Among the American novelists of repute, Dreiser is sometimes considered the Mount Everest of American fiction, with his literary merits comparable to those of Balzac and Dostoevsky. However, he did not receive the recognition he deserved. His major novel, Sister Carrie, kicked up a storm when it was published, as it presented the numerous romantic liaisons of the heroine in a condoning tone and even with approbation. Caroline Meeber, affectionately called Sister Carrie, embarks at a young age of 18 on her (mis)adventures in Chicago, where she is at first exploited on account of her poverty and helplessness. In the end, she becomes a successful star and turns the tables even on Hurston, who loves her and deserts his own family, finally becomes a pauper and seeks mercy and financial help from his erstwhile protégé. The novel poignantly evokes the futility of the American Dream as evidenced in the soulless exploitation of a hapless woman, despite the claims of equal opportunity enshrined in the Declaration of American Independence. The novel is an insightful exploration of the dialectics of sin and the paper demonstrates that Sister Carrie is more sinned against, than sinning.
Theodore
Dreiser is not as well-known as he should have been,
though his merits have been favorably compared to those
of Goethe, Balzac, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (Mc Aleer,
1968) and he has been acclaimed as "the Mount Everest
of American Fiction" (Ibid.: VII). Dreiser
believed that the goals of the American Dream were futile
and he articulated this conviction in his novels.
Sister
Carrie, his first novel, achieved immense popularity.
As H L Mencken observed, "His (Dreiser's) aim is
not merely to tell a tale; his aim is to show the vast
ebb and flow of forces which sway and condition human
destiny" (Dreiser, Sister Carrie 1900,1965:
Dust cover). Sister Carrie is a remarkable novel
to come from a distinguished exponent of naturalism,
but its publication was suppressed at first. The manuscript
was given to Doubleday and Page for publication. Doubleday,
to whom her husband gave the manuscript, was appalled
on reading it. Critics attacked Dreiser for writing
such a permissive novel on women. Some did not like
to let the heroine survive at the end of the story.
When the novel saw the light of the day in November,
1900, it created a great stir in the minds of the readers.
Mencken wrote that the novel "leaves behind it
an inescapable impression of bigness, of epic sweep
and dignity." (Ibid.). |
