Heard in the Corridors
“Something about the Bobolinks”… and a Generosity of Spirit
( A Tribute to Donald Pizer)
by Kurt Meyer, President, Hamlin Garland Society
He was rather tall and distinguished, wearing a dark suit and tie. I was one of three presenters in our hourlong session, he one of 15 attendees, four of whom were related to me. He looked professorial and appeared to be both interested and receptive.
The setting was a hotel in downtown Boston, a four-day gathering of the American Literature Association (ALA), 1,200 people, primarily university professors, May 2005. Our session was hosted by the Hamlin Garland Society, one of several hundred author-affiliated groups constituting the ALA. I was seeking to explain that Hamlin Garland’s Iowa years – specifically, his Mitchell County years – were critically important to his development as an author, since he drew meaning and material from this period for the next six decades.
Having left a few minutes for questions, he asked me about Garland’s striving for balance, and cited “something about the bobolinks… and a stream that bends around, despite all the bleakness.”* Yes! From the intro to “Main-Travelled Roads.” We savored a brief bonding moment.
He was Donald Pizer. His name is on the spine of five books shelved on our bookcase. Last month, Dr. Pizer died at age 94. He was a major player in a rather narrow field, a late 19th early 20th century American literary scholar. Among Pizer’s many accomplishments, he brought heightened understanding of Iowa author Hamlin Garland (… I hasten to add, also claimed by Wisconsin, South Dakota, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles).
Pizer approached me after the session and said something vaguely positive. (Was it “Fine presentation,”??? … Perhaps, “I enjoyed it.” Or, “Nice job.”) We chatted for maybe a minute; all I recall now, almost two decades later, is his affirmation, expressed in an avuncular, encouraging manner. My observations about Garland’s boyhood received a thumbs-up from Don Pizer – cloud nine!
Obviously, efforts to assemble a meaningful Pizer tribute require more than recalling this scant interaction. Oh, I saw him a few times in subsequent years at ALA gatherings, but didn’t really engage. Accordingly, in preparing this remembrance, I reached out to three eminent Garland scholars for their thoughts:
“Donald Pizer was the first scholar to seriously research the works of Hamlin Garland. As a graduate student at UCLA, he selected Garland as the subject of his dissertation simply because the Garland archive was nearby (at USC), and no one had touched it. Throughout his life, Pizer expanded his research interests to other naturalists, continuing his work as a great scholar while mentoring younger academics, including me. Since he retired, he has been an inspiration to senior scholars as well, working actively and insightfully into his nineties. In the last few years, Jude Davies and I were fortunate to have collaborated with him on an update of the Dreiser bibliography.” --Roark Mulligan, Professor (retired), Christopher Newport University
******
“Donald Pizer was a giant in his field and influenced everyone who studies American realism and naturalism. His first book, ‘Hamlin Garland’s Early Work and Career’, remains essential reading and inaugurated a series of enlightening studies of the genesis of the writings of Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, and Stephen Crane, among others. He was also a kind and generous mentor, and I know I profited in many ways from his careful reading of the 800+ page manuscript of my biography, ‘Hamlin Garland, A Life’. That generosity of spirit carried over to the work of many emerging scholars who benefited from his counsel.” --Keith Newlin, Professor (retired), University of North Carolina Wilmington
******
“Donald Pizer was truly a giant in the field of American naturalism, not only for the theories that established the ways in which American naturalism had developed as a distinct entity from its French roots but also for his incisive studies of figures such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Hamlin Garland, John Dos Passos, and Edith Wharton. His readings were persuasive, logical, and illuminating, and when he disagreed with something, such as editing practices in the Virginia edition of Stephen Crane or certain theoretical readings of naturalist authors, those reading his clearly reasoned essays were left in no doubt as to the nature of the problematic text.
I was, and remained, in awe of him, of course, and did not meet him until after he had reviewed my first book manuscript for a press and had praised it. Whenever we met thereafter at ALA or naturalism conferences, his kindness, advice, and words of encouragement were something I treasured. At the 2007 naturalism conference in Newport, for example, I asked his advice about whether to pursue a shorter but more narrowly focused subject or a more comprehensive one on women writers of naturalism, and he unhesitatingly (and correctly) suggested the latter. He will be greatly missed, as a scholar, a mentor, and a kind human being.” Donna M. Campbell, Professor of English, Distinguished Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences, Washington State University
What comes through in these comments is that Don Pizer was not only a respected scholar, he was also a first-class individual, frequently demonstrating great “generosity of spirit,” as Keith Newlin noted. Knowing some readers will not be familiar with him, I’ve included an excerpt from his obituary**, below. And conclude with a paragraph from one of Pizer many books that includes a significant Garland focus:
“… (from) an unpublished work by Hamlin Garland, written during 1886-87***, entitled ‘The Evolution of American Thought.’ At one point in this history of American literature, Garland wrote: ‘Nothing is stable, nothing absolute, all changes, all is relative. Poetry, painting, the drama, these too are always being modified or left behind by the changes in society from which they spring.’ This statement contains two of the main tenets of evolutionary criticism – that literature is a product of the society in which it is found; and that literature, like society, is therefore continually in flux. To this basic environmental relativism can be added the idea that change in both society and literature is slowly but inevitably progressive. ‘The golden age is here and now,’ Garland summed up, ‘and the future is a radiant promise of ineffable glory.’” …from Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Revised Edition, by Donald Pizer, 1984
----------------------------------
*- “The main-travelled road in the West (as everywhere) is hot and dusty in summer, and desolate and drear with mud in fall and spring, and in winter the winds sweep the snow across it; but it does sometimes cross a rich meadow where the songs of the larks and bobolinks and blackbirds are tangled. Follow it far enough, it may lead past a bend in the river where the water laughs eternally over its shallows. Mainly it is long and wearyful, and has a dull little town at one end and a home of toil at the other. Like the main-travelled road of life it is traversed by many classes of people, but the poor and the weary predominate.” Introduction to “Main-Travelled Roads,” by Hamlin Garland, 1891
**- Donald Pizer, a widely known and respected scholar of American literature and professor of English at Tulane University for more than 40 years, died on November 7, 2023 at the age of 94. He was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn. He received his B.A. (1951), M.A. (1952), and Ph. D. (1955), all from U.C.L.A., and served in the US Army from 1955 to 1957. He then joined the English Department at Newcomb College, Tulane University, as an assistant professor.
Pizer concentrated for much of his career on late 19th and early 20th century American naturalism, a literary movement that included such figures as Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and John Dos Passos. (Notice someone missing from this list? Harrumph. --KM) He published many articles and over 40 books, both critical studies and editions, devoted to these writers individually and to the movement as a whole. His work played a leading role in shifting critical emphasis in interpreting America naturalism from its conventionally held position as a weak offshoot of French naturalism to being seen as a distinctly American phenomenon, with its roots in American experience and values. He was widely regarded as the nation’s principal scholar of the movement and its writers. (emphasis mine)
At Tulane, he directed the Ph.D. dissertations of over 30 graduate students and in 1970 was appointed to the endowed Pierce Butler chair in English. He retired from teaching at Tulane in 2001 but continued his research and writing for many years.
***- Written when Garland was in his mid-twenties, before his first book was published (1891), when his primary publisher was the Boston Evening Transcript, a newspaper that printed his book reviews and poems.
( A Tribute to Donald Pizer)
by Kurt Meyer, President, Hamlin Garland Society
He was rather tall and distinguished, wearing a dark suit and tie. I was one of three presenters in our hourlong session, he one of 15 attendees, four of whom were related to me. He looked professorial and appeared to be both interested and receptive.
The setting was a hotel in downtown Boston, a four-day gathering of the American Literature Association (ALA), 1,200 people, primarily university professors, May 2005. Our session was hosted by the Hamlin Garland Society, one of several hundred author-affiliated groups constituting the ALA. I was seeking to explain that Hamlin Garland’s Iowa years – specifically, his Mitchell County years – were critically important to his development as an author, since he drew meaning and material from this period for the next six decades.
Having left a few minutes for questions, he asked me about Garland’s striving for balance, and cited “something about the bobolinks… and a stream that bends around, despite all the bleakness.”* Yes! From the intro to “Main-Travelled Roads.” We savored a brief bonding moment.
He was Donald Pizer. His name is on the spine of five books shelved on our bookcase. Last month, Dr. Pizer died at age 94. He was a major player in a rather narrow field, a late 19th early 20th century American literary scholar. Among Pizer’s many accomplishments, he brought heightened understanding of Iowa author Hamlin Garland (… I hasten to add, also claimed by Wisconsin, South Dakota, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles).
Pizer approached me after the session and said something vaguely positive. (Was it “Fine presentation,”??? … Perhaps, “I enjoyed it.” Or, “Nice job.”) We chatted for maybe a minute; all I recall now, almost two decades later, is his affirmation, expressed in an avuncular, encouraging manner. My observations about Garland’s boyhood received a thumbs-up from Don Pizer – cloud nine!
Obviously, efforts to assemble a meaningful Pizer tribute require more than recalling this scant interaction. Oh, I saw him a few times in subsequent years at ALA gatherings, but didn’t really engage. Accordingly, in preparing this remembrance, I reached out to three eminent Garland scholars for their thoughts:
“Donald Pizer was the first scholar to seriously research the works of Hamlin Garland. As a graduate student at UCLA, he selected Garland as the subject of his dissertation simply because the Garland archive was nearby (at USC), and no one had touched it. Throughout his life, Pizer expanded his research interests to other naturalists, continuing his work as a great scholar while mentoring younger academics, including me. Since he retired, he has been an inspiration to senior scholars as well, working actively and insightfully into his nineties. In the last few years, Jude Davies and I were fortunate to have collaborated with him on an update of the Dreiser bibliography.” --Roark Mulligan, Professor (retired), Christopher Newport University
******
“Donald Pizer was a giant in his field and influenced everyone who studies American realism and naturalism. His first book, ‘Hamlin Garland’s Early Work and Career’, remains essential reading and inaugurated a series of enlightening studies of the genesis of the writings of Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, and Stephen Crane, among others. He was also a kind and generous mentor, and I know I profited in many ways from his careful reading of the 800+ page manuscript of my biography, ‘Hamlin Garland, A Life’. That generosity of spirit carried over to the work of many emerging scholars who benefited from his counsel.” --Keith Newlin, Professor (retired), University of North Carolina Wilmington
******
“Donald Pizer was truly a giant in the field of American naturalism, not only for the theories that established the ways in which American naturalism had developed as a distinct entity from its French roots but also for his incisive studies of figures such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Hamlin Garland, John Dos Passos, and Edith Wharton. His readings were persuasive, logical, and illuminating, and when he disagreed with something, such as editing practices in the Virginia edition of Stephen Crane or certain theoretical readings of naturalist authors, those reading his clearly reasoned essays were left in no doubt as to the nature of the problematic text.
I was, and remained, in awe of him, of course, and did not meet him until after he had reviewed my first book manuscript for a press and had praised it. Whenever we met thereafter at ALA or naturalism conferences, his kindness, advice, and words of encouragement were something I treasured. At the 2007 naturalism conference in Newport, for example, I asked his advice about whether to pursue a shorter but more narrowly focused subject or a more comprehensive one on women writers of naturalism, and he unhesitatingly (and correctly) suggested the latter. He will be greatly missed, as a scholar, a mentor, and a kind human being.” Donna M. Campbell, Professor of English, Distinguished Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences, Washington State University
What comes through in these comments is that Don Pizer was not only a respected scholar, he was also a first-class individual, frequently demonstrating great “generosity of spirit,” as Keith Newlin noted. Knowing some readers will not be familiar with him, I’ve included an excerpt from his obituary**, below. And conclude with a paragraph from one of Pizer many books that includes a significant Garland focus:
“… (from) an unpublished work by Hamlin Garland, written during 1886-87***, entitled ‘The Evolution of American Thought.’ At one point in this history of American literature, Garland wrote: ‘Nothing is stable, nothing absolute, all changes, all is relative. Poetry, painting, the drama, these too are always being modified or left behind by the changes in society from which they spring.’ This statement contains two of the main tenets of evolutionary criticism – that literature is a product of the society in which it is found; and that literature, like society, is therefore continually in flux. To this basic environmental relativism can be added the idea that change in both society and literature is slowly but inevitably progressive. ‘The golden age is here and now,’ Garland summed up, ‘and the future is a radiant promise of ineffable glory.’” …from Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Revised Edition, by Donald Pizer, 1984
----------------------------------
*- “The main-travelled road in the West (as everywhere) is hot and dusty in summer, and desolate and drear with mud in fall and spring, and in winter the winds sweep the snow across it; but it does sometimes cross a rich meadow where the songs of the larks and bobolinks and blackbirds are tangled. Follow it far enough, it may lead past a bend in the river where the water laughs eternally over its shallows. Mainly it is long and wearyful, and has a dull little town at one end and a home of toil at the other. Like the main-travelled road of life it is traversed by many classes of people, but the poor and the weary predominate.” Introduction to “Main-Travelled Roads,” by Hamlin Garland, 1891
**- Donald Pizer, a widely known and respected scholar of American literature and professor of English at Tulane University for more than 40 years, died on November 7, 2023 at the age of 94. He was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn. He received his B.A. (1951), M.A. (1952), and Ph. D. (1955), all from U.C.L.A., and served in the US Army from 1955 to 1957. He then joined the English Department at Newcomb College, Tulane University, as an assistant professor.
Pizer concentrated for much of his career on late 19th and early 20th century American naturalism, a literary movement that included such figures as Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and John Dos Passos. (Notice someone missing from this list? Harrumph. --KM) He published many articles and over 40 books, both critical studies and editions, devoted to these writers individually and to the movement as a whole. His work played a leading role in shifting critical emphasis in interpreting America naturalism from its conventionally held position as a weak offshoot of French naturalism to being seen as a distinctly American phenomenon, with its roots in American experience and values. He was widely regarded as the nation’s principal scholar of the movement and its writers. (emphasis mine)
At Tulane, he directed the Ph.D. dissertations of over 30 graduate students and in 1970 was appointed to the endowed Pierce Butler chair in English. He retired from teaching at Tulane in 2001 but continued his research and writing for many years.
***- Written when Garland was in his mid-twenties, before his first book was published (1891), when his primary publisher was the Boston Evening Transcript, a newspaper that printed his book reviews and poems.
Dreiser and Norris Sessions at ALA (Boston, May 25-28, 2023)
Thursday, May 25, 2023, 8:30-9:50 am
Session 1-I, Rethinking the Nonhuman in American Literary Naturalism
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
1. “Anthropomorphism Reconsidered: Jack London and the Politics of Nature Faking in ‘All Gold Canyon,’” Paul Baggett, South Dakota State University
2. “Phillip K. Dick’s Naturalistic Cold War Fable in ‘Beyond Lies the Wub,’” Kenneth Brandt, Savannah College of Art and Design
3. “Naturalism’s Nonhuman Streets: Sustainability and Sustenance in Ann Petry’s Prose,” Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
Friday, May 26, 2023 10:00 am – 11:20 am
Session 9-G, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: New Texts, New Approaches
Chair, Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
1. “The Limits of Patriarchal Knowledge: Gender, ‘Race,’ and the ‘femme fatale’ in Dreiser's ‘Will You Walk into My Parlor’ and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby,” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
2. “Uncanny Twins of New American Literary Naturalisms: Ling Ma’s Severance and Apple TV+’s Severance,” Anita Duneer, Rhode Island College
3. “The Neglected Naturalism of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” Donna Campbell, Washington State University
Friday, May 26, 2023 11:30 am – 12:50 pm
Session 10-G, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: New Texts, New Approaches II
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
1. “‘We’ve had an accident!’: Towards a Theory of Aleatory Naturalism,” John Repetti, Princeton University
2. “Frank Norris, Ambrose Bierce, and the Art of Darkness,” Nicole de Fee, Louisiana Tech University
3. “Jack London’s ‘Alcoholic Memoirs’ on Screen: John Barleycorn and Film Censorship,” Yair Solan, Nova Southeastern University
Saturday, May 27, 2023 4:00 pm – 5:20 pm
Session 20-J, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: A Roundtable on the State and Status of American Literary Naturalism Organized by the Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser Societies Moderator: Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University 1. Eric Carl Link, University of North Dakota 2. Steven Frye, California State University, Bakersfield 3. Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University 4. Hannah Huber, The University of the South, editor Studies in American Naturalism 5. John Dudley, University of South Dakota
Saturday, May 27, 2023 5:30 pm – 6:15 pm
Session 21-I, Business Meeting: Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser Societies
Conference details may be found at the American Literature Association web site: ALA Annual Conference – The American Literature Association
Thursday, May 25, 2023, 8:30-9:50 am
Session 1-I, Rethinking the Nonhuman in American Literary Naturalism
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
1. “Anthropomorphism Reconsidered: Jack London and the Politics of Nature Faking in ‘All Gold Canyon,’” Paul Baggett, South Dakota State University
2. “Phillip K. Dick’s Naturalistic Cold War Fable in ‘Beyond Lies the Wub,’” Kenneth Brandt, Savannah College of Art and Design
3. “Naturalism’s Nonhuman Streets: Sustainability and Sustenance in Ann Petry’s Prose,” Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
Friday, May 26, 2023 10:00 am – 11:20 am
Session 9-G, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: New Texts, New Approaches
Chair, Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
1. “The Limits of Patriarchal Knowledge: Gender, ‘Race,’ and the ‘femme fatale’ in Dreiser's ‘Will You Walk into My Parlor’ and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby,” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
2. “Uncanny Twins of New American Literary Naturalisms: Ling Ma’s Severance and Apple TV+’s Severance,” Anita Duneer, Rhode Island College
3. “The Neglected Naturalism of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” Donna Campbell, Washington State University
Friday, May 26, 2023 11:30 am – 12:50 pm
Session 10-G, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: New Texts, New Approaches II
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
1. “‘We’ve had an accident!’: Towards a Theory of Aleatory Naturalism,” John Repetti, Princeton University
2. “Frank Norris, Ambrose Bierce, and the Art of Darkness,” Nicole de Fee, Louisiana Tech University
3. “Jack London’s ‘Alcoholic Memoirs’ on Screen: John Barleycorn and Film Censorship,” Yair Solan, Nova Southeastern University
Saturday, May 27, 2023 4:00 pm – 5:20 pm
Session 20-J, Rethinking the Boundaries of American Literary Naturalism: A Roundtable on the State and Status of American Literary Naturalism Organized by the Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser Societies Moderator: Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University 1. Eric Carl Link, University of North Dakota 2. Steven Frye, California State University, Bakersfield 3. Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University 4. Hannah Huber, The University of the South, editor Studies in American Naturalism 5. John Dudley, University of South Dakota
Saturday, May 27, 2023 5:30 pm – 6:15 pm
Session 21-I, Business Meeting: Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser Societies
Conference details may be found at the American Literature Association web site: ALA Annual Conference – The American Literature Association
Norris and Dreiser Sessions at ALA (Chicago, May 26-29, 2022)
Thursday, May 26, 2022 4:30 – 5:50 p.m.
Session 6-L Business Meeting: International Theodore Dreiser Society
Saturday, May 28, 2022 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Session 17-I American Literary Naturalism and the Asian(ized) Other
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
Organized by the Frank Norris Society
1. “Frank Norris’s Yellow Peril Commodities: Feminized Labor and Asian Commodification in Frank Norris’s Fiction.” Ryan Wander, The College of Idaho
2. “Frank Norris’s Sinophobia/Sinophilia.” Sheng-mei Ma, Michigan State University
Saturday, May 28, 2022 2:30-3:50 pm
Session 18-I Rethinking the Grotesque and Sick Body in American Literary Naturalism
Chair: Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
Organized by the Frank Norris Society
1. “Gothic Body/Gothic Monster: Zerkow and Trina in Frank Norris’s McTeague.” Nicole de Fee, Louisiana Tech University 58
2. “Dreiser and the Psychometric Left.” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
3. “‘He’s Not Right, Really’: Chemisms, The Hand of the Potter, and Contemporary Neurobiology.” Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
Conference details may be found at the American Literature Association web site:
https://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/
Thursday, May 26, 2022 4:30 – 5:50 p.m.
Session 6-L Business Meeting: International Theodore Dreiser Society
Saturday, May 28, 2022 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Session 17-I American Literary Naturalism and the Asian(ized) Other
Chair: Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
Organized by the Frank Norris Society
1. “Frank Norris’s Yellow Peril Commodities: Feminized Labor and Asian Commodification in Frank Norris’s Fiction.” Ryan Wander, The College of Idaho
2. “Frank Norris’s Sinophobia/Sinophilia.” Sheng-mei Ma, Michigan State University
Saturday, May 28, 2022 2:30-3:50 pm
Session 18-I Rethinking the Grotesque and Sick Body in American Literary Naturalism
Chair: Cara Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
Organized by the Frank Norris Society
1. “Gothic Body/Gothic Monster: Zerkow and Trina in Frank Norris’s McTeague.” Nicole de Fee, Louisiana Tech University 58
2. “Dreiser and the Psychometric Left.” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
3. “‘He’s Not Right, Really’: Chemisms, The Hand of the Potter, and Contemporary Neurobiology.” Adam H. Wood, Valdosta State University
Conference details may be found at the American Literature Association web site:
https://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/
The Great Books, National Review Podcast:
Episode 216: Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
February 22, 2022
John J. Miller is joined by Miriam Gogol of Mercy College for an edifying discussion of Theodore Dreiser’s first novel Sister Carrie. Miriam is the current president of the International Dreiser Society. Follow this link to hear the podcast.
Episode 216: Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
February 22, 2022
John J. Miller is joined by Miriam Gogol of Mercy College for an edifying discussion of Theodore Dreiser’s first novel Sister Carrie. Miriam is the current president of the International Dreiser Society. Follow this link to hear the podcast.
Terre Haute Sculpture Honors Theodore Dreiser
In Terre Haute, Art Spaces erected a sculpture to honor Theodore Dreiser. The theme for the sculpture captures well Dreiser's literary significance.
Dreiser – Shadows of Meaning is a unique sculpture that contains an engaging collection of writer Theodore Dreiser’s phrases gathered from his works. It offers viewers a varied experience, depending on their distance from the sculpture as well as the daily path of the sun which, on occasion, will create shadows of Dreiser’s words on the pavement, reminiscent of his quote: “Words are but vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.”
It is located near the north entrance of the Vigo County Public Library main branch on Walnut Street.
In Terre Haute, Art Spaces erected a sculpture to honor Theodore Dreiser. The theme for the sculpture captures well Dreiser's literary significance.
Dreiser – Shadows of Meaning is a unique sculpture that contains an engaging collection of writer Theodore Dreiser’s phrases gathered from his works. It offers viewers a varied experience, depending on their distance from the sculpture as well as the daily path of the sun which, on occasion, will create shadows of Dreiser’s words on the pavement, reminiscent of his quote: “Words are but vague shadows of the volumes we mean. Little audible links, they are, chaining together great inaudible feelings and purposes.”
It is located near the north entrance of the Vigo County Public Library main branch on Walnut Street.
150 Years Since the Birth of Theodore Dreiser, The Great American Novelist
On the World Socialist Web Site, David Walsh celebrates Dreiser’s 150th birthday by reviewing Dreiser’s writings and their social significance.
150th Anniversary of Theodore Dreiser's Birth (August 27, 1871)
CFP: The Russian journal Literature of the Americas is dedicating its November 2021 issue to Theodore Dreiser's 150th anniversary. The issue will be a collection of essays on Dreiser. (Link to CFP for Literature of the Americas)
CFP: The Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia) is holding a conference May 13-14, 2021 (both online and in person), and they will have a roundtable discussion devoted to the 150th anniversary of Dreiser's birth. (Link to CFP for the Russian State University Conference)
Dreiser Society CFP (ALA, San Diego, May 21-24, 2020)
The ALA conference scheduled for May 21-24, 2020 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego has been cancelled but will return to Boston in 2021.
Theodore Dreiser Recalled, edited by Donald Pizer
Clemson University Press just published Theodore Dreiser Recalled, edited by Donald Pizer, a book that brings together published and unpublished memoirs about Theodore Dreiser. his politics, personal life, and literary reception.
http://blogs.clemson.edu/press/2017/08/07/forthcoming-theodore-dreiser-recalled-edited-by-donald-pizer/
Florentine Opera Releases a Recording of Sister Carrie
Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein's Sister Carrie, the latest world-premiere recording of by the Grammy Award-winning Florentine Opera, will be released by the Naxos label for worldwide distribution on Friday, September 8, 2017.
Theo and His Brother Paul: A One Act Play
Art Spaces and Vigo County Public Library are pleased to present
Theo and His Brother Paul: A New Play in One Act by D. S. Weatherston
Sister Carrie: A World-Premiere Opera
Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will perform Sister Carrie in October. On their web site, the song “Everything Is Paid For” is performed by Adriana Zabala. http://www.florentineopera.org/events/sister-carrie/
Stephen C. Brennan, Scholar, Editor, and Friend
On May 30, Stephen C. Brennan, a founding member of the International Theodore Dreiser Society, died. For the past 20 years, he co-edited the society’s journals Dreiser Studies and Studies in American Naturalism. An excellent editor, an insightful scholar, and a good friend, he will be missed greatly. His obituary appeared in the The New Orleans Advocate.
Re-Launch of the Dreiser Edition by Winchester University Press
On Friday, 20 May 2016, Winchester University Press will mark the publication of The Titan (Dreiser Edition) with a panel lecture in London titled “Theodore Dreiser: From Transatlantic Censorship to Scholarly Editions.” Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in collaboration with Winchester University Press, the lecture by Jude Davies and Roark Mulligan discusses historical censorship as it affects scholarly editing. For more information, see the British Library website: http://www.bl.uk/events/theodore-dreiser-from-transatlantic-censorship-to-scholarly-editions#sthash.IiFOGR37.dpuf
Dreiser Society Panels at ALA (San Francisco, May 26-29, 2016)
Panel 1: Theodore Dreiser, Open Topic
Chair: Linda Kornasky, Angelo State University
1. “The Science of Crime in Dreiser’s Fiction,” John Dudley, University of South Dakota
2. “Dreiser Weaving: Patterns, Designs, and Female Labor,” Craig Carey, University of Southern Mississippi
3. “Economic Colonization in An American Tragedy,” Andrew Spencer, Virginia Commonwealth University
4. “Cityscape as Literary Space: Representing Turn-of-the-Century American Cities in Theodore Dreiser’s Novels,” Heather Yuping Wang, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Panel 2: Global Dreiser
Chair: Linda Kornasky, Angelo State University
1. “Local Color and the Picturesque in Dreiser Looks at Russia” Gary Totten, North Dakota State University
2. "Russia Looks at Dreiser," Katerina Kozhevnikova, University of Copenhagen
3. “‘Not dead and scholastic but living like the smell of violets’: Literary Criticism and Social Change in the Correspondence between Theodore Dreiser and Sergei Dinamov, 1926-37,” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
Dreiser Online
Roger W. Smith’s website Dreiser Online has moved to a new address https://dreiseronlinecom.wordpress.com/. The new site incorporates Smiths’ previous bibliographic research but now includes his recent biographic discoveries, including Smith’s research on L. A. Hopkins (Lorenzo A. Hopkins), the model for Sister Carrie’s George Hurstwood, about whom little has been known.
Dreiser on "Life at Sixty-Seven"
An essay by Theodore Dreiser “Life at Sixty-Seven” (1939) appears in a recent book by Joshua Prager, a New York journalist. Titled 100 Years, the book includes quotations by great writers on every age, from birth to one hundred. Together, the passages lay out the arc of a human life http://books.wwnorton.com/books/100-Years/. Age sixty-seven is given over to Dreiser. His essay on aging, which originally appeared in The Rotarian, is full of insights, on the passions that remain and those that fall away. Dreiser’s description of solitaire, a game he loved, reminds me of the knight playing chess with death in Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.
Sister Carrie Recommended by the Department of Labor
The US Department of Labor recommends Sister Carrie as a novel that depicts changing labor practices: "Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser, chronicles the experiences of Carrie Meeber, a young woman who leaves her home in rural Wisconsin in search of a better life in Chicago. Once there, she achieves fame and fortune as an actress, along the way violating the conventional social norms for women of the time. Against this backdrop, the book sheds light on not only changing mores of turn-of-the-century America, but also the mass migration of rural Americans to big cities in search of new lives and livelihoods."
Dreiser's Novel in Reddit's Top Twenty-Six
In a compilation of 11 lists of the best novels, An American Tragedy is in the top 26. For more information and the entire list see the reddit article Top Books Derived from 11 "Top 100" Lists.
Terre Haute Celebrates Dreiser
To celebrate the centennial of Theodore Dreiser's travel book A Hoosier Holiday, the Terre Haute Tribune Star published an extensive article, with insightful comments by our society's co-founder Miriam Gogol. The article mentions plans for a sculpture honoring Dreiser--work will begin on the sculpture in 2016. Link to "Remembering Dreiser's Evocative Journey Home, "A Hoosier Holiday," A Century Ago":
On the World Socialist Web Site, David Walsh celebrates Dreiser’s 150th birthday by reviewing Dreiser’s writings and their social significance.
150th Anniversary of Theodore Dreiser's Birth (August 27, 1871)
CFP: The Russian journal Literature of the Americas is dedicating its November 2021 issue to Theodore Dreiser's 150th anniversary. The issue will be a collection of essays on Dreiser. (Link to CFP for Literature of the Americas)
CFP: The Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia) is holding a conference May 13-14, 2021 (both online and in person), and they will have a roundtable discussion devoted to the 150th anniversary of Dreiser's birth. (Link to CFP for the Russian State University Conference)
Dreiser Society CFP (ALA, San Diego, May 21-24, 2020)
The ALA conference scheduled for May 21-24, 2020 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego has been cancelled but will return to Boston in 2021.
Theodore Dreiser Recalled, edited by Donald Pizer
Clemson University Press just published Theodore Dreiser Recalled, edited by Donald Pizer, a book that brings together published and unpublished memoirs about Theodore Dreiser. his politics, personal life, and literary reception.
http://blogs.clemson.edu/press/2017/08/07/forthcoming-theodore-dreiser-recalled-edited-by-donald-pizer/
Florentine Opera Releases a Recording of Sister Carrie
Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein's Sister Carrie, the latest world-premiere recording of by the Grammy Award-winning Florentine Opera, will be released by the Naxos label for worldwide distribution on Friday, September 8, 2017.
Theo and His Brother Paul: A One Act Play
Art Spaces and Vigo County Public Library are pleased to present
Theo and His Brother Paul: A New Play in One Act by D. S. Weatherston
- Staged Reading – Directed by Arthur Feinsod
- Thursday, March 9 at 5:00 p.m.
- The Indiana Theater, 683 Ohio Street, Terre Haute
- Tickets are $30.00 and may be purchased online through PayPal at http://www.wabashvalleyartspaces.com, in person at Art Spaces, Inc., 669 Ohio Street, Terre Haute, IN, or by phone: 812-235-2801.
- Proceeds from the event will support Courage in Language and Thought – The Dreiser Legacy, a new Art Spaces sculpture to honor Theodore Dreiser, to be placed adjacent to the north (Walnut Street) entrance of Vigo County Public Library.
Sister Carrie: A World-Premiere Opera
Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will perform Sister Carrie in October. On their web site, the song “Everything Is Paid For” is performed by Adriana Zabala. http://www.florentineopera.org/events/sister-carrie/
Stephen C. Brennan, Scholar, Editor, and Friend
On May 30, Stephen C. Brennan, a founding member of the International Theodore Dreiser Society, died. For the past 20 years, he co-edited the society’s journals Dreiser Studies and Studies in American Naturalism. An excellent editor, an insightful scholar, and a good friend, he will be missed greatly. His obituary appeared in the The New Orleans Advocate.
Re-Launch of the Dreiser Edition by Winchester University Press
On Friday, 20 May 2016, Winchester University Press will mark the publication of The Titan (Dreiser Edition) with a panel lecture in London titled “Theodore Dreiser: From Transatlantic Censorship to Scholarly Editions.” Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in collaboration with Winchester University Press, the lecture by Jude Davies and Roark Mulligan discusses historical censorship as it affects scholarly editing. For more information, see the British Library website: http://www.bl.uk/events/theodore-dreiser-from-transatlantic-censorship-to-scholarly-editions#sthash.IiFOGR37.dpuf
Dreiser Society Panels at ALA (San Francisco, May 26-29, 2016)
Panel 1: Theodore Dreiser, Open Topic
Chair: Linda Kornasky, Angelo State University
1. “The Science of Crime in Dreiser’s Fiction,” John Dudley, University of South Dakota
2. “Dreiser Weaving: Patterns, Designs, and Female Labor,” Craig Carey, University of Southern Mississippi
3. “Economic Colonization in An American Tragedy,” Andrew Spencer, Virginia Commonwealth University
4. “Cityscape as Literary Space: Representing Turn-of-the-Century American Cities in Theodore Dreiser’s Novels,” Heather Yuping Wang, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Panel 2: Global Dreiser
Chair: Linda Kornasky, Angelo State University
1. “Local Color and the Picturesque in Dreiser Looks at Russia” Gary Totten, North Dakota State University
2. "Russia Looks at Dreiser," Katerina Kozhevnikova, University of Copenhagen
3. “‘Not dead and scholastic but living like the smell of violets’: Literary Criticism and Social Change in the Correspondence between Theodore Dreiser and Sergei Dinamov, 1926-37,” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
Dreiser Online
Roger W. Smith’s website Dreiser Online has moved to a new address https://dreiseronlinecom.wordpress.com/. The new site incorporates Smiths’ previous bibliographic research but now includes his recent biographic discoveries, including Smith’s research on L. A. Hopkins (Lorenzo A. Hopkins), the model for Sister Carrie’s George Hurstwood, about whom little has been known.
Dreiser on "Life at Sixty-Seven"
An essay by Theodore Dreiser “Life at Sixty-Seven” (1939) appears in a recent book by Joshua Prager, a New York journalist. Titled 100 Years, the book includes quotations by great writers on every age, from birth to one hundred. Together, the passages lay out the arc of a human life http://books.wwnorton.com/books/100-Years/. Age sixty-seven is given over to Dreiser. His essay on aging, which originally appeared in The Rotarian, is full of insights, on the passions that remain and those that fall away. Dreiser’s description of solitaire, a game he loved, reminds me of the knight playing chess with death in Bergman’s The Seventh Seal.
Sister Carrie Recommended by the Department of Labor
The US Department of Labor recommends Sister Carrie as a novel that depicts changing labor practices: "Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser, chronicles the experiences of Carrie Meeber, a young woman who leaves her home in rural Wisconsin in search of a better life in Chicago. Once there, she achieves fame and fortune as an actress, along the way violating the conventional social norms for women of the time. Against this backdrop, the book sheds light on not only changing mores of turn-of-the-century America, but also the mass migration of rural Americans to big cities in search of new lives and livelihoods."
Dreiser's Novel in Reddit's Top Twenty-Six
In a compilation of 11 lists of the best novels, An American Tragedy is in the top 26. For more information and the entire list see the reddit article Top Books Derived from 11 "Top 100" Lists.
Terre Haute Celebrates Dreiser
To celebrate the centennial of Theodore Dreiser's travel book A Hoosier Holiday, the Terre Haute Tribune Star published an extensive article, with insightful comments by our society's co-founder Miriam Gogol. The article mentions plans for a sculpture honoring Dreiser--work will begin on the sculpture in 2016. Link to "Remembering Dreiser's Evocative Journey Home, "A Hoosier Holiday," A Century Ago":
Copyright © 2019
Images courtesy of Theodore Dreiser Papers, University of Pennsylvania
Contact: dreisersociety@gmail.com
Images courtesy of Theodore Dreiser Papers, University of Pennsylvania
Contact: dreisersociety@gmail.com