Theodore Dreiser is a writer whose talent has not received any significant awards, other than the reader's dedication, for which the author has worked all his life. The Nobel Prize nominee in his works was inspired by the reality around him, which he portrayed as accurately as possible, without embellishment.
Difficult childhood and adolescence
Theodor Hermann Albert Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871. He is a native of the United States, born in the small town of Terre Haute with a population of less than 70 thousand people. As you can tell from the surname Theo, he had German roots. The thing is that his father was born in Germany, but emigrated to America. According to sources, Theodore was not his parents' only child. In addition to him, there were 8 more children in the family. It is worth saying that the Dreisers family lived very poorly. Father desperately clutched at any work, just to earn money and feed the whole crowd. However, the colossal work did not bring the desired result. Thus, having received a school education, the young Dreiser with great hopes goes to Chicago to bring at least some money from there. In a new place, the boy takes on any job that could turn up to him. He was both a cleaner and a loader.
At the age of 18, the young man becomes a student at Indiana University, which is located in Bloomington (just over 300 kilometers from Chicago). But after 3 years, Theo leaves the university without graduating, because there was simply no money to pay for his studies. In two years of wandering, he seems to have traveled all over the country in search of a better life. During this time, he managed to work as a reporter in many cities in America.
Literary activity
Dreiser liked the job of a reporter, because only in this way he could show and improve his literary abilities. All this led to the fact that already in 1900 the author's debut work, "Sister Carrie", was published. In it, Theo reveals a kind of existential abscess of the human essence, from which all the baseness that a person is willing to endure in order to achieve financial well-being comes from. For a long time, the novel remained in the shadows, because the American society at the time was too puritanical to come to terms with the contents of this book. But the peculiarities and rules of life did not at all confuse the novice writer, and he continued to transfer more and more new ideas to paper.
The career of a writer goes through both ups and downs. But his love of literature does not leave him for a minute. He becomes truly famous after the release of the trilogy called "Desire", which consisted of such works as "The Financier", "Titan" and "Stoic". It is worth noting that all three parts were written one after the other with a short time interval between them. However, the fans were able to read the third part only after Dreiser's death.
The writer's bibliography contains over 20 works, including many novels, collected works, collections of stories, as well as journalism. And numerous readers are interested not only in the work of the writer. but also his biography.
Personal life
As a reporter in St. Louis, Theodore (then 23 years old) met Sarah White on his way, about whom he had come to write a note on the instructions of the editor. A spark ran between the young people, and after 5 years they legalized their relationship. But, unfortunately, for Sarah, her husband turned out to be too loving and often switched his attention from one girl to another. After 9 years of marriage, the couple divorced, as the writer fell in love with another lady. She was Thelma Kudlipp, who worked at the same publishing house as her admirer. But he did not succeed with her either.
From the age of 48 until his death, the famous author lived with his cousin Helen, who became his wife in 1944.
A year after the wedding, he died of heart disease at the age of 74.
