The Resume

(August 27, 1871-December 28, 1945)
Born in Terre Haute, Indiana
Wrote the novels 'Sister Carrie' (1900) and 'An American Tragedy' (1925)

Why he might be annoying:

He flunked out of Indiana University.
He was fired from a job editing a woman's magazine following an interoffice romance.
'Sister Carrie' was considered so scandalous that his brother Paul changed his last name to 'Dresser.'
His sometimes clunky prose prompted critic F. R. Leavis to say that Dreiser wrote as if he had no native language.
During an argument with publisher Horace Liveright, he threw a cup of hot coffee in Liveright's face.
He joined the Communist Party (1945) and praised Stalin.

Why he might not be annoying:

His writing was praised for its realism.
He is considered the first major American writer to reject Victorian morality.
The American Communist Party would not accept him as a member until the year of his death because they considered him too ideologically independent.
H. L. Mecken said American literature before and after Dreiser 'differed almost as much as biology before and after Darwin.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 05]
• I Abused Nitrous
• I am a Congregationalist (United Church of Christ)
• I am a Hoosier [Indiana]
• I Attended Indiana University [Bloomington]
• I Did Not Graduate High School [C-E]
• I Died in 1945 (Ranked: 74)
• I Had a Nervous Breakdown
• I Write Bildungsroman
• I'm a Communist
• In Town for The World's Fair at the Columbian Exposition [1893-Chicago]
• Look at Me, I'm Using a Magnifying Glass
• Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century [1998] (Ranked: 16)
• Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century [1998] (Ranked: 33)
• NPR's 100 Best Literary Characters of the 20th Century [Authors - 2002] (Ranked: 95)
• Profiles 20751-21000 (Ranked: 20773)
• Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels [Authors]

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 125 Votes: 64.80% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 93 Votes: 65.59% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 117 Votes: 80.34% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 71 Votes: 69.01% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 22 Votes: 68.18% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 26 Votes: 65.38% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 35 Votes: 68.57% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 66 Votes: 51.52% Annoying