Theodore Dreiser's 'dual approach' to nature and the city in "Sister Carrie"

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Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Amerikanistik - Literatur, Universität Erfurt, Veranstaltung: Reading Course: City and Literature, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: According to Giles, Theodore Dreiser ¿s Sister Carrie set the ¿model ¿ for the "dual approach" (24) to the literary description of the city: "From the beginning [with Dreiser ¿s Sister Carrie], the diverse body of American urban fiction has projected a dual response to the city as the embodiment of fascination and promise and as a corrupt, even brutal landscape" (ibid. 35). Giles uses the term ¿dual approach ¿ to point out that the authors of most ¿city novels ¿ attribute both positive and negative characteristics to the city. While some of them "emphasize one half of this dichotomy over the other" (ibid. 24), Theodore Dreiser ¿s ¿approach ¿ to the description of the city in Sister Carrie clearly is of a ¿dual ¿ nature, as he describes positive and negative attributes of the metropolis. Similarly, his approach to nature is also a dual one.