THE IMAGES OF ENTERPRISERS IN T. DREISER’S NOVEL “THE TRILOGY OF DESIRE” AND AYN RAND’S NOVEL “ATLAS SHRUGGED”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2037-6681-2018-3-108-116Keywords:
American literature, Ayn Rand, Theodor Dreiser, image of enterpriser, capitalism.Abstract
The article provides a comparative analysis of the images of enterprisers in novels by two American writers – Theodor Dreiser and Ayn Rand. The images of Frank Cowperwood, a character of Dreiser’s The Trilogy of Desire, and Francisco d’Anconia, a character of Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, have some superficial resemblance. However, a closer examination clarified that Dreiser and Rand are persons of different worldviews, which affected the representation of the enterpriser’s image in the novels. The author of the article compared the novels in the context of the two writers’ worldviews, differing in understanding of the essence of socialism and capitalism as two sociopolitical systems. Their philosophical views were also different: Dreiser adhered to positivism, while Rand created her own philosophical system of objectivism. The author analyzes their statements about famous American enterprisers and draws a conclusion that Dreiser and Rand estimated the enterprisers’ contribution to the development of the American society in a diametrically opposite way. Analyzing the novels, the author traces and compares two stories of the formation of the two characters-enterprisers. As a result, it is concluded that both authors can be included in a wider context of the dialogue of two cultures: Russian and American. The writers’ views on the image of enterpriser were different because of the different understanding of business and its role in society. Ayn Rand was born and grew up in Russia, and so she had the experience of living in a socialist country. America became some kind of “mirror” for her that reflected the drawbacks of her homeland. Her aspiration to “recast” capitalism is similar to Dreiser’s aspiration to eradicate it, but Dreiser turned to the experience of socialist Russia.References
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