2. Literature Review文献综述

2.1 Research abroad

Since Sister Carrie came out, the United States has set up Dreiser Research Association.There are two factions about this book in American public opinions. The Pioneer Times and Interior Newspaper considered Dreiser as American Zola and thought Sister Carrie as a great American novel. Although these critics also thought that Sister Carrie and Hurst Wood were short of strong sense of morality, but in general, they are sure about its status of art. Among all the critics who support Dreiser most is Mencken. He thought Dreiser wasn’t the follower of Frank Norris and Zola, because he absorbed useful ideas of Horthon, Owen, Herbert and Spencer. Many other writers appreciated Sister Carrie. Baldwin thought Dreiser was the most unique and greatest novelist in America, Lasko who considered Dreiser as advocate of freedom in the 1920s and defended the non moral in Sister Carrie. Matheson regarded it as historical records in Dreiser’s lifetime. The first American Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis once said fondly that Dreiser wrote his first work Sister Carrie (English version) 30 years ago and I read it 25 years ago, it is like a free and strong western wind blowing into the United States which was block and depressing, and it brought us the first fresh air after Mark Twain and Whitman. Another group as the representative of Life and Business News held a negative attitude in Sister Carrie in general. They thought Sister Carrie promoted moral decay and corruption with some words such as “the reality is too much”and “depressing”. Stuart Sherman’s criticism about Dreiser is the most powerful and influential.  In Mr. Dreiser’s naturalism of Theodore, he criticized that Dreiser didn’t describe the real American society but regarded people as animals. He ignored the duty of novelist --- to understand and reflect the development of characters. At the same time of criticizing Dreiser, the naturalistic literature was denied. Sherman holds the view that the realist novels show people's behavior while naturalistic novel present animal’s behavior. There are many critical articles including Door Ken, Lin, vodka, etc. in The Stately Theodore Dreiser (1955) which was co-edited by Alfred Cajun and Charles Shapiro.The book was of great value in that period. In the Critics in the UK, Sister Carrie has got high praise. Daily Mail thought that it is a great novel written by American people. Defender pointed out that Sister Carrie is true, sharp, without prejudice, and that it is a document of great historical value in America. Besides, some other critics thinks that Sister Carrie is a rare book which has accurate observation and is full of emotional power.