Sister Carrie (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Table of Contents

 

 

 

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
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011

 

 

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.

 

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 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.