Sister Carrie

Theodore Dreiser is a man who with the passage of time is bound to loomlarger and larger in the awakening aesthetic consciousness of America. Amongall of our pr... » 

Theodore Dreiser is a man who with the passage of time is bound to loomlarger and larger in the awakening aesthetic consciousness of America. Amongall of our prose writers he is one of the few men of whom it may be said thathe has . . . never been a trickster. If there is a modern movement in Americanprose writing a movement toward greater courage and fidelity to life inwriting Theodore Dreiser is the pioneer and the hero of the movement.Sherwood AndersonLong before she was seduced by the cautious and ordinary man whose life shewould unravel with no malice and only intermittent interest the young CarrieMeeber was seduced by the promise of the cityits vitality and recklesspossibility the thrill of material luxury and the spectacle of power andindustry. Banned on publication for its questionable morals Sister Carrie isthe great American novel of seduction a masterpiece of insight into appetiteand innocence.Such a novel as Sister Carrie stands quite outside the brief traffic of thecustomary stage. It leaves behind an inescapable impression of bigness of epicsweep and dignity. It is not a mere story not a novel in the customaryAmerican meaning of the word it is at once a psalm of life and a criticism oflife. . . . Dreisers aim is not merely to tell a tale his aim is to showthe vast ebb and flow of forces which sway and condition human destiny. Thething he seeks to do is to stir to awaken to move. One does not arise fromsuch a book as Sister Carrie with a smirk of satisfaction one leaves itinfinitely touched.H. L. Mencken «