Theodore DreiserSister Carrie (Royal Collector's Edition) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)

I was surprised by this edition of Sister Carrie, which has passed out of copyright and is published by this corporation, Digireads, which I had heard nothing about. This publication had little identifying or editorial information, but the background and literary interpretations can be had at a variety of internet sources including Lit Charts. My understanding is that it ranks in the 90's (of 100) in the American canon of literature. Dreisser is described as "the worst best writer in American literature." The style is end-of-century naturalism.Written in 1903, Sister Carrie frames the story of an innocent naif moving from the country to Chicago, with no money and only her sister to take her in. Pretty, trusting, completely unused to the city, Carrie become familiar with a traveling salesman, whom she eventually moves in with. She simultaneously receives visits from Hurstwood, a married bar manager whom she doesn't realize is married--and Hurstwood falls in love with Carrie. Hurstwood arranges a robbery of his bar, takes Carrie under pretext to Montreal (against her will) and eventually New York, all the while falling in her estimation.The story has several themes. One is the universal corruption of the city. A second them is man-woman/husband-wife relationships and their awful aches and pains (caught in the swirl of love). I found a subtheme, unintended perhaps (?), of feminism, because the women of the novel are always battling from a less-than-powerful or no-power-at-all position, and Dreisser is sympathetic to the women's position. His observations on the power dynamics are acute.So, in all, I enjoyed this book, it's setting in American gilded city-coming-to-be (Chicago), and its description of the people and their journey. Dreisser has not written an optimistic romance, and I can imagine that he may have been quite depressed, but I found the story well worth reading.

The writing is infectious and quite excellent The story is intriguing. However, there is no introduction or detailed background of the author or anything of that nature. It feels a little like someone lifted the plain text off the internet and printed it in a book. A classic should have more context around it.

I purchased this book for a class and was at first pretty shocked by the simplicity of the writing. I later found out while discussing this book in class that my edition (this version) was completely different from my classmates. While the story remained the same the writing was completely different, and lacked Dreiser's unique writing style. Basically this version seems like someone read the original version then wrote this "Townsend Library Edition" just entirely from memory. So ya you get the story but lose all the good parts of the writing.

Read this for a class, but wondering why I haven't read before. Great story - especially if you live in Chicago and are interested in it history. Fantastic story.

Very theoretical, but also very good meditation on the rise of the American city and the people within it