Sister Carrie (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Read online

  Table of Contents

  From the Pages of Sister Carrie

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Theodore Dreiser

  The World of Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie

  Introduction

  A Note on Hotels, Homes, Restaurants, and the Theater

  Dedication

  CHAPTER I - THE MAGNET ATTRACTING: A WAIF AMID FORCES

  CHAPTER II - WHAT POVERTY THREATENED: OF GRANITE AND BRASS

  CHAPTER III - WE QUESTION OF FORTUNE: FOUR-FIFTY A WEEK

  CHAPTER IV - THE SPENDINGS OF FANCY: FACTS ANSWER WITH SNEERS

  CHAPTER V - A GLITTERING NIGHT FLOWER: THE USE OF A NAME

  CHAPTER VI - THE MACHINE AND THE MAIDEN: A KNIGHT OF TO-DAY

  CHAPTER VII - THE LURE OF THE MATERIAL: BEAUTY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

  CHAPTER VIII - INTIMATIONS BY WINTER: AN AMBASSADOR SUMMONED

  CHAPTER IX - CONVENTION’S OWN TINDER-BOX: THE EYE THAT IS GREEN

  CHAPTER X - THE COUNSEL OF WINTER: FORTUNE’S AMBASSADOR CALLS

  CHAPTER XI - THE PERSUASION OF FASHION: FEELING GUARDS O’ER ITS OWN

  CHAPTER XII - OF THE LAMPS OF THE MANSIONS: THE AMBASSADOR’S PLEA

  CHAPTER XIII - HIS CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED: A BABEL OF TONGUES

  CHAPTER XIV - WITH EYES AND NOT SEEING: ONE INFLUENCE WANES

  CHAPTER XV - THE IRK OF THE OLD TIES: THE MAGIC OF YOUTH

  CHAPTER XVI - A WITLESS ALADDIN: THE GATE TO THE WORLD

  CHAPTER XVII - A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE GATEWAY: HOPE LIGHTENS THE EYE

  CHAPTER XVIII - JUST OVER THE BORDER: A HAIL AND FAREWELL

  CHAPTER XIX - AN HOUR IN ELFLAND: A CLAMOUR HALF HEARD

  CHAPTER XX - THE LURE OF THE SPIRIT: THE FLESH IN PURSUIT

  CHAPTER XXI - THE LURE OF THE SPIRIT: THE FLESH IN PURSUIT

  CHAPTER XXII - THE BLAZE OF THE TINDER: FLESH WARS WITH THE FLESH

  CHAPTER XXIII - A SPIRIT IN TRAVAIL: ONE RUNG PUT BEHIND

  CHAPTER XXIV - ASHES OF TINDER: A FACE AT THE WINDOW

  CHAPTER XXV - ASHES OF TINDER: THE LOOSING OF STAYS

  CHAPTER XXVI - THE AMBASSADOR FALLEN: A SEARCH FOR THE GATE

  CHAPTER XXVII - WHEN WATERS ENGULF US WE REACH FOR A STAR

  CHAPTER XXVIII - A PILGRIM, AN OUTLAW: THE SPIRIT DETAINED

  CHAPTER XXIX - THE SOLACE OF TRAVEL: THE BOATS OF THE SEA

  CHAPTER XXX - THE KINGDOM OF GREATNESS: THE PILGRIM ADREAM

  CHAPTER XXXI - A PET OF GOOD FORTUNE: BROADWAY FLAUNTS ITS JOYS

  CHAPTER XXXII - THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR: A SEER TO TRANSLATE

  CHAPTER XXXIII - WITHOUT THE WALLED CITY: THE SLOPE OF THE YEARS

  CHAPTER XXXIV - THE GRIND OF THE MILLSTONES: A SAMPLE OF CHAFF

  CHAPTER XXXV - THE PASSING OF EFFORT: THE VISAGE OF CARE

  CHAPTER XXXVI - A GRIM RETROGRESSION: THE PHANTOM OF CHANCE

  CHAPTER XXXVII - THE SPIRIT AWAKENS: NEW SEARCH FOR THE GATE

  CHAPTER XXXVIII - IN ELFLAND DISPORTING: THE GRIM WORLD WITHOUT

  CHAPTER XXXIX - OF LIGHTS AND OF SHADOWS: THE PARTING OF WORLDS

  CHAPTER XL - A PUBLIC DISSENSION: A FINAL APPEAL

  CHAPTER XLI - THE STRIKE

  CHAPTER XLII - A TOUCH OF SPRING: THE EMPTY SHELL

  CHAPTER XLIII - THE WORLD TURNS FLATTERER: AN EYE IN THE DARK

  CHAPTER XLIV - AND THIS IS NOT ELFLAND: WHAT GOLD WILL NOT BUY

  CHAPTER XLV - CURIOUS SHIFTS OF THE POOR

  CHAPTER XLVI - STIRRING TROUBLED WATERS

  CHAPTER XLVII - THE WAY OF THE BEATEN: A HARP IN THE WIND

  Endnotes

  Inspired by Sister Carrie

  Comments and Questions

  For Further Reading

  From the Pages of Sister Carrie

  When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility.

  (page 3)

  To Carrie, the one relief of the whole day would have been a jolly home, a sympathetic reception, a bright supper table, and some one to say: “Oh, well, stand it a little while. You will get something better,” but now this was ashes.

  (page 47)

  Here, then, was Carrie, established in a pleasant fashion, free of certain difficulties which most ominously confronted her, laden with many new ones which were of a mental order, and altogether so turned about in all of her earthly relationships that she might well have been a new and different individual. She looked into her glass and saw a prettier Carrie than she had seen before; she looked into her mind, a mirror prepared of her own and the world’s opinions, and saw a worse. Between these two images she wavered, hesitating which to believe.

  (page 85)

  Here was this greatest mystery, the man of money and affairs sitting beside her, appealing to her. Behold, he had ease and comfort, his strength was great, his position high, his clothing rich, and yet he was appealing to her.

  (page 116)

  “Of course, you’ll do,” said Drouet, who, in his efforts to enthuse Carrie, had interested himself. “Do you think I’d come home here and urge you to do something that I didn’t think you would make a success of? You can act all right. It’ll be good for you.”

  (page 141)

  “Use everything and abuse me and then walk off. That’s just like a woman. I take you when you haven’t got anything, and then when some one else comes along, why I’m no good. I always thought it’d come out that way.”

  (page 201)

  “Let me be everything to you from now on,” he said. “Don’t make me worry any more. I’ll be true to you. We’ll go to New York and get a nice flat. I’ll go into business again, and we’ll be happy. Won’t you be mine?”

  (page 256)

  The Vances could travel, they could do the things worth doing, and here she was. For what was she made, anyhow? More thought followed, and then tears—tears seemed justified, and the only relief in the world.

  (page 294)

  Carrie reported promptly and was given a place in the line. She saw a large, empty, shadowy play-house, still redolent of the perfumes and blazonry of the night, and notable for its rich, oriental appearance. The wonder of it awed and delighted her. Blessed be its wondrous reality. How hard she would try to be worthy of it. It was above the common mass, above idleness, above want, above insignificance. People came to it in finery and carriages to see. It was ever a center of light and mirth. And here she was of it. Oh, if she could only remain, how happy would be her days!

  (page 340)

  “I’m going away. I’m not coming back any more. It’s no use trying to keep up the flat; I can’t do it. I wouldn’t mind helping you, if I could, but I can’t support us both, and pay the rent. I need what little I make to pay for my clothes. I’m leaving twenty dollars. It’s all I have just now. You can do whatever you like with the furniture. I won’t want it.”

  (page 388)

  Sitting alone, she was now an illustration of the devious ways by which one who feels, rather than reasons, may be led in the pursuit of beauty. Though often disillusioned, she was still waiting for that halcyon day when she should be led forth among dreams become real.

  (page 445)

  Published by Barnes & Noble Books

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  New York, NY 10011

  www.barnesandnoble.com/classics

  Sister Carrie was first published in 1900 in an edition of

  1,000 copies. It was reissued in 1907.

  Published in 2005 by Barnes &
Noble Classics with new Introduction; A Note on

  Hotels, Homes, Restaurants, and the Theater; Notes; Biography; Chronology;

  Inspired By; Comments & Questions; and For Further Reading.

  Introduction; A Note on Hotels, Homes, Restaurants,

  and the Theater; Notes; and For Further Reading

  Copyright © 2005 by Herbert Leibowitz.

  Note on Theodore Dreiser, The World of Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie,

  Inspired by Sister Carrie, and Comments & Questions

  Copyright @ 2005 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

  in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,

  recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the

  prior written permission of the publisher.

  Barnes & Noble Classics and the Barnes & Noble Classics

  colophon are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc.

  Sister Carrie

  ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-226-0 ISBN-10: 1-59308-226-6

  eISBN : 978-1-411-43318-2

  LC Control Number 2005927065

  Produced and published in conjunction with:

  Fine Creative Media, Inc.

  322 Eighth Avenue

  New York, NY 10001

  Michael J. Fine, President and Publisher

  Printed in the United States of America

  QM

  3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Theodore Dreiser

  Theodore Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871, in Terre Haute, Indiana, the ninth of ten children. The family lived in poverty, and his brothers and sisters were rebellious and wild. At age sixteen, Theodore left home for Chicago, where he took a variety of jobs. With the help of a former teacher, he enrolled at Indiana University in 1889, but after a year he left school, aimless and uncertain about his future. By 1892 Dreiser was working as a journalist, first in Chicago and then in St. Louis. He moved to New York City in 1894, took over editorship of a monthly music magazine, and contributed his own editorials, reviews, and articles for publication. He became a prodigious writer, trying his hand at everything from short stories to poetry to drama, and published diverse articles in such popular magazines as Harper’s Monthly, McClure’s, and Cosmopolitan. He married Sara Osbourne White, a schoolteacher, in 1898.

  In 1900 Dreiser published his first novel, Sister Carrie, to mixed reviews. The book sold just 500 copies before controversy over its frank treatment of sexual relations and unpunished immorality prompted the publisher to withdraw it from sale. Dreiser began a second novel but fell into a depression so severe that his brother placed him in a sanatorium to recuperate. Emerging from treatment, Dreiser resumed editing and eventually secured a job as editor-in-chief with Butterick Publications. In 1907 Sister Carrie was reissued and Dreiser’s literary accomplishment acknowledged, but in 1910 a romance with the daughter of a co-worker forced him to resign his post at Butterick. Undaunted, Dreiser completed his second novel, Jennie Gerhardt (1911) and, inspired by its modest success, became a full-time writer.

  Never a faithful husband, Dreiser permanently separated from his wife in 1912, but the couple never divorced. Politically, he became involved with the progressive movement, and his writings often focused on social injustice and materialism. Thanks in part to the positive reviews of social critic H. L. Mencken, Dreiser’s literary fame grew, but his publishers frequently censored his controversial style of realism. Dreiser devoted the next several years to various genres, including travel writing, memoirs, philosophical essays, short stories, and even poetry; he also wrote several major novels, including the first two books in the “Trilogy of Desire” series and The “Genius” (1915).

  In 1919 Dreiser began an affair with his young cousin, Helen Richardson. They moved to Hollywood, where he began The Bulwark, a novel about the struggles of a Quaker family that would be published in 1946, and sought work in the movie industry. In 1925 he published An American Tragedy, a novel about a sensational murder; his first commercial success, the book won critical acclaim for its fearless, brutally honest observations of American society. In 1927 Dreiser visited the Soviet Union, and during the Great Depression, he was an outspoken critic of capitalism. Though he wrote little fiction during this time, Dreiser developed an abiding interest in the natural sciences and was involved in many social causes. His wife died in 1942, and two years later Dreiser married Helen Richardson. Theodore Dreiser died on December 28, 1945, in Hollywood, California. Two novels—The Bulwark and The Stoic, the final installment in the “Trilogy of Desire”—were published posthumously.

  The World of Theodore Dreiser

  and Sister Carrie

  1871 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser is born on August 27 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the ninth of ten surviving children. His father, John Paul Dreiser, is a German immigrant and strict Roman Catholic millworker who is unable to lift the family out of poverty or exert authority over his unruly children. His mother, Sarah Schänäb, who has a more romantic nature, passes no judgments on the children and wields more influence. Theodore’s sisters will be sexually uninhibited; the brothers will leave home as soon as they can. American novelist Stephen Crane and French writer Marcel Proust are born. The Great Fire ravages Chicago.

  1884 Philosopher Herbert Spencer, who will be a great influence for Dreiser in later years, publishes The Man Versus the State, in which he coins the term “survival of the fittest.”

  1886 The American Federation of Labor, an association of trade unions, is founded.

  1887 Theodore leaves Warsaw, Indiana, where his family is living, for Chicago. He works at such jobs as dishwasher and hardware store clerk.

  1889 With the aid of a former teacher, Theodore enrolls for one undistinguished year at Indiana University in Bloomington. Mark Twain publishes A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington are admitted to the Union. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth” appears, encouraging the rich to use their money for the improvement of mankind.

  1892 Dreiser becomes a reporter for the Chicago Globe and a reporter and drama critic for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He specializes in human-interest stories and uses dialogue and character sketches in many of his pieces.

  1893 The Panic of 1893 creates a national economic sinkhole; labor unrest follows, and unemployment will remain at 10 percent for more than five years.

  1894 Dreiser moves to New York City, where he becomes the editor of Ev‘ry Month, a music magazine whose subtitle he modifies to An Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Popular Music. With this platform, Dreiser sets forth ideas about social inequalities, literature, and philosophy.

  1895 Dreiser begins contributing articles to such magazines as McClure’s and Cosmopolitan. H. G. Wells publishes The Time Machine.

  1897 Dreiser leaves Ev’ry Month to earn a living solely from freelance writing. Among the topics he covers are: the plight of workers and chain-gang prisoners, the possibility of life on Mars, and the artistry of photographer Alfred Stieglitz; he publishes interviews with Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie.

  1898 Dreiser marries Sara Osbourne White, a Missouri school-teacher. Henry James publishes The Turn of the Screw.

  1899 Writer Arthur Henry, a friend of the Dreisers, encourages Dreiser to begin writing his first novel, Sister Carrie, which he bases on the experience of Emma, one of his sisters. Thorstein Veblen publishes The Theory of the Leisure Class, introducing the concept of “conspicuous consumption.” American novelist Ernest Hemingway is born. In Chicago, Jane Addams and Ellen Starr found Hull House, which aims to improve social conditions for immigrants and other needy people.

  1900 Sister Carrie is published, launching Dreiser’s career as a novelist. Reviews are mixed; some critics see genius in its realism and characterization, while others complain that the story is too depressing and the style tedious. It does not sell well. German philos
opher Friedrich Nietzsche dies. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams is published.

  1901 Sister Carrie is published in England to popular and critical acclaim; the London Daily Mail notes, “At last a really strong novel has come from America.” Andrew Carnegie sells the Carnegie Steel Company to J. P. Morgan for $480 million and dedicates his life to philanthropy.

  1902 A new flagship Macy’s department store, the self-proclaimed “largest store on earth”—with nine stories, thirty-three elevators, four escalators, and a pneumatic tube system—opens in Herald Square in Manhattan.

  1903 Suicidal, regretful over his marriage, and blocked in the writing of Jennie Gerhardt, his second novel, Dreiser enters a sanatorium. Henry James’s The Ambassadors and Jack London’s The Call of the Wild are published.

  1906 Dreiser takes a position as managing editor of Broadway Magazine. Best-selling author O. Henry publishes The Four Million, and Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle.

  1907 Dreiser becomes editor-in-chief for Butterick Publications. Oklahoma is admitted to the Union. Sister Carrie is reissued to greater critical and popular acclaim than when it first appeared. Dreiser and journalist and social critic H. L. Mencken, who will champion Dreiser’s writing throughout his career, begin to correspond.

  1909 Dreiser and Sara separate. Guglielmo Marconi of Italy and Ferdinand Braun of Germany win the Nobel Prize in Physics for wireless telegraphy. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded, establishing its home office in New York City.