Novel Reflections On The American Dream

- New AMERICAN MASTERS Special Tells the Stories Behind the Stories That Dared to Challenge the American Dream; Erica Jong, Gloria Naylor, Julia Alvarez, James Atlas and Others Comment on Sister Carrie, The House of Mirth, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, The Street, Typical American and Seize the Day -

In 1938, the San Francisco News hired John Steinbeck to cover the desperate conditions wrought by the Great Depression in California's Central Valley. Finding entire communities devastated by disease and hunger, Steinbeck was enraged. The experience compelled him to write The Grapes of Wrath, confronting an inconvenient truth about the American Dream: hard work and virtue do not guarantee success. When it was published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath was accused of being false, offensive and Communistic. It sold out immediately.

Steinbeck's powerful tale is one of seven seminal works of fiction explored in NOVEL REFLECTIONS ON THE AMERICAN DREAM. This special presentation of the acclaimed AMERICAN MASTERS series airs Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS.

The documentary uses specially designed visual re-creations to bring literary characters to life and expert commentary to interpret the authors' treatment of the harsher realities of the American Dream. Excerpts from the novels are read by such notable actors as Victor Garber (Sister Carrie); Julianna Margulies (The House of Mirth); Tom Hammond (The Great Gatsby); Keith Carradine (The Grapes of Wrath); CCH Pounder (The Street); Ming-Na Wen (Typical American); and Liev Schreiber (Seize the Day).

"We all know there are flaws in the American Dream," said Susan Lacy, creator and executive producer of AMERICAN MASTERS. "Some of our finest writers have dared to expose the inequities that lie in the shadows, beyond the dream - where the promise of upward mobility is often false."

NOVEL REFLECTIONS ON THE AMERICAN DREAM explores the characters, plots and themes of seven novels that deal with wealth, poverty and the nature of success and failure in America. In an exploration that moves from the turn of the 20th century into progressively more contemporary surroundings - and reflects increasingly more diverse voices - passages from each book are dramatized through still photography that is inventively animated and coupled with original and archival footage.

"We approached the re-creations in a way never really tried before on television," said director/writer Michael Epstein. "We wanted to make sure that not only were the costumes and the set design for each book historically accurate, but that the visual language, the photographic medium, was historically accurate as well. That's why our version of Dreiser's Sister Carrie looks like it was taken with a stereoscopic camera from the turn of the century. It's why our Grapes of Wrath looks as though Dorothea Lange had documented the Joad family."

The impact of these images is to illuminate the text and texture of each story - while preserving the integrity of the author's words. Woven throughout the dramatized excerpts and evocative images is insightful commentary from literary scholars and authors Gloria Naylor, James Atlas, Julia Alvarez, Erica Jong and Gish Jen.

"One of our intentions was to look at the American experiment in an entirely different way," said Lacy. "We've all heard our history told through wars, or presidential biographies or some great event. What we wanted to do is something just as valuable but almost never done on television: tell America's story through its fiction."

NOVEL REFLECTIONS begins with Theodore Dreiser's 1900 novel Sister Carrie. Carrie Meeber leaves her impoverished small town for Chicago, climbs the ladder of success and eventually finds fame as a Broadway actress. But she does so in a way that scandalized Dreiser's audience. Carrie Meeber is not a woman of virtue - her success comes through a series of affairs - and in 1900 that simple fact was enough to turn Dreiser's publisher, Frank Doubleday, against the book.

Dreiser's vision is contrasted in NOVEL REFLECTIONS with Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Wharton's Lily Bart, unlike Carrie Meeber, forfeits financial security by declining to marry a wealthy suitor she does not love. When a married male friend offers to help with her finances, Lily's American Dream is shattered when she learns that she is expected to return the favor with her body.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, another keen observer of the American Dream, revealed the dark side of prosperity in the roaring 20s with The Great Gatsby. His main character, Jay Gatsby, flees a humble past, inventing an upper-crust persona in the belief that he can "buy" his lost love, Daisy Buchanan, with money and power. By contrast, Lutie Johnson's downfall in Ann Petry's The Street issues from her stubborn belief that anyone can achieve wealth through hard work. But she is oblivious to the reality of race in America - and she pays dearly for her dreams of a better life.

NOVEL REFLECTIONS also touches on the immigrant experience through Ralph Chang, the central character in Gish Jen's acclaimed novel Typical American. And then there's Tommy Wilhelm, a failure in life who finds spiritual redemption in Saul Bellow's Seize the Day.

Together these seven works of fiction help define more clearly the very real economic and spiritual struggles that define millions of American lives.

AMERICAN MASTERS, now celebrating its 21st season, has become a cultural legacy in its own right. The AMERICAN MASTERS film library is one of the most highly honored in television history, with profiles of more than 140 artistic giants. In addition to seven Peabodys, an Oscar, a duPont-Columbia and two Grammys, AMERICAN MASTERS has won 17 Emmys, including Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction Series for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004.

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