Theodore Dreiser's "Dawn" - The Formation of a Mind

This book studies Theodore Dreiser's autobiography of youth, por-traying a fascinating American novelist of the beginning 20th century. Dreiser's story is a true success story of a German immigrant in the "New World", working his way from the poor and shy boy to the wealthy, successful Hollywood writer attempting to find his place in a changing political landscape of an America characterized by indus-trialization and an emerging capitalist thinking. The author Nadja Firner divides the novelist's thinking into three parts, the famous Dreiserian realism or naturalism, his less studied roman-ticism as well as his philosophy, which also depict Dreiser's different stages of life in a meaningful manner. Based on his early autobio-graphy and several other important works of Dreiser she analyzes the formation of a cultural and social identity of a country of immigrants in juxtaposition with the formation of an individual mind shaped by this environment. The book is designed for students of or those interested in American literature, immigration studies and political science. This is the first detailed interpretation of Dreiser's adolescence.