Romance and Tragedy in THEODORE DREISER ’S SISTER CARRIE and WILLA CATHER’ S A LOST LADY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY.
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Date
2025
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Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation is a comparative study between Willa Cather's A Lost Lady (1923) and
Theodore Dreiser‘s Sister Carrie (1900). (1923), to achieve our work, we have widened the
scope of our investigation within a theoretical frame. For this matter, we have relied on some
concepts of Northrop Frye‘s theory of Romance and Tragedy as exposed in his book Anatomy of
Criticism (1957) particularly the transition from the mythos of Summer (romance) to Winter
(tragedy).The first chapter examines characterization by highliting both similarities and contrasts
between the two protagonists through Northrop frye‘s concepts of innocent youth ,the romantic
heroine and their departure .It also shows how both novels illustrate the protagonist journey from
an idealised world to isolation .The second chapter focus on plot by analyzing the rise and the fall
of each protagonist and tracing their progression from rise to decline .The third chapter deals
with setting , revealing how space functions in each novel by applying by applying Frye‘s
concept the Green World .The study concludes that both Dreiser s and Cather‘s novels aligne
with the essential characteristics of romance and tragedy.
Description
62p. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser, Romance, Tragedy, Departure, journey, Illusion, Rise, Decline, Society
Citation
General and Comparative Literature