Title: Metaphorical Meanings of Aquatic Nature in An American Tragedy

Abstract: Based on source materials of a real-life lake murder occurring in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy does not consider its background, the lake area—the aquatic nature, as a fixed physical space, but as an extension of the urban space, as a productive site for textual ideas and as narrative dimension, which is endowed with metaphorical meanings via geographical images and geographical activities. The aquatic nature in the work does not only bear the protagonist’s desire for social climbing which turns out to be a space of disillusionment for his desire of the American dream, but also displays the power operations of the environmental politics of the United States in the early 20th century. Thus, it highlights Dreiser’s unique thinking on the issues concerning class division, power pursuit and environmental politics during the period of social transformation in the United States.

Keywords: Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy, aquatic nature, literary geography, symbolic metaphor

Authors: Qizhi Shu, professor, School of Foreign Languages, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan, China; Jiawei Liang, School of Foreign Languages, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan, China.