I swear I can scarcely grasp the stupidity of men, at times, as much as I have witnessed & even been the victim of it. So called mind seems to me for the most part an illusion. The actions of men have little to do with it or its primary principle–logic. In fact, men act & react by some system of responses–chemic or psychic which has nothing to do with what we have been dreaming of as mind.
— Theodore Dressier, letter to Esther McCoy (excerpt), September 24, 1924; IN Letters of Theodore Dreiser: A Selection, Volume Two, edited by Robert H. Elias (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959), pg. 430
— posted by Roger W. Smith
March 2020
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Addendum, March 12, 2020
I should perhaps clarify what I meant to imply by the cryptic title of this post.
Not the stupidity of mankind (though that is undeniable). But the near incoherence of Dreiser’s philosophic musings. I must admit that it can be ascertained what Dreiser means, and this is consistent with his lifelong beliefs and writings: that the “chemic or psyschic” aspect predominates in predetermining man’s behavior, not what one may think. But, Dreiser’s thoughts in this vein are very fuzzy and jejune and add nothing to our understanding. I could have done as well if not better in an eighth grade paper.
Roger W. Smith's Theodore Dreiser site 