The International Theodore Dreiser Society was formed by Miriam S. Gogol (Mercy College) and Frederic E. Rusch (Indiana State University) at the second annual American Literature Association Conference in Washington, D.C., on 25 May 1991. A growing organization of scholars, teachers, and Dreiser enthusiasts, the Society promotes interest in the life and works of Theodore Dreiser and those associated with him. Annual membership in the society includes two issues of the society's journal, Studies in American Naturalism.
Theodore Dreiser (at 22), St. Louis, Missouri
Heard in the Corridors
Dreiser Society Session (ALA, San Francisco, May 24-27, 2018)
Friday, May 25, 2018, 3:40 – 5:00 pm
Session 12-F Session 12-F “New” Theoretical Approaches to Dreiser Studies
Organized by the International Theodore Dreiser Society
Chair: Keith Newlin, University of North Carolina Wilmington
1. “Poor Mothers? Women's Agency, Adoption, and Class in Theodore Dreiser's Delineator (1907-1910) and Jennie Gerhardt (1911),” Jude Davies, University of Winchester
2. “What's Length Got to Do with It?: Dreiser and the Bourgeois Class,” Jason Potts, St. Francis Xavier University
3. “Performing Gender on Skates and the Stage: Athletics and Art in Dreiser's The “Genius” and Sister Carrie,” Cara Erdheim Kilgallen, Sacred Heart University
4. “Gonzo Dreiser: A Pioneer of Literary Journalism,” Roark Mulligan, Christopher Newport University
Friday, May 25, 2018, 5:10-6:30 pm
Session 14-K Business Meeting: Theodore Dreiser Society
- Conference details may be found at the American Literature Association web site: http://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/
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Press just published Theodore Dreiser Recalled, edited by Donald Pizer, a book that brings together published and unpublished memoirs about Theodore Dreiser.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
Terre Haute Sculpture to Honor Dreiser (Contribute Now!)
Art Spaces, Inc. will erect, in Terre Haute, IN, a sculpture to honor Theodore Dreiser. Art Spaces recently received a $20,000 grant for the project, so they are beginning a public campaign to raise the other $40,000. To support this worthy cause, you can give with a check made payable to Art Spaces, 669 Ohio Street, Terre Haute, IN 47807; or go to www.wabashvalleyartspaces.com to pay by credit card or with a PayPal account. Gifts of $500 or higher will be acknowledged on a permanent plaque at the sculpture site. Go to our Dreiser Sculpture page to see the full press release from Art Spaces, Inc. The theme for the sculpture captures well Dreiser's literary significance: The Dreiser Legacy: Courage in Language and Thought.
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":
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Dreiser Society Officers 2014-2016
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International Advisory Board
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Copyright © 2015
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