The Machine and the Maiden: A Knight of Today

Literary Fiction

Sister Carrie

by Theodore DREISER (1871 - 1945)

Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) was an American author of the naturalist school, known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. Sister Carrie (1900) is his first novel and tells the story of a young country girl who moves to the big city (Chicago) where she starts realizing her own American Dream by first becoming a mistress to powerful men and later as a famous actress.Dreiser and his wife significantly altered the original manuscript to make it more palatable to the prevailing sensibilities of the day, but even this toned down version caused a minor scandal, and Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for it. This was due to the blurred division line between good and bad in the plot. Although Dreiser's moralizing narrator does assert that, despite the fame and the money she has amassed, Carrie will not be able to achieve peace of mind in her life, the apparent lack of poetic justice -- the notion that immorality should pay in the end, even if only up to a point -- was a concept the reading public were altogether unused to at the time. (summary from wikipedia)

Listen next episodes of Sister Carrie:
The Lure Of The Spirit: The Flesh In Pursuit , A Glimpse Through The Gateway: Hope Lightens The Eye , A Grim Retrogression: The Phantom Of Chance , A Pet Of Good Fortune: Broadway Flaunts Its Joys , A Pilgrim, An Outlaw: The Spirit Detained , A Public Dissension: A Final Appeal , A Spirit In Travail: One Rung Put Behind , A Touch Of Spring: The Empty Shell , A Witless Aladdin: The Gate To The World , An Hour In Elfland: A Clamour Half Heard , And This Is Not Elf Land: What Gold Will Not Buy , Ashes Of Tinder: A Face At The Window , Ashes Of Tinder: The Loosing Of Stays , Convention's Own Tinder-Box: The Eye That Is Green , Curious Shifts Of The Poor , His Credentials Accepted: A Babel Of Tongues , In Elf Land Disporting: The Grim World Without , Intimations By Winter: An Ambassador Summoned , Just Over The Border: A Hail And Farewell , Of Lights And Of Shadows: The Parting Of Worlds , Of The Lamps Of The Mansions: The Ambassador's Plea , Stirring Troubled Waters , The Ambassador Fallen: A Search For The Gate , The Blaze Of The Tinder: Flesh Wars With The Flesh , The Counsel Of Winter: Fortune's Ambassador Calls , The Feast Of Belshazzar: A Seer To Translate , The Grind Of The Millstones: A Sample Of Chaff , The Irk Of The Old Ties: The Magic Of Youth , The Kingdom Of Greatness: The Pilgrim Adream , The Lure of the Material: Beauty Speaks for Itself , The Lure Of The Spirit: The Flesh In Pursuit , The Passing Of Effort: The Visage Of Care , The Persuasion Of Fashion: Feeling Guards O'er Its Own , The Solace Of Travel: The Boats Of The Sea , The Spirit Awakens: New Search For The Gate , The Strike , The Way Of The Beaten: A Harp In The Wind , The World Turns Flatterer: An Eye In The Dark , When Waters Engulf Us We Reach For A Star , With Eyes And Not Seeing: One Influence Wanes , Without The Walled City: The Slope Of The Years