Carrie - World Literature Library

Author: Dreiser
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Late 19th-century America was in a period of rapid capitalist development. The disparities between the rich and the poor, the conflicts between labor and capital, the decline of moral values, and the loss of humanity were increasingly drawing attention. However, the American literary scene at the time was dominated by medieval-style romantic legends, Puritanical sermons, and American-style adventures where poor children achieved success through "hard work" and "kindness." Any work that realistically reflected social reality was considered unworthy of attention and faced resistance from publishers. Dreiser's realistic novel Sister Carrie, published at this time, undoubtedly threw a huge stone into this stagnant pond. The reaction it caused shaped the fate of the novel. In 1981, the Pennsylvania University Press published an unexpurgated, reconstructed edition of Sister Carrie based on Dreiser's manuscripts and typed drafts. That same year, Britain's Penguin Classics also published this reconstructed edition, giving us the opportunity to see the true face of this outstanding work. Comparing the two versions of Sister Carrie, we cannot definitively say which is superior, but one thing is certain: the reconstructed edition reveals the true nature of this masterpiece, allowing us to see the genuine emotions Dreiser originally intended to express. This is perhaps the true significance of this reconstructed edition.