Sister Carrie scholarship and context Flashcards
Sinclair Lewis
‘to our stuffy domesticity gave us the first fresh air since Mark Twain and Whitman.’
Style of Dreiser
one of the first great naturalists
Why was it censored?
Carrie engaged in affairs and other “illicit sexual relationships” without suffering any consequences. This flouted prevailing norms, that a character who practiced such sinful behavior must be punished in the course of the plot in order to be taught a lesson
‘Toledo Blade’ contemporary criticism
‘is a faithful portraiture of the conditions it represents’
‘The Academy’ contemporary criticism
1901: ‘dominated everywhere by a serious and strenuous desire for truth.’
‘Life’ contemporary criticism
‘Such girls, however, as imagine that they can follow in her footsteps will probably end their days on the Island or in the gutter.’
Main reason for unpopularity
Never mentioned God
Initial unpopularity
sold less that 500 copies
Example of Dreiser’s (many) affairs
his secretary Clara Jaeger
Dreiser’s political views
Became a member of the Communist Party in 1945
Dreiser about the book
‘When [the novel] gets to the people, they will understand, because it is a story of real life, of their lives.’
When written?
1900
