New Essays on Sister Carrie

Sister Carrie (1900), Theodore Dreiser’s first novel, is one of the seminal works in American literature because of Dreiser’s ground-breaking dramatization of the tragic life led by men and women in the modern American city. The introduction by Donald Pizer describes in detail the biographical and historical background of the novel and its critical reputation. The four original essays in the volume not only touch on long-established approaches to Sister Carrie but also reflect a number of the concerns of scholarly and critical movements. Each of the essays is a self-standing examination of a major area of interest in the novel, including such topics as the impact of Dreiser’s own life on the creation of Carrie and Hurstwood, the relationship of Carrie and the theater, and Dreiser’s naturalism and his narrative technique.

• Sister Carrie is a seminal work of twentieth-century American literature • Essays present biographical and historical background to the novel

Preface; Notes; 1. Introduction Donald Pizer; 2. Carrie’s blues Thomas P. Riggio; 3. A portrait of the artist as a young actress: the rewards of representation in Sister Carrie Barbara Hochman; 4. Sister Carrie: the city, the self, and the modes of narrative discourse Richard Lehan; 5. Who narrates? Dreiser’s presence in Sister Carrie Alan Trachtenberg; Notes; Bibliography.