An American Tragedy is a famous American novel, by Theodore Dreiser. Published in 1925, the book is the story of a young man, Clyde Griffiths, whose troubles with women and the law take him from his religious upbringing in Kansas City to the fictional town of Lycurgus, New York. Among Clyde's love interests are the materialistic Hortense Briggs, the charming farmer's daughter Roberta Alden, and the aristocratic Sondra Finchley. The book is naturalistic in style, containing subject matter such as religion, capital punishment and abortion. Theodore Dreiser, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Clyde Griffiths is the protagonist in Theodore Dreisers classic novel An American Tragedy. ... Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of America Official website: http://www. ... In Ancient Greece and/or Greek mythology, the name Lycurgus/Lykurgus can refer to: An alternate name for Lycomedes. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... Hortense Briggs is a character in the novel An American Tragedy whom Clyde falls in love with in KC, where he is a bellboy at a local hotel. ... The pregnant girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreisers An American Tragedy. ... Aristocracy is a form of government in which rulership is in the hands of an upper class known as aristocrats. ... Sondra Finchley is the rich society girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreisers An American Tragedy. ... // Capital Punishment, or the death penalty, is the severest punishment that can be imposed by the State for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ...

An American Tragedy has been adapted into opera, at the hands of composer Tobias Picker. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Dec. 2, 2005. The well-known film A Place in the Sun is also based on An American Tragedy. Dreiser strongly disapproved of a 1931 film version directed by Josef von Sternberg. Sergei Eisenstein prepared a screenplay in the late 1920s. Many critics and commentators have also compared elements of Woody Allen's 2005 film, Match Point to the central plot of An American Tragedy. Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the... Tobias Picker (b. ... The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza A full house at the old Metropolitan Opera House, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Józef Hofmann, November 28, 1937. ... A Place in the Sun is a 1951 film which tells the story of a young man who is entangled with two women who work for his uncles factory. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Josef von Sternberg (29 May 1894 – 22 December 1969) was an Austrian-American film director. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Woody Allen. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Match Point is a 2005 film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, and Matthew Goode. ...

Dreiser based the book on the notorious 1906 criminal case, in which Chester Gillette was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Grace Brown, at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. The murder trial drew international attention when Brown's love letters to Gillette were read in court. Theodore Dreiser saved newspaper clippings about the case for some 15 years before writing his novel. Clyde Griffiths was based on Chester Gillette, right down to the same initials. 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Big Moose Lake, at the head of the Moose River, is a large lake about five miles north of Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. ... Some factual claims in this article need to be verified. ... Upstate New York is the region of New York State outside of the core of the New York metropolitan area. ...

Plot summary

Raised by poor and devoutly-religious parents, who force him to participate in their street missionary work, the ambitious but naïve Clyde is anxious to achieve better things. His troubles begin when he takes a job as a bell-boy at a local hotel. The boys he meets are much more sophisticated than he, and they introduce Clyde to the world of alcohol and prostitution. Clyde enjoys his new lifestyle and does everything in his power to win the affections of the flirtatious Hortense Briggs. But Clyde's life is forever changed when a stolen car he is travelling in with friends kills a young child. Clyde flees Kansas City, and after a brief stay in Chicago, he reestablishes himself at the collar factory of his uncle in Lycurgus, New York. Hortense Briggs is a character in the novel An American Tragedy whom Clyde falls in love with in KC, where he is a bellboy at a local hotel. ... Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of America Official website: http://www. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... In Ancient Greece and/or Greek mythology, the name Lycurgus/Lykurgus can refer to: An alternate name for Lycomedes. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ...

Although Clyde vows not to consort with women in the way that caused his Kansas City downfall, he is swiftly attracted to Roberta Alden, a poor and very innocent farmgirl working under him -- thus breaking the factory rules. While Clyde initially enjoys the secretive relationship and virtually coerces Roberta into sex, his ambition forces him to realize that he could never marry her. He dreams of the elegant Sondra Finchley, the daughter of a wealthy Lycurgus man and a family friend of his uncle's. As developments between him and Sondra begin to look promising, Roberta discovers that she is pregnant. Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of America Official website: http://www. ... The pregnant girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreisers An American Tragedy. ... Sondra Finchley is the rich society girlfriend of Clyde Griffiths in Theodore Dreisers An American Tragedy. ...

Having unsuccessfully attempted to procure an abortion for Roberta, who expects him to marry her, Clyde procrastinates while his relationship with Sondra continues to mature. When he realizes that he has a genuine chance to marry Sondra, Clyde hatches a plan to get rid of Roberta in a manner that seems accidental.

When he takes Roberta for a canoe ride in one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, Clyde lacks the nerve to murder her; however, Roberta accidentally falls out of the boat and drowns, Clyde being too cowardly, or hesitant, to save her; the narrative is deliberately unclear. The trail of circumstantial evidence points to murder, and the local authorities are only too eager to convict Clyde. Following a sensational trial before an unsympathetic audience, despite a vigorous defense by two lawyers hired by his uncle, Clyde is found guilty and sentenced to death. The jailhouse scenes and the correspondence between Clyde and his mother stand out as exemplars of pathos in modern literature. New Yorks Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are glacially formed lakes in upstate New York, mainly linear in shape, each lake oriented on a north-south axis. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ...

Further reading

• Jude Davies, King Alfred's College. "An American Tragedy." The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 October 2001. The Literary Dictionary Company. Accessed on 29 October 2005.
• Theodore Dreiser: An American Tragedy The Library of America. Accessed on October 29, 2005.
• "Double Exposure," an article about differences between the two film versions of An American Tragedy, in Opera News, December 2005, pp. 24–31.