and native as he had,however ill formed, are essential parts of his writing; without them, his workswould be entirely different. They helped to deeper his imagination; theycontributed toward the feeling of awe he creates concerning the condition ofman, they served him in his very construction of theme, of story, of character.He was an artist, not a philosopher.
Theabsence of money means defeat; it means the back of education, of beauty. Itmeans that one is a victim, like Clyde Griffiths, of the rich, of one’srelationships with others. Dreiser directly described the pitilessness and thehierarchical character of capitalistic society by showing that just as the poorare the victims of the rich, the weak of the strong, so are women, inferior tomen, usually victims. American tragedy, like all tragedy, is the consequence ofweakness. The impulses, the passions of man pitilessly drive him to satisfyhimself; the force of social circumstance, the force nature of the socialstruggle, toward him and produce both social and biological tragedy.


2.The main part
 
2.1Clyde Griffith’s character and its reflection
Wemeet a little band of six, a man of about fifty, shout, stout, with bushy hairprotruding from under a round black felt hat, a most unimportant, lookingperson, who carried a small portable organ as in customarily used by streetpreambles and singers. And with him a woman perhaps five years his junior,taller, not so broad, bur solid of frame and vigorous, very plain in face anddress, and yet not homely, leading with one hand a small boy of seven and inthe other carrying a Bible and several hymn books. With these three, butwalking independently behind, was a girl of fifteen a boy of twelve and anothergirl of nine, all following obediently, but not too, enthusiastically in thewake of the others.
Itwas not, yet with a sweet languor about it all.
Theman the father as he chased to be looked about him with seeming will eyeassurance. The third of the family is Hester-the oldest girl, who until now hadattempted to appear as unconscious and unaffected as possible, bestowed herrather slim and as yet undeveloped figure. This family was an unimportantlooking (невзрачное семейство). The fatherhad rather dubious baritone. Impractical materially inefficient feature of thefather, whose weak black eyes and rather flabby but poorly clothed fissurebespoke more of failure than anything else.
Atthe group the mother alone stood out as having that force and determinationwhich, however blind or erroneous, make for self-preservation, if not successin life… She stood up with an ignorant, yet somehow respectable air allconviction.
Atall and as yet slight fissure, surmounted by an interesting head and facewhile skin, dark hair he seemed more keenly observant indeed to resent and evento suffer from the position in which he found himself. Plainly pagan ratherthan religious, life interested him, although as yet he was not fully aware ofthis. All that coned be truly said of him now was that there was no definiteappeal in all this for him. He was too young, his mind much to responsive topleases of beauty and Theodore Dreiser fought for life and for justice and inthese fields he opened new era of a prose and publicist writer. He paved thepath for Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingwayand others. If he could save some success in his youth he achieved it thanks tohis hard looking, he studied in the University of Life. He worked hard fornewspapers. Only from 1887 he turned into writing.
Thefuture writer felt that there existed an invisible wall between real life outthe society of journalism and literature. He wrote that he became indignantbecause of the contradictions which existed between what he read and the thingswhich he had experienced. In the books everything was beautiful, quiet. But thereal life consisted of hardships; it was rule, low, there even was no hint ofthe beautiful. Theodore Dreiser chose facts well-known for him. The lifedescribed in «An American Tragedy» is very much like Dreiser spent in hisyouth. This book may be considered to be Dreiser’s the masterpiece, it is rich,and it penetrated deep American life. The events are true to life, there aremuch dark and light as well, and they are full of contradictions, conflicts,disappointments. True is one of true critics who consider that if evenDreiser’s main heroes hadn’t died. The fact would not b e able to hide thetragedy of the Clyde Griffith like youth. This book the life full of served asa mirror put before. Americans and later before the people of all world,because the novel is translated into many languages of the world. The novel maybe thought to be the most important, valuable for Dreiser. We feel pettinessaccording to Clyde. Sometimes we want him to achieve the desired, butunfortunately he is not to cope with the tasks put before him. We sympathies withhim, but real life dictates him its own laws and these laws are heavy. Clyde istoo passive in An American life one must be very strong willed. We can’t besimple spectator or observer of Clyde’s fate. We are sorry for him when he issentences to death to an electric chair. We don’t like his behavior; he fallsdown little by little. He is not eager to help himself, he is not honest. Atthe some time we understand that the society in which is born is alsoresponsible for his failure. The problem of Clyde like people failure is putnot only in «An American Tragedy» but in Dreiser’s other things as well.
Thebook exposes that the idea as if «American has great opportunities» is not soin reality. Material wealth does not comprise the base of happiness. Anindividual’s interests are criticized when they are private interests.
Theauthor opposes the characteristic features of a common people from humanisticpoint of view. We are quoting citing this passage in order to show yare howpoor was Clyde Griffith’s childhood. He is from a poor family. He «appearedindeed to resent, and even to suffer from the position in which he foundhimself», the family was always «hard up», never very well clothed, anddeprived of many comforts and pleasures which seemed common enough to others. Hesteror Esta the older daughter was called by the family.
AsaGriffiths – the father, was one of those poorly integrated and correlatedorganisms, the product of an environment and a religions theory, but with noguiding or mental.
Insightof his own, yet sensitive and therefore highly emotional, and without anypractical sense whatsoever. Indeed it would be hard to make clear just how lifeappealed to him, or what the true full of his emotional responses was.
Thecreator of the novel is interested in Asa Griffiths and his wife because oftheir relation to Clyde, who was only twelve years old.
 
2.2Clyde Griffiths is a typical character of capitalist society
 
КлайдГриффитс существенно отличается от героев предыдущихпроизведений писателясвоей обыденностью, обычностью, заурядностью. Керри обладала актерскимдарованием, Дженни Герхард поражала душевным богатством, Каупервуда писательдаже уподобил Люциферу, у Витлы был талант художника. У Клайда нет талантовВитлы ели Керри, нет изворотливости и силы Каупервуда, нет душевной красоты ячастоты Дженни. Он самый обычный и заурядный американский юноша, «средниймолодой американец с типично американским взглядом на жизнь». Трагедия Клайдапохожа в не похожа на трагедию Витлы или Дженни. Буржуазная Америкарастаптывает душевную чистоту Дженни, глумятся над ее самыми сокровенными иискренними чувствами; буржуазная Америка губит талант Витлы; судьба же Клайдатрагична именно потому, что он усваивает законы буржуазной Америки и по мересвоих сил и возможностей следует ям, и оттого страшнее его трагедия, трагедия простогоамериканца, американская трагедия.
Клайд – само олицетворениеобычности, и в этом смысле он так же типичен. Иллюзии и мечты, привитые ему вдетстве, определяют дальнейшую судьбу молодого человека, охваченногонепреодолимым желанием во что бы то ни стало добиться легкой жизни, В образеКлайда писатель акцентировал неустойчивость, податливость влияниям среды.Повествование строится таким образом, что Клайд все время в центре внимания, ивместе с тем четко видны силы, формирующие его характер. «Одних толькоразговоров в вестибюле, – пишет Драйзер, – не говоря, уже о сценах вбаре, в ресторанах я номерах, было достаточно, чтобы внушить каждомунеопытному, и не очень разборчивому существу, будто главное занятие в жизни длявсякого, у кого есть кой-какие деньги и положение в обществе, – это ходитьв театры, детям посещать стадион, танцевать, кататься в автомобиле, угощатьдрузей обедами и ездить для развлечения в Нью-Йорк, Европу, Чикаго илиКалифорнию».
Такраскрывается социальная обусловленность поведения Клайда, который проникаетсястремлением попасть в этот мир роскоши и богатства. Эти-мечтания определяю иего отношение к Роберте Олден. Вот размышления Клайда: пусть эта девушка беднаи ей, по несчастью, пришлось стать простой работницей, он все равно был быочень счастлив с нею, но только при одном условии: чтобы не нужно быложениться. Что касается брака, тут честолюбивый Клайд был словно под гипнозом:он женится на девушке из круга Грифитсов! Брак с богатой девушкой казалсяКлайду путем к исполнению его сокровенных желаний. Карьера для него дороже техчувств, которые он испытывал к Роберте, – в его сознании любовь неотделимаот пышности, удовольствий, богатства, видного положения в обществе. Таксоздаются предпосылки для трагедии Клайда и Роберты.
В «Американскойтрагедии» достигается та удивительная художественная цельность, котораяотличает истинные произведения искусства. И заглавие романа, и его композиция,в пейзаж, и авторские отступления, и логика развития характеров, и ихпсихология в «Американской трагедии» раскрывают ответственность американскогобуржуазного общества за трагедию Клайда Грифитса.
Широтасоциального замысла «Американской трагедии» выявляется и композиция романа,Драйзер писал о композиции «Американской трагедии» в апреле 1931 года: «Этотроман должен представлять в трех различных социальных и экономических сферахкарьеру очень чувствительного, но умственно не очень развитого парня, которыйобнаруживает, что жизнь его в самом начале затруднена бедностью и низкимсоциальным положением, из которых, повинуясь присущим ему желаниям и служащимпобудительной силой, он и пытается вырваться». Разъясняя затею своей мысли,Драйзер отмечает, что первая часть книги была посвящена изображению такихсоциальных невзгод, какие могут естественно подавить, «держать, и расстроить, аследовательно, и усилить эмоции в желания очень чувствительного парня, плохоприспособленного для великой жизненной борьбы, с которой сталкивается любойюноша.
Часть вторая,по словам Драйзера, была специально предназначена, чтобы показать, что такойтемперамент может случайно быть поставлен лицом к лицу с гораздо болееудачливым мирон, который разовьет в нем стремление к роскоши в любви, япроследить, как в неравном состязании между бедностью, невежеством великимисоблазнами мира он может легко в помимо своей воли оказаться побежденным и дажеобвиненный в убийстве, как эта и происходит с Грифитсом.
Часть третьябыла тщательно спланирована Драйзером таким образом, чтобы продемонстрировать,пак такой слабый человек – сначала пленник своих мечтаний, а потом закона – можетлегко 'стать жертвой одержимых предрассудками и мстительных провинциальныхполитиканов, которые, в свою очередь, по причине социальной в религиознойограниченности никак не могут воспринять смягчающие обстоятельства преступленияи поэтому, как отмечает Драйзер, судят его куда более жестоко, чем это моглисделать люди более проницательные и умные.
2.3Clyde’s attitude towards to
 
a)Hortense
Итак, перваякнига – экспозиция романа – посвящена формированию характера Клайда, вторая – трагическойгибели Роберты, третья – гибели Клайда. В основу сюжета положено развитиехарактера и личности Клайда в его взаимоотношении с обществом. Клайда водит занос ветреная продавщица Гортензия Бриге. После нескольких встреч Гортензиястала казаться Клайду воплощением всего, что он всегда мечтал найти в девушке.Она была такая живая, гордая, обаятельная и такая хорошенькая. В её глазахказалось ему, плясали огоньки. У неё была необыкновенно соблазнительная манерасжимать и вновь раскрывать губы, равнодушно глядя прямо перед собой, словнововсе и не думая о Клайде, а его от этого бросало в жар и дрожь. В такие минутыон ощущал слабость, голова шла кругом; по жилам жестко обжигая, пробегалиогненные струйки, – это было осознанное желание, мучительное и безысходное.
Развлечения вКанзас-Сити кончаются для Клайда печально, – во время возвращения свечеринки автомобиль, в котором находились Клайд и его друзья, сбил девочку, апотом, когда напуганные молодые люди пытались скрыться от полиции, произошлаавтомобильная катастрофа. До смерти перепутанный Клайд бежит из Канзас-Сити,Так заканчивается юность Клайда, который, покинув родительский дом, вступает всамостоятельную жизнь.
 
b) RobertaOlden
Во второйкниге Клайд после мытарств и лишений, которые ему пришлось претерпеть во времястранствий по различным городам Америки, попадает под опеку богатого дядифабриканта. Клайду кажется, что он может, наконец, сделать карьеру. На его путиоказывается Роберта Олден которая работает под его началом и зависит от него, ихотя Роберта отнюдь не относится к числу девушек нестрогих правил, Клайдуудается достигнуть того, чего он не смог добиться от многоопытной ГортензииБриге ни ухаживаниями, ни щедрыми подарками.
Клайд несобирался жениться на Роберте с начала их знакомства. Встреча же с богатойСандрой Финчли внушила Клайду мысль о возможности вступить в столь желанный длянего мир в заставила искать пути отделаться от мешавшей ему. Роберты.Подчеркивая расчетливость Клайда, Драйзер отмечает, что «Роберта большенравилась ему. Она нежнее, мягче, добрее, не такая ледяная». В то же времяСандра «воплощала и неизмеримо увеличивала в его глазах значение своего круга»,и Клайд относился в ней иначе, – «в отличие от того, что он с самогоначала испытывал к Роберте, его мысли о Сандре не были чувственными». Еслиотношение Клайда к Роберте диктовала страсть, то к Сандре его влекли расчет,мысль о богатстве, преклонение перед тем, что он считал высшим светом.
 
c) Sondra
Удивительнаядевушка!
Какаякрасавица!
И как богата,и такое видное положение занимает в обществе!
МышлениеКлайда всегда было языческим, чуждым всяких условностей; и теперь он всерьезспрашивал себя, почему бы ему не перенести свое внимание с Роберты на Сондру,раз мечты о ней доставляют ему больше удовольствия. Роберта не должна об этомзнать. Она не может прочитать его мысли, не может узнать о том, что с нимпроисходит, если он сам ей не скажет, а он, разумеется, ничего не собираетсяговорить. Да и что ту! плохого, если он, бедняк, стремится попасть в высшиекруги общества? Ведь бывали случаи, когда такие же бедняки женились на богатыхдевушках вроде Сондры.
Новая встречас Сондрой, так внезапно ставшей на его пути, подстегнула его и без того пылкоевоображение. Эта безмерно восхищавшая Клайда богиня в своем украшенномпозолотел и мишурой храме соблаговолила вспомнить о нем и так открыт и прямопредложила его пригласить. И она сама, несомненно, будет там, мысль этаволновала его безумно.
Страсть кРоберте была убита страстью выбиться в мир богатых.
 
2.4The significance of the novel. «AnAmericaTragedy»
Драйзерподчеркивает сходство характеров Клайда в Роберты. Клайд для наивной Робертыолицетворяет мир роскоши я, богатства, «Встретив Клайда, Роберта увлеклась им ипритом вообразила, что он принадлежит к некоему высшему обществу. И в душу ейпроник тот же яд беспокойного тщеславия, который отравлял и Клайда». Поэтомуона так настойчиво добивалась, чтобы Клайд женился на ней, и пошла даже насвязь с ним, хотя и считала, что это нехорошо, безнравственно.
Клайд иРоберта не опытны в житейских делах, даже инфантильны, «Клайд по своемухарактеру, – отмечает Драйвер, – неспособен был когда-либо статьвполне взрослым человеком». Их отношения заканчиваются трагической гибельюРоберты.[2]
Скрупулезно,как бы под увеличительным стеклом рассматривая все обстоятельства трагедии наозере Большой Выпи, Драйзер мотивирует все поступки, которые совершил Клайд,стремясь избавиться от Роберты.
Клайд читаетгазетное сообщение о несчастном случае на озере Пасс, где утонули мужчина идевушка, причем тело девушки обнаружили, а тело мужчины не нашли. Далее Драйзерпередает ход мысли Клайда, который привел его к роковому выходу! «…итак, он иРоберта плывут в лодке и лодка опрокидывается» и как раз теперь, когда его тактерзают все эти ужасные осложнения. Вот и выход! Как просто разрешилась бы этаголоволомная, мучительная задача! Однако… стоп!., не спешить. Может ли человек,хотя' бы в мыслях, допустить для себя такой выход из тупика, не совершаяпреступления в своем сердце – поистине ужасного, чудовищного преступления? Нет,нельзя даже и думать об этом. Это скверно… очень скверно, ужасно! И, однако,если бы – разумеется, нечаянно – несчастье все же случилось? Ведь это был быконец всем его тревогам из-за Роберты…»
Внешнийповод, вызывающий такое смятение в мыслях Клайда, как
будто «неочень значителен, но он ведет за собой цепь событий, завершающихся гибельюРоберты и осуждением Клайда.
Драйзер нестремится превратить Клайда в законченного злодея, негодяя, убийцу и вместе стем не оправдывает его. Он хочет показать истинных виновников смерти Роберты,показать степень морального падения Клайда, который, впитываяиндивидуалистический дух американского буржуазного общества, становитсяпреступником, еще не совершив преступления. Ведь Клайд понимает, что если онизбавится от Роберты, утопив ее в озере, то превратится в убийцу. Онколеблется, размышляя о возможных последствиях своего поступка. В Клайде Грифитсепроисходит внутренняя борьба, свидетельствующая о его душевном смятении. И «Драйзервыносит приговор не столько Клайду, сколько тем, кто морально подготовил его кпреступлению.
«Acertain emotionalism and exotic sense of pronouns which characterized him,which he took more from his father than from his mother».
Theprofession career of Clyde’s parents was the shabby, trivial thing that itappeared to be in the eyes of others. Mrs. Elvira Griffiths was an ignorantfarm girl. The one thing that really interested Clyde in connection with hisparents was the existence somewhere in the cast in a small city calledLycurgus, near Utica a brother of his father uncle Samuel Griffiths who wasrich and could do help Clyde. But here in Kansas City they were living in toe somewretched and hum-drum hand to month state that had always characterized theirlives.
Buthe understood that he had to do everything to live better only himself, nobodycould help him but himself. He had a straight, well-cut nose, high whiteforehead, wavy, glossy, blank hair, eyes that were black and rather melancholyat times.
Heenvied richer people. He envied young people who were of his age. The exampleshows that tie Clyde Griffiths too connected family is not fight; on thecontrary it is too stock «lightly».
Esta’sgoing away from the paternal house before him showed that she was probablydissatisfied, just as Clyde was. He was also thinking of going away somewherehimself. Their going away world cause his father and mother misery. At any ratetheir leaving world not be anything worth. «It was only another something whichhinted that things were not right here. Mission work was nothing. All thatreligious emotion and talk was not so much either.
«Ithadn’t saved Esta Evidently, like himself, she didn’t believed so mush in it,either»
«Atlast Clyde had to girl up his work help in the mission. He saw that hiscondition might be better if he found another job, meanwhile» he was sixteenand old enough to make his own way, he ought to be getting out of this. And yethe was earning almost nothing not enough to like on, if he were alone and hehad not as yet developed sufficient skill or courage to get anything better.
Let’ssee the translation of the above cited thoughts in the Russian language.
«Но теперьему уже шестнадцать лет, он достаточно взрослый, чтобы жить по своему, и долженизбавится от такой жизни. Однако он слишком мало зарабатывал недостаточно,чтобы прожить одному, и ему не хватало ещё уменье и смелости для того, чтобыустроиться лучше (стр. 43)[3]
Sohe began to look for any opportunity which would supply him with «better» lifeseeking for a job, he entered the drag store. Interested by his tentative anduncertain manner as well as his deep and rather appealing eyes, andinstinctively judging to do, she observed: «Why, Mr. Seear, there, the managerof the store?»
Weare interested in this example because we see me other beaters of the mainhero’s character. His manner are «factitive and uncertain» «робкий и неуверенный»; His eyesare «deep and appealing» «глубокие исловно
умоляющие глаза»
«Унинг қурқа-писа ва ботилмай турганлигига, шунингдек, чуқур ва илтижоли бокишларига қизикиб қолган кассир жувон иш қидириб юрганлигини сезиб олди».
Магазин бошқарувчиси мистер Синор-ди,– деди у (27 ‑ бет)
InRussian the translator used one word – «словно» «as if» concerning. Clyde’s eyes. Theword in the Russian sentence is not necessary at all. If the Uzbek translatorwould have translated it as «гуё» – what would not very nice, as this wordis not necessary at all. Because his eyes were «realy», «very» appealing. Sohe appeared in at an institution as the Green Davidson. One more detailsClyde’s characters.
«Andas he hurried on about his various errands now, it occurred to him as a finaland shrewd and delicious thought that he need not go home on such night as hewished to go to a theatre or anything like that.
Hecould just stay down town and say he had to work. And that with free meals andgood clothes think of that!
Andit was «astonishing and entrancing» in this perfectly marvelous-marvelous realm»
И пока онбегал по всяким делам, ему пришло на ум ещё одна лукавая и восхитительнаямысль; он может не приходить домой в те вечера, когда захочет пойти в театр илиещё куда – ни будь. Он просто останется в городе, а после скажет дома, что емупришлось работать.
И к тому жедаровать стол и форменную одежда! Подумать только «Все это было такпоразительно, так увлекательно» «в этом чудесном, чудесном царстве» (стр. 53–54).[4]
«Утурли-туман ишлар билан югуриб юраркан, хаёлига Яна бита мугамбирона ва ажоибфикр келиб келди: У театрга ёки бошка бирор жойга бормокчи булган окшомлардауйга келмаслиги хам мумкин, шунчаки шахарда колаверди, кейин эса уйдагиларгаишладим, деб қуя қолди. Хаммадан хам овкат Билан формали кийимнинг текинлигиниайтмайсизми? Буни каранг‑а!
Буларнингбарии нихоятда хайратомиз ва қизикарли», «бу ажойиб ва гароиб оламда»нималарга эриша олишини куриши керак.
Ха, шундайкилиш лозим (36‑бет.).
Herman Theodore Dreiser, son of German immigrants, was bornin Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 27, 1871. He was the ninth in a family often children. In 1869, his father's woolen mill was destroyed by fire, and thefamily remained in poverty and was forced to move numerous times out offinancial necessity. Dreiser was a sensitive child, stuttered, and was oftenhumiliated by his family's poverty. All these experiences had a profound effecton his writing. Because he came from a poor family, he developed apreoccupation with wealth and success at an early age. Many of his novelsdescribe the moral decay of people who become obsessed by a desire for wealth.He was educated at various public and parochial schools in Indiana. When he wastwelve years old, the family moved briefly to Chicago and Dreiser developed afascination with the city that lasted his entire life. As a young man, heattended Indiana University, however, he only remained in college for one year,from 1889 to 1890.
For a while, Dreiser drifted from job to job; he worked as adriver for a laundry, in a real estate office, and as a collector for afurniture store. He began his writing career by working for the St. Louis GlobeDemocrat. He also worked for newspapers in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York,where he finally settled in 1894. He was a voracious reader and was influencedby the writings of Poe, Hawthorne, Balzac, Freud and philosopher, HerbertSpencer. He eventually came to view people as helpless victims of indifferentnatural forces. In 1898 he married Sara White, a school teacher from Missouri,however, Dreiser found it very difficult to remain faithful to one woman. Hehad numerous affairs, sometimes several at once. During these years he earned aliving as an editor for several magazines for women. He also published accountsof his travels through the United States and abroad. A Traveller at 40 waspublished in 1931. A Hoosier Holiday was published in 1916; and his articlesabout Russia, Dreiser Looks at Russia, which were originally published in theNew York World, was published in 1928. In 1932 he published Tragic America, in which he applauded the achievements of Russia. This book was followed byAmerica is Worth Saving, published in 1941. Later his writing took him out westwhere he died in Hollywood, California on December 28, 1945.
American author, outstanding representative of naturalism,whose novels depict real-life subjects in a harsh light. Dreiser's novels wereheld to be amoral, and he battled throughout his career against censorship andpopular taste. This started with SISTER CARRIE (1900). It was not until 1981that the work was published in its original form. Dreiser's principal concernwas with the conflict between human needs and the demands of society formaterial success.
«A woman should some day write the complete philosophy ofclothes. No matter how young, it is one of the things she wholly comprehends.There is an indescribably faint line in the matter of man's apparel whichsomehow divides for her those who are worth glancing at and those who are not.Once an individual has passed this faint line on the way downward he will getno glance from her. There is another line at which the dress of a man willcause her to study her own.» (from Sister Carrie)
Theodore Dreiser was born in Sullivan, Indiana, the ninth often children. His parents were poor. In the 1860s his father, a devout CatholicGerman immigrant, had attempted to establish his own woolen mill, but after itwas destroyed in a fire, the family lived in poverty. Dreiser's schooling waserratic, as the family moved from town to town. He left home when he was 16 andworked at whatever jobs he could find. With the help of his former teacher, hewas able to spend the year 1889–1890 at Indiana University. Dreiser left afteronly a year. He was, however, a voracious reader, and the impact of suchwriters as Hawthorne, Poe, Balzac, Herbert Spencer, and Freud influenced histhought and his reaction against organized religion.
In 1892 Dreiser started to write for the Chicago Globe, andmoved to a better position with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In 1898 hemarried Sara White, a Missouri schoolteacher, but the marriage was unhappy.Dreiser separated permanently from her in 1909, but never earnestly sought adivorce. In his own life Dreiser practised his principle that man's greatestappetite is sexual – the desire for women led him to carry on several affairsat once. His relationship with Yvette Szekely Eastman is recorded in DearestWilding by Yvette Eastman (1995) – she was 16 and Dreiser 40 years older whenthey met.
As a novelist Dreiser made his debut with Sister Carrie, apowerful account of a young working girl's rise to success and her slowdecline. «She >yas eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of theillusions of ignorance and youth. Whatever touch of regret at partingcharacterized her thoughts it was certainly not for advantages now being givenup. A gush of tears at her mother's farewell kiss, a touch in the throat whenthe cars clacked by the flour mill where her father worked by the day, apathetic sigh as the familiar green environs of the village passed in review,and the threads which bound her so lightly to girlhood and home wereirretrievably broken.» (from the 1981 edition) The president of the publishingcompany, Frank Doubleday, disapproved of the work – Dreiser illuminated theflaws of his characters but did not judge them and allowed vice to be rewardedinstead of punished. No attempt was made to promote the book. Sister Carrie wasreissued in 1907 and it became one of the most famous novels in literaryhistory. Among its admirers was H.L. Mencken, an aspiring journalist, whomDreiser had hired as a ghost-writer in his paper. William Wyler's film version,starring Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones, was made at the height of theCold War and McCarthy era. Paramount executives delayed the releasing of thefilm – they thought the picture was not good for America and it was a flop. «Itwas a depressing story», said Wyler, «and it might not have been a successanyway.»
The 500 sold copies of his first novel and family troublesdrove Dreiser to the verge of suicide. He worked at a variety of literary jobs,and as an editor-in – chief of three women's magazines until 1910, when he wasforced to resign, because of an office love affair. In 1911 JENNIE GERHARDT,Dreiser's second novel, appeared. In the story a young woman, Jennie, isseduced by a senator. She bears a child out of wedlock but sacrifices her owninterests to avoid harming her lover's career. A passage in which Jennie'slover Lester Kane, the son of a wealthy family, tells her about contraceptives,was removed by Ripley Hitchcock, the editor at Harper & Brothers.Jennie Gerhardt was followed by novels based on the life of the Americantransportation magnate Charles T. Jerkes, THE FINANCIER (1912), and THE TITAN(1914), which show the influence of the evolutionary ideas of Herbert Spencerand Nietzsche's concept of the Ubermensch. Last volume of the trilogy, THESTOIC, was finished in 1945.
«At the height of his success, when he had settled old scoresand could easily have become the smiling public man, he chose instead to ripthe whole fabric of American civilization straight down the middle, from itseconomy to its morality. It was the country that had to give ground.» (NelsonAlgren, in Nation, 16 May, 1959)
Dreiser's semi-autobiographical novel THE 'GENIUS' (1915) wascensured by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The book remainedoff the market until Live right reissued it five years later. Dreiser'scommercially most successful novel was AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (1925), which wasadapted for screen for the first time in 1931, directed by Josef von Sternberg.Dreiser had objected strongly to the version because it portrayed his youthfulkiller as a sex-starved idle loafer. The second time was in 1951 under thetitle A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Cliftand Elizabeth Taylor. Duringthe filming the stars became attached to one another, which is reflected in thetenderness of their performance. The director George Stevens won an AcademyAward, as did the writers Michael Wilson and Harry Brown for Best Screenplay.However, Robert Hatch in the New Republic (September 10,1951) dismissed thefilm. «Unfortunately, the power and bite of the book have been lost in thepolite competence of the screen. These are such nice, such obviously successfulpeople, they must be playing characters… there doesn't seem much use indragging Dreiser's classic off the shelf just to dress it in this elegant,ambivalent production…» The book made Dreiser the champion of social reformers,but his later works did not attain similar notice.
An American Tragedy tells the story of a bellboy, ClydeGriffiths, indecisive like Hamlet, who sets out to gain success and fame. Afteran automobile accident, Clyde is employed by a distant relative, owner of acollar factory. He seduces Roberta Alden, an employee at the factory, but fallsin love with Sondra Finchley, a girl of the local aristocracy. Roberta, nowpregnant, demands that Clyde marry her. He takes Roberta rowing on an isolatedlake and in this dreamlike sequence 'accidentally' murders her. Clyde's trial,conviction, and execution occupy the remainder of the book. Dreiser points outthat materialistic society is as much to blame as the murderer himself. Dreiserbased his study on the actual case of Chester Gillette, who murdered GraceBrown – he hit her with a tennis racket and pushed her overboard at Big MooseLake in the Adirondack in July 1906. An American Tragedy was banned in Bostonin 1927.
Much of Dreiser's works evolved from his own experiences ofpoverty. Among his rare excursions into the realm of fantasy is the ghost storyThe Hand1 (1920). It is a tale of murder and the haunting of thekiller, but again behind the nightmare of the protagonist are the familiarthemes of Dreiser's novels – fear of losing ones social position, feelings ofmoral guilt arising during the unrestrained struggle for success.
Thesecond book of «An American Tragedy» opens with the description of the Home ofSamuel Griffiths in Lucurgys, New York, a city of some twenty-five thousandinhabitants midway between Utica and Albany (p 157)
Weset the acquaintances of Myra – the oldest daughter, Gilbert Griffiths, theonly son of this family, and Bella, who wasn’t like her sister Myra. Let’s havean information about them, Myra was not beautiful, but Bella;
«Contrastedwith her sister, who was tall and dark and rather sallow, Bella, thoughshorter, was far more gainfully and vigorously formed. She had thick brownalmost black hair, a brown and alive complexion fainted with red, and eyesbrown and genial, that blared with an eager, seeking light addition to hersound and light physique, she possessed vitality and animation. Her arms andlegs were graceful and active. Plainly she was given to liking things as shefound them enjoying life as it was and hence, unlike her sister, she wasunusually attractive to men and boys to men and women, old and young-a fact whichher mother and father well knew» (p 158)
«Indeedshe was his pet, the most pleasing and different and artistic thing, as he sawit, that all his years had brought to him – youth, health, intelligence andaffection – all in the shape of a pretty daughter» (p 165)
Дом СэмюэлГрифитса в Ликурге (город с двадцатью пятью тысячами жителей, расположенный вштате Нью–Йорк, на полпути между Утикой и Албании) (стр. 164)[5]
Белла была совсемне похожа на свою сестру – высокую, болезненно бледную брюнетку. Она была нижеростом, но грациознее и в тоже время крепче. У нее были густые, почти черныеволосы, смуглый оливковый цвет лица с горячим румянцем, веселые карие глаза,сверкавшие жадным интересом ко всему на свете, гибкое тело и красивые ловкиеруки и ноги. Жизнь била в ней ключом. Она попросту любила все вокруг,наслаждалось жизнью такой, как она есть, и по этому, в отличие от сестры,неудержимо привлекала к себе всех – мужчин, и юношей, и женщин, старых имолодых – что, конечно, прекрасно замечали ее родители (стр. 165)
Разумеется,она была его любимицей. Он считал ее очаровательной, несравненной, своего родапроизведением искусства, лучшим, что подарила ему жизнь; юность; здоровы, веселы,ум и любовь – все воклощалось в образе прелестной дочери. (стр. 172)
СамуилГрифитснинг Ликургда (бу ахолиси йигирма беш минглик шахар булиб, Нью – Йоркштатида, Утика Билан Олбэнининг уртасидаги уйи) (бет – 143)
Белла опасигасира хам ухшамаган киз эди. Опаси новча рангпар ва кора соч булса, у пастакрок,нозанинрок ва Айни пайтда пишик қиз эди. Сочлари калин корамтир, зайтун туслибугдой ранг юзлварида қирмизи ранг хам купчиб турар, оламдаги хар бирнарсага сабрсизлик Билан қизиқувчи куй кузли, танаси новдадекгина, оек – қуллари хам бенихоя латифва эпчил эди. Уни олов киз деса буларди. Теварак – атрофидаги нарсаларнингбарини куш курар, бор хаетдан завкланар, шунинг учун хам опасидан фарклиравишда хаммани – эркаклару усмирларни хам кексаю еш аелларни хам узига жалбкилар, бу нарса унинг ота – онасига хам яхши маьлум эди. (бет – 144)
Белла унингарзандаси эди, албатта. У Беллани хает узига иньом этган мафтункор, бекиесузига хос саньат дурдонаси деб карар, бу ажойиб кизи тимсолидаешлик, соглик, қувноклик, ақл ва мухаббат, хуллас,хама – хаммаси жамулжам булган эди. (бет – 151)[6]
Forever since he had fled from Kansas City, and by one humble device and anotherforced to make his way, he had been coming to the conclusion that on himselfalone depended his future. They were too impractical and too poor – his mother,father.
Esta,alb of them (p. 171)
И этоособенно отличала его от Клайда прежних дней, удравшего из Канзас – Сити втоварном валлоне – он стал гораздо осторожнее и сдержаннее. Ибо с тех пор какон бежал из Канзас – Сити и должен был пускаться на всяческие украшения, чтобыпросуществовать, он понял, что его будущее зависит только от него самого. Егородные – в этом он окончательно убедился – ничем не могли ему помочь. Все они имать, и отец, и Эста – были слишком непрактичны и слишком бедны. (стр. 179)
У энди анчаэхтиёткор ва босик булиб колган, уни Канзас-Ситидан товар вагонида кочибкетаётган пайтидагидан бошкача курсатиб тургани хам шу эдию Зероб Клайд Канзас– Ситидан кочганидан бери тирикчилигини утказиш учун кирмаган кучаси колмаган,шунинг учун хам келажаги факат узига боглигини тушиниб олганди. Ота-онаси унгаёрдам кулини чузиша олмас, бунга у тула-тухис ишонч хосил килганди. Негадегандаб онаси хам, отаси хам, Эста хам кули киска ва жуда камбагал эдилар. (157–158 бет.)
Clydewrites to his mother that he became different after the auto accident, «I’vegot a lot more sense now, anyone I see things different than I used to. I wantto be successful. I only have a fair place now, not as good as I had in K.C.,but fair, and not in the same like. But I want something better, though I don’twant to go back in the hotel business either if I can help it. It’s not so verygood for a young man like me too height flying, I guess. You see I know a lotmore than I did back there. They like me all right where I am, but I got forgeton in this world. Besides I am not really making more than my expenses herenow, just my room and board and clothes, but I am trying to save a little inorder to set into some line where I can work up and lean something. A personhas to have a like of some kind this day, I see that now» (p 174)[7]
Теперь якое-чему научился и лучше всё понимаю. Я хотел бы добиться какого-то положенияв жизни. Надеюсь, что мне повезёт. У меня теперь довольно хорошее место,правда, не такое, как в Канзас – Сити, но всё-таки вполне приличное, хотя и вдругом роде. Но я хочу добиться чего-нибудь лучшего. Только я постараюсь большене работать в гостиницах. Это не подходящее дело для таких, как я. По-моему нестоит забираться так высоко. Видишь, я теперь поумнел. Там, где я служу, мноюдовольны но я хочу достигнуть лучшего положения. Кроме того, зарабатываю я нетак много, хватает только на самое необходимое; комната, стол, одежда. Но явсе-таки стараюсь понемножку складывать потому что хочу найти себе какое небудь подходящее занятие что бы можно было чему – не будь научиться. В нашевремя каждый человек должен иметь специальность, теперь я это понимаю. (181–182стр.)[8]
Мен энди оқ-қорани анча-мунча ажратиб, у буларгадурустрок тушунаяпман. Дурустрок одам булишни истайман, омадим келишигаишонаман. Хозирги ишим Казас-ситидагидай булмай, бошка сохада булса хам, хархолда ёмон эмас. Мен булсам ундан яхширогига интилмокчиман. Факатмехмонхоналарда бошка ишламасликка харакат киламан. Бу менга ухшайдиганларгатугри келмайдиган иш. Менимча, бунчалик баландга чикиб кетиш ярамайди.Курдингизми анча аклим кириб колган. Хозир ишлаётган жойимдагилар менданхурсанд, бирок мен дурустрок мавкега эришсам дейман. Хозирча, топадиган пулимунча куп эмас, хона, овкат, кийимга етарли. Шундай булса хам озгина – озгинаданчегириб коляпман, нега деганда, узимга бирорта муносиб иш топиб, у-буниургансам дейман. Бизнинг Давримизда хар бир одам уз мутахасислигига эга булишикерак, буни энди тушунаман.
Clyde’smother wrote to her son asking him not to drink wine. She also asked her son towrite a letter to Samuel Griffiths, of Licurgys, as that was rich andsuccessful.
Andhe met Kettener. Both of them were happy to meet each other. Letterer helpedhim a message (about a vacancy) which real: See Mr. Light all at the GreatNorthern before noon to morrow. There’s vacancy over there. It the very best,but it’ll get you something better later. (p‑178)
Thework in a new place, very different from the «Great Northern» and superior froma social and material point of view, as Clyde saw it, to even the Great –Davidson, he was able once more to view at clone range a type of life that musteffected, unfortunately, his flump of position and distinction. (p‑179).
Somewhatfurtive and appealing or seeking-that at once interested her, and reminded her,perhaps, since she was not much of success socially either, of something inherself (P.230).
Hemet Sondra Finchley and miss Cranston at his uncle’s house.
Авообще, я думаю, из него можетполучиться толк в качестве начальника цеха… пожалуй, по позже можно будет дажеторгового агента из него сделать (стр. 211).
Умуманайтганда эса, ундан цех бошлигига ухшаган одам чикиши мумкин… кейинчалик униэхтимол, савдо агенти килиш хам мумкин булар. (190‑бет).
Она уловилаво взгляда Клайда какое-то беспокойство, выражение не то мольбы, не то тревожногоиспуга и то её тронула: может быт, она почувствовала в нем что-то близкое, своеона ведь и сама пользовалась не слишком большом успехом в обществе (стр. 237).
У Клайднингнигохида кандайдир асабийлик, илтижоли ё безовтакургами ухшаган бир ифоданиукиб олганидан, унга кизикди-колди: Майра эхтимол, бунда узига якин ва маълумбулган бир нимани сезгандир. Нега деганда, узи хам купчилик уртасида унча баланд юрмасди.
For,somewhat after the fashoin of Clyde in relation in his family and his life, sheconsidered her life a great dis.
Nevertheless,her underlying thought in connection with all this, in so far as Clyde and hisgreat passion for her was concerned – and hers for him – was thatshe was indeedtrifling wiht fire and perhaps social disgrace into the forgain (p. 303).
AboutRoberta Clydethought that he would never abandon her, but about their merriage no directstatement mentioned.
ПодобноКлайду, недовольная своей семьей и своей жизнью, она думала о собсвенной судьбес чуством глубокого разочарования (стр. 265).
У хам Клайдгаухшаб оиласи ва хаетидан кунгли тулмай уз такдирини уйлаб, эзилиб юрарди (243бет).[9]
И все же,думая о Клайде и об их взаимной страсти, Роберта в глубине души созновала, чтоиграет с огнем и может оказаться опозоренной (стр. 308).
Роберта шундахам Клайд билануртадаги севгиларини уйлаганида ут билан уйнашаетганини вашармандаси чикиши мукинлигини ичида сезиб турарди (285‑бет).
«Theeffect of this so casual contact was really disrupling in more senses
thanone. For now in spite of his comfort in and calisfaction with Roberta, oncemore and in this position and to him entrancing way, was posed the wholequestion of his social pessibilities here. And that strangely enough by the onegirl of this upper level who head most materializid and magnificed forhim the meaning of that upper level itself the beautiful Sondra Fichley (p. 325).
Влияние этойнечаянной встречи во многих отношениях оказалось поистине гибельным. Как нимного удовлетворения и радости давала, Клайду близость с Робертой перед нимтеперь снова в упор стал волнующий вопрос: может ли он добиться положенияобществе? И странно это произошло блогодаря встрече с боготой светскойдевушкой, которая воплащала и неизмеримо увилечивало в его глазах значениесвоего круга. Что за красавица эта Сандра Финчли! (стр. 328)
Бу нагохонийучрашувнинг таъсири жуда куп маънода чинакамига хатарли булди. Роберта биланякинлик Клайдга канчалик коникиш ва кувонч бахш этмасин, энди жамоат орасидадурустрок мартабага эга буламанми-йукми, деган хаяжонли масала яна унингтинчини бузди. Кизиги шундаки, бу аёнлар доирасида киз билан учрашув туфайли юзберди, бу киз унинг куз унгида уша доиранинг тимсоли эди ва уша доиранингахамиятини бекиёс даражада ошириб курсатарди! (305‑бет).[10]
Onwiling our final graduation paper we have the following aims and tasks:
1. To speak about American literature in connection with TheodorDreiser`s literary activity.
2. To enlighten specitic features of Theodor Dreiser in connectionwith the creation of «An American Tragedy».
3. To talk about «An American Tragedy» not only in Theodor Dreiser oramerican but both in world and Uzbek literatures.
4. To study the characters of Clyde Griffith, and its reproduction inUzbek. To see Clydes attitudes to Hortense, Roberta and Sondra.
Eachof the character taken seperatly and in connection with the main hero. To studyways and principles of reproducing punliaritics of every image.
5. To pay attention to the fact how characters examined are reflectedin Uzbek language.
6. To express our point of view about the texts translated.
 

Conclusion
TheodorDreiser compares two Griffits. Clyde`s father (twenty five years before) «short,fat and poorly suit mentally as as well as physically-oleagenous and abit mushy, as it were. His chin was not firm, his eyes a pale watery blue, andhis hair frizzled (p. 183).
Из опасениягибели Роберты нельзя сделать вывод, что юридически Клайд совершил убийство, еслиустановить, степень его вины. О том, насколько запутаны события на озереБольшой Выпав, говорил известный американский – юрист Клиренс Харроу,заявивший, что Клайда определить невозможно. В американских юридических школахспециально изучалось убийство Робберты КАК трудный случай в правовой практике.
Над сценой наозере Большой Драйзер работал особенно. Он специально доехал ил озеро БольшогоЛося, где был, убит Грейс Браун, разговаривал с очевидцами убийства, ели плавална лодке, но озеру. Эта сцена стоила Драйзеру больших душевных переживаний. Онпризнавался, что оплакивал, смерть Роберты,
В третьей,Заключительной, книге идет судебное разбирательство дела Клайда. Вновь проходятперед читателем обстоятельства, при которых было совершено преступление, вновьустанавливается виновность общества, американское правосудие, приговор Клайду,вину которого трудно установить и показать. То общество, которое толкнулоКлайда на преступление, посадило его на электрический стул.
ТрагедияКлайда состоит не только в то», что он совершил преступление, но и в том, какего судят. Судьба Клайда была предрешена задолго до начала суда. Он сталигрушкой в предвыборной борьбе двух буржуазных партий. Продажностьамериканского правосудия, его пристрастность, приверженность узкогрупповым интересамолицетворяют образы прокурора Менсона, следователя Хайта, многочисленныхадвокатов. Среди романов Драйзера «Американская трагедия» выделяется глубиной явсесторонностью охвата явлений американской. «Роман Драйзера широк и безбрежен,как Гудзон; необъятен, как сама жизнь» – писал советский кинорежиссер С. Эйзенштейн,готовивший фильм «Американская трагедия» и не сумевший его поставить из-засопротивления кинокомпании «Парашют». Если для более ранних романов, писатель вкачестве эскизов своих использовал рассказы, очерки, вырисован, то для«Американской трагедии» такими эскизами была.
Описаниетрудного детства, и юности Клайда главы «Гения», посвященные мытарствам юногоВетлы; образы богатых Грифитсов заставляют, о «Трилогии желания» родителиКлайда и родители Роберты вызывают в образы отца и матери Дженни Герхардт.
«Американскаятрагедия» развивает те глубокие гуманистические чувства и мысли, которыми былипроникнуты предыдущие романы Драйзера. Это ощущение трагизма жизни простогоамериканца, воплощенное в судьбах Герствуда и Дженни Герхард, это осуждениедуха стяжательства, составляющее пафос «Трилогии желания» это, наконец,отстаиваемое в «Гении» кредо реалистического искусства, призывающее писателяизображать, те стороны жизни, которые вследствие своей обыденности считаютсятемой, недостойной художника.
Реалистичны вромане и пейзаж, и те символы я сравнения, к которым прибегает писатель. Квитаначинается и кончается сценой сумерек. Глубоко символична сцена гибели Робертына озере Большой Выпи. Со встречи на озере началась их близость. И теперь всеему напоминает о той прогулке, – «над головой плывет такое же пушистоеоблачко, как-то, что плыло над ним в тот роковой день на 1 озере Край». Онсобирается «поискать здесь водяные лилии, чтобы убить время, прежде чем…» лилиивновь напоминают ту первую, случайную встречу на озере Край, когда счастливыйКлайд «рвал цветы с длинными влажными стеблями и бросал к ее ногам». Эта детальусугубляет драматизм ситуации, в которую попали Клайд и Роберта.
Драйзер-романистобращает пристальное внимание на психологию своего героя. С той жескрупулезностью, которая была характерна для пейзажа, портрета, для обрисовкидеталей, Драйзер передает и анализирует душевные переживания Клайда в ожидавшийсмертной казни. Драйзер специально посетил в тюрьме Синг-Сивг Дом смерти, гдеразговаривал с приговоренными к смертной казни.
Драйзер частоиспользует внутренний монолог, особенно для воспроизведения смятенногосостояния духа Клайда. Газетное сообщение наталкивает Клайда на мысль о возможностиотделаться от Роберты. И его внутренний монолог передает всю путаницу «смятениечувств Клайда, загнанного и замученного, пытающегося выкарабкаться из пропасти,в которую его увлекают мысли об убийстве. Пристальное рассмотрение психологииКлайда неразрывно связано с раскрытием социальных причин тех потрясений,которые он переживает.
Большой смыслв романе имеет его заглавие, к которому Драйзер пришел не сразу. В первыхвариантах книг весила назван «Мереж», оттенявшее призрачность внушаемыхамериканскому народу престарелых. Тема американских иллюзий наиболее полнопередана в образах родителей Клайда. Это в их доме на стене висят два десяткаизречений и текстов, клеймящих пороки. Узнав о проступке Клайда в Канзас-Сити,мать заклинает его помаять афоризмом: «Вино–обманщик; пить – значит впасть вбезумие; кто поддается обману – тот не мудр», просит не поддаваться дьявольскимискушениям.
Люди,подобные родителям Клайда в Роберты, живут в верном, далеком от реальностимире, они «рождаются, живут а умирают, так ничего и не поняв в жизни. Онипоявляются, бредут наугад и исчезают во мгле». В этом Драйзер видит и сутьамериканизма: «Родители Роберты были классическими представителями тогобеконного типа американизма, который отрицает, факты и чтит иллюзии». Золотоймираж губит Клайда, губит человеческую личность, но смысл романа был шире, –за распространение и поддержание этих губительных иллюзий ответственноамериканское общество. Окончательное название – «Американская трагедия» – отличнопередавало пафос романа, но было не по душе издателям, которые считали, чтосвоей резкостью оно не понравится американской публике, и пытались заставитьДрайзера вынести в заглавие-фамилию главного героя, но Драйзер и здесь несделал уступки.
«Американскаятрагедия» завершила очень важную главу в истории борьбы за реалистическоеискусство в США, против ограничений, которых требовали буржуазная критика ииздатели. Эти требования в конце девятнадцатого века признавал даже такойтеоретик реализма, как американский писатель и литературный критик, друг МаркаТвена Уильям Дин Хоуэллс.
В 1891 годуХоуэллс утверждал, что в Америке невозможны книги с сюжетом, подобным тому,который лег в основу «Преступления в наказания» Ф.М. Достоевского. Хоуэллсписал: «…одна из мыслей, на которую меня навело чтение романа Достоевского«Преступление и наказание» это то, что если кто-нибудь возьмет поту стольглубоко трагическую в американской литературе, то совершит ложный и ошибочныйшаг. Наши романисты, поэтому занимаются более улыбчивыми аспектами жизни,которые являются и более американскими, ищут универсальное в личности, скорее,чем в социальных интересах».
Драйзер своимроманом опроверг Хоуэллса, – недаром многие критики называли «Американскуютрагедию» американским «Преступлением и наказанием», недаром в этом романеможно найти я черты влияния Достоевского, а о своем интересе к Достоевскому кроману «Преступление и наказание» неоднократно говорил и Драйзер, которыйнаперекор, Хоуэллсу показал, что трагическая судьба человеческих лидерств: –неотъемлемое свойство американского общества и что «трагическое»» близкиепонятия.
Драйзервыразил то стремление американских писателей к большим обобщениям, котороеотличает литературу США в двадцатые и тридцатые годы. Оно проявилось втворчестве Эпсона Синклера и Синклера Льюиса, Шервуда Андерсена я УильямаФолкнера, Эрнеста Хемингуэя и Френсиса Скотта Фицджеральда не продолжено вкнигах крупнейших современных писателей Америки. Каждый из них создал свою«Американскую трагедию» – по-своему рассказал о трагической судьбеамериканцев. Особенно показательна в этом отношении документальная повестьТрумена Капоте «Обыкновенное убийство», которая через сорок лет после выхода всвет романа Драйзера вновь выдвигает столь острую для американского общества'Проблему преступления и наказания.
В этом смысле«Американская трагедия» стала знаменем критического реализма в американскойлитературе двадцатого века, Она определила основную магистраль дальнейшегоразвития американской литературы. С появлением «Американской трагедии» связанрасцвет критического реализма в США.
Правда,«Американская трагедия» не смогла избежать стандартных для враждебной Драйзеручасти американской критики обвинений в тяжеловесности стиля.
Отвечая наподобные нападки критика. Г.‑К. Уиппля в еженедельнике «New republic», Генри Миллерсправедливо писал, что «сила романа Драйзера достигается не вопреки, аблагодаря его стилю. Эти «дешевые, избитые и старые» приемы помогают ему'представить нам мир, на который нам мог бы только намекнуть более элегантный итонкий стиль. Он использует язык сознательно или несознательно, в манере, вкоторой современный авторы, например Джойс, пользуются им намеренно; то есть онидентифицирует свой язык с сознанием своих героев».
Ещеопределеннее высказалась Маргарет Чедер, которая сказала, что стиль Драйзераотличает то истинное изящество, с каким движется огромный слон, сохраняющий,несмотря на кажущуюся неуклюжесть, истинную грацию в своей походке.
Наиболее жеточно этим критикам ответил Герберт Уэллс: «Это гораздо больше, чем простое ижизненное описание типичного бедного уголка американской действительности,освещенного вспышкой печальной трагедии… Она передает большую, суровую Реальнуюправду с силой, которой не может достигнуть никакая грамматическая точность».
Драйзер, писатель-гуманист,видевший враждебность капиталистического строя развитию человеческой личности,не мог не, искать путей, которые позволяли бы личности действительно бодроразвиваться. Драйзер задумывается над путями содействовавших таким социальным условиям,которые сделают невозможными, а трагедии. Во время работы над «Американской тридней» Драйзер не видел возможности найти разрешения проблем развития общества.Он говорил: «Я не имею, каких теорий относительно жизни или какого-либосредства решить экономические или политические проблемы».
Поискиответов на вопросы, затронутые в «Американской Трагедии», пробудили у Драйзераинтерес к победе Октябрьской революции в России. Поездка писателя в СССР, окоторой оп рассказал в. книге «Драйзер смотрит на Россию» (1928), способствовалкоренным сдвигам в его мировоззрении. Писатель сблизив с революционным рабочийдвижением в США, написал боев публицистические, книги – «Трагическая Америка?(1931) и стоит спасать» (1941). В июле 1945 года Драйзер вступи; Коммунистическую;партию США. «Вся логика моей жизни и работы, – писал он в июле 1945 года, –побуждает меня вступить ряды компартии'», И по сей день автор «Американскойтрагедии остается крупнейшим мастером реалистической литературы Америкидвадцатого века. Не случайно в шестидесятые годы возрос интерес к творчествуДрайзера. Поход против него критики, начатый сразу же после смерти писателя,последовавшей в 1045 году, литературоведом Лайояелем Триллингом, валился. Освоем уважении к Драйзеру заявил Фолкнер.
Жизненностьтрадиций Драйзера, открывшего новых эпох американской литературы, отмеченакрупнейшими американским! писателями двадцатого века. Это традицииреалистического искусства; благодаря которым были созданы шедевры американскойлитературы двадцатого века – «Американская трагедия», «Прощай, оружие!»,«Гроздья гнева». Несмотря на запреты реакцию вой критики, они продолжают жить ив тех произведениях современной американской литературы, которые отстаивают идеал!подлинной человечности.
«Американскаятрагедия» остается эпохальной вехой в истории литературы США, определяющеймагистральное направление ее развития.
Dreiser,DRY suhr. Theodor (1871–1946), ranks as the foremost American writer in thenaturalizm movement (a passimistic form of realizm) Dreiser`s characters arevictims of apparently meaningles incidents that result in pressures, they canneither control understand. He based such novels as «Sister Carrie» and «Anamerican Tragedy» on events from real life. He condemned not his villaines, buthis best stories are powerful and sobering.[11]
«AnAmerican Tragedy» (1925) is possibly the most impressive of Dreiser`s books, itconcerns a weak young man who in excuted for the meerden of the pregnant girlfriend. Again Dreiser did not condem his villain, but the soceity that producedand destroyed him.
Hewas an objective realist who gathered his facts impersonally, but he was more.He lived in his dreams, his hopes, his broodings. For this reason, he absorbedboth the realistic method and the new conceptions of the ceniverse from scienceinto his thought and his writing. His kiews are loose in formulation, andinconsistent. For example, his theary of the realitivity of morals is asinconsistent as it is challenging. But such kiews of man and nature as he had,however ill formed, are essential parts of his writing; without them, his workswould be interlay different. They helped to deepen his imagination; theycontributed toward the feeling of awe he creates concerning the condition ofman; they served him in his very construction of theme, of story, of character.He was an artist, not a philosopher.
Theabsence of money means defeat; it means the back of education of beauty; itmeans that one is a victim, like Clyde Griffiths, of the rich, of one’srelationships with others. Dreiser directly described the pitilessness and thehierarchical character of capitalistic society by showing that just as the pooror the victims of the rich, the weak of the strong, so are women, inferior tomen, usually victims. American tragedy, like all tragedy is the consequence ofweakness. The impulses, the passions of man pitilessly drive him to satisfyhimself; the force of social circumstance, the fierce nature of the socialstruggle, toward him and produce both social and biological tragedy.
Dreiser’smethods of character Erabion are consistent with these attitudes and socialrevelations. Just as he does not conceive the individual as individual, so hischaracterizations are not mere representations of atomized men and womenstruggling in the American society of their time. They appear in their socialroles, and their natures as well as their actions are involved in the functionswhich they perform in society. Carrie’s first lover, Drayed, is one of the mostsuccessful and attractive of Dreiser’s minor characters. He is jolly, genial,superficial, yet he is strikingly different from the salesmen of, for example,Sinclair Lewis. Drayed does not subordinate himself to the «fetish ofcommodities», a successful salesman, he is concerned with a late of pleasure,he feels secure in his world. He appears in a social role which is an integralfeature of his «individuality», similarly, Hurstwood has the charm, thesavoir-faire, the sophistication of the professional major domo in a high classsaloon, concerned with meeting important personage, when he loses thisposition, he loses also the personality that goes with it. His character issocial rather than individual, and his defeat is that of a man who has lost hisfunction and place in society. The tragedy in Dreiser’s novels is socialtragedy. His characters do not merely represent themselves, they speak fortheir classes and their occupation. «An American Tragedy» would remain a tragicwork even if Clyde and Roberta had no died; but it is tragic in a new sense. InDreiser, the old terms of art are reset by the social thinking of his day. Hewrote what he knew what he was. His many colloquialisms were part of thecoinage of his time, and his sentimental and romantic passages were written inthe language of the educational system and the popular of his formative years.In his style, an in his material, he was a child of his time, of his class.Self-educated, a type or model of the artist of plebeian origin in America, hislanguage, like his subject matter, is not marked by internal inconsistencies.As a style, in the formal sense, it never developed at all, and he frequently permittedhis novels to be revised by others before publication.
Inour final graduation paper aims at studying Theodore Dreiser’s creative masteryskills. For this purpose we analyzed Russian translation of «An AmericanTragedy» as the Uzbek translator chose for his morel the Russian translation.We must study the translation comparing English – Russian – Uzbek versions.
Forfictional translation every author, every text should be carefully selected.When translated any work becomes the spiritual heritage of the people intowhose tongue it is translated. As a Russian text we have the translation madeby Вершинина and Н. Галь. Теодор Драйзер, «АмериканскаяТрагедия» Часть первая (книга первая и книга вторая) Часть вторая. Оба онипечатались по изданию «Художественная литература Москва, 1984 год, виздательстве «Узбекистан», 1984 года

Bibliography
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3. TheodoreDreiser «An American Tragedy» Gofur Gulom Publishing House, Tashkent 1976.
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14. Теодор Драйзер«Америка фожеаси» Биринчи кисм Ғўфур Ғулом Адабиёт ва санъат нашриёти.1976.
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17. Russian-EnglishDictionary Compiled by probe. D.S. Akkmanova and other: «SovietEncyclopedia» Publishing Home Moscow 1969.
18. «American Tragedy»: aFallen Dream, 2002. a look at The concept of The American Dream through areview of «An American Tragedy» by THEODORE DREISER. www.academon.com/lib/essay/Theodore-dreiser. html – 45k – Дополнительный Результат – Сохранено – Похожие страницы Дополнительные результаты с www.academon.com
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