His other interviewees included Lillian Nordica, Emilia E. He authored articles on writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Dean Howells, Israel Zangwill, and John Burroughs and interviewed public figures such as Andrew Carnegie, Marshall Field, Thomas Edison, and Theodore Thomas. By 1895 he was writing articles for magazines. During this period he published his first work of fiction, The Return of Genius, which appeared in the Chicago Daily Globe under the name Carl Dreiser. In 1892, Dreiser started work as a reporter and drama critic for newspapers in Chicago, Saint Louis, Toledo, Pittsburgh and New York. Īfter graduating from high school in Warsaw, Indiana, Dreiser attended Indiana University in 1889–1890 without taking a degree. His later fiction reflects these experiences. They were raised as Catholics.Īccording to Daniels, Dreiser's childhood was characterized by severe poverty, and his father could be harsh. Paul Dresser (1857–1906) was one of his older brothers Paul changed the spelling of his name as he became a popular songwriter. Theodore was the twelfth of thirteen children (the ninth of the ten surviving). Her family disowned her for converting to Roman Catholicism in order to marry John Dreiser. John Dreiser was a German immigrant from Mayen in the Rhine Province of Prussia, and Sarah was from the Mennonite farming community near Dayton, Ohio. Dreiser's best known novels include Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925).ĭreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, to John Paul Dreiser and Sarah Maria (née Schanab). His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency.

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( / ˈ d r aɪ s ər, - z ər/ Aug– December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school.

Dreiser theodore sister carrie