In which ways do Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" and "The White City" at the 1893 Great Columbian Exposition dramatise the tensions of American modernity?

Essay aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Amerikanistik - Literatur, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Before discussing in what way and with what results Theodore Dreiser-s novel Sister Carrie(1900) and The White City at the 1893 Great Columbian Exposition dramatise the tensions of American modernity, it is necessary to define the term modernity. As Davies argues--Modernity- is a term which is notoriously difficult to define,-1 however, he suggests a -historical understanding of modernity along the lines of the processes - with the division of labour: fragmentation, atomization, objectification, reification and standardization.-2 Also some -critics have highlighted the uses of modernist technology and organization for oppressive and colonial means- furthermore one -must consider modernity as involving processes of differentiation, privileging, and marginalisation.-3 Thetensionsof American modernity can be seen as simultaneous but ambivalent developments towards liberation and constraint. While new opportunities occurred (the process of liberation), which have been unimaginable just a few years earlier, these new possibilities also involved new boundaries (constraints).