Editing Theodore Dreiser (section)

==Early life==
Dreiser was born in [[Terre Haute, Indiana]], to John Paul Dreiser and Sarah Maria (née Schanab).<ref name="UPenn">Finding aid to the [http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/ead.html?q=dreiser&id=EAD_upenn_rbml_MsColl30& Theodore Dreiser papers] at the [http://www.library.upenn.edu/ University of Pennsylvania Libraries]</ref> John Dreiser was a [[Germans|German]] immigrant from [[Mayen]] in the [[Rhine Province]] of [[Prussia]], and Sarah was from the [[Mennonite]] farming community near [[Dayton, Ohio]]. Her family disowned her for converting to [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] in order to marry John Dreiser. Theodore was the twelfth of thirteen children (the ninth of the ten surviving). [[Paul Dresser]] (1857–1906) was one of his older brothers; Paul changed the spelling of his name as he became a popular songwriter. They were raised as Catholics.

According to Daniels, Dreiser's childhood was characterized by severe poverty, and his father could be harsh. His later fiction reflects these experiences.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Howell |title=The Penguin Companion to Literature 3: USA and Latin America |date=1971 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |page=77 |edition=Avenel 1981}}</ref>

After graduating from high school in [[Warsaw, Indiana]], Dreiser attended [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]] in 1889–1890 without taking a degree.<ref name="Lingeman">{{cite book|last=Lingeman|first=Richard|title=Theodore Dreiser: An American Journey|date=1993|publisher=Wiley|edition=Abridged}}</ref>