and here, theodore dreiser tells us, think what henry adams feared so much. an economy of dynamo, not a -- of virtue. you start to see how dreiser is picking up on these anxieties of early 20th century urban commercial life. and finally, i think this takes us into the discussion for today. dreiser told us a model for the self, one that is much less anchored than in booker t. washington or even horatio alger's story. a self that was passive, being acted upon by all kinds of forces. kind of darwinian. fishing people around. remember, carrie was a waste and it forces, a lone figure. and importantly in chicago, she occupied a world of surfaces. always concerned with her outward appearance. the self is purely external. it is not internal. it is something that is very much radiating outward. dreiser helps us answer a question, which i'm going to put this way -- how does a cultural system come to an end? we talked about the genre of intellectual history. there are no beginning and ending dates -- there are no dates to anything, but i think this novel coming at the be