Sister Carrie (2 page)
Authors: Theodore Dreiser
Tags: #Criticism, #Chicago (Ill.), #Psychological fiction, #Action & Adventure, #Theodore, #New York (N.Y.), #Bildungsromans, #Dreiser, #General, #Literary, #20th Century American Novel And Short Story, #Literature: Classics, #1871-1945, #actresses, #Young women, #Literature - Classics, #Classics, #Didactic fiction, #Mistresses, #Fiction
Theodore Dreiser
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.
Never a faithful husband, Dreiser permanently separated from his wife in 1912, but the couple never divorced. Politically, he became involved with the progressive movement, and his writings often focused on social injustice and materialism. Thanks in part to the positive reviews of social critic H. L. Mencken, Dreiser’s literary fame grew, but his publishers frequently censored his controversial style of realism. Dreiser devoted the next several years to various genres, including travel writing, memoirs, philosophical essays, short stories, and even poetry; he also wrote several major novels, including the first two books in the “Trilogy of Desire” series and
The “Genius”
(1915).
In 1919 Dreiser began an affair with his young cousin, Helen Richardson. They moved to Hollywood, where he began
The Bulwark,
a novel about the struggles of a Quaker family that would be published in 1946, and sought work in the movie industry. In 1925 he published
An American Tragedy,
a novel about a sensational murder; his first commercial success, the book won critical acclaim for its fearless, brutally honest observations of American society. In 1927 Dreiser visited the Soviet Union, and during the Great Depression, he was an outspoken critic of capitalism. Though he wrote little fiction during this time, Dreiser developed an abiding interest in the natural sciences and was involved in many social causes. His wife died in 1942, and two years later Dreiser married Helen Richardson. Theodore Dreiser died on December 28, 1945, in Hollywood, California. Two novels—
The Bulwark
and
The Stoic,
the final installment in the “Trilogy of Desire”—were published posthumously.
The World of Theodore Dreiser
and
Sister Carrie
| 1871 | Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser is born on August 27 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the ninth of ten surviving children. His father, John Paul Dreiser, is a German immigrant and strict Roman Catholic millworker who is unable to lift the family out of poverty or exert authority over his unruly children. His mother, Sarah Schänäb, who has a more romantic nature, passes no judgments on the children and wields more influence. Theodore’s sisters will be sexually uninhibited; the brothers will leave home as soon as they can. American novelist Stephen Crane and French writer Marcel Proust are born. The Great Fire ravages Chicago. |
| 1884 | Philosopher Herbert Spencer, who will be a great influence for Dreiser in later years, publishes The Man Versus the State, in which he coins the term “survival of the fittest.” |
| 1886 | The American Federation of Labor, an association of trade unions, is founded. |
| 1887 | Theodore leaves Warsaw, Indiana, where his family is living, for Chicago. He works at such jobs as dishwasher and hardware store clerk. |
| 1889 | With the aid of a former teacher, Theodore enrolls for one undistinguished year at Indiana University in Bloomington. Mark Twain publishes A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington are admitted to the Union. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth” appears, encouraging the rich to use their money for the improvement of mankind. |
| 1892 | Dreiser becomes a reporter for the Chicago Globe and a reporter and drama critic for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He specializes in human-interest stories and uses dialogue and character sketches in many of his pieces. |
| 1893 | The Panic of 1893 creates a national economic sinkhole; labor unrest follows, and unemployment will remain at 10 percent for more than five years. |
| 1894 | Dreiser moves to New York City, where he becomes the editor of Ev‘ry Month, a music magazine whose subtitle he modifies to An Illustrated Magazine of Literature and Popular Music. With this platform, Dreiser sets forth ideas about social inequalities, literature, and philosophy. |
| 1895 | Dreiser begins contributing articles to such magazines as McClure’s and Cosmopolitan. H. G. Wells publishes The Time Machine. |
| 1897 | Dreiser leaves Ev’ry Month to earn a living solely from freelance writing. Among the topics he covers are: the plight of workers and chain-gang prisoners, the possibility of life on Mars, and the artistry of photographer Alfred Stieglitz; he publishes interviews with Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. |
| 1898 | Dreiser marries Sara Osbourne White, a Missouri school-teacher. Henry James publishes The Turn of the Screw. |
| 1899 | Writer Arthur Henry, a friend of the Dreisers, encourages Dreiser to begin writing his first novel, Sister Carrie, which he bases on the experience of Emma, one of his sisters. Thorstein Veblen publishes The Theory of the Leisure Class, introducing the concept of “conspicuous consumption.” American novelist Ernest Hemingway is born. In Chicago, Jane Addams and Ellen Starr found Hull House, which aims to improve social conditions for immigrants and other needy people. |
| 1900 | Sister Carrie is published, launching Dreiser’s career as a novelist. Reviews are mixed; some critics see genius in its realism and characterization, while others complain that the story is too depressing and the style tedious. It does not sell well. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche dies. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams is published. |
| 1901 | Sister Carrie is published in England to popular and critical acclaim; the London Daily Mail notes, “At last a really strong novel has come from America.” Andrew Carnegie sells the Carnegie Steel Company to J. P. Morgan for $480 million and dedicates his life to philanthropy. |
| 1902 | A new flagship Macy’s department store, the self-proclaimed “largest store on earth”—with nine stories, thirty-three elevators, four escalators, and a pneumatic tube system—opens in Herald Square in Manhattan. |
| 1903 | Suicidal, regretful over his marriage, and blocked in the writing of Jennie Gerhardt, his second novel, Dreiser enters a sanatorium. Henry James’s The Ambassadors and Jack London’s The Call of the Wild are published. |
| 1906 | Dreiser takes a position as managing editor of Broadway Magazine. Best-selling author O. Henry publishes The Four Million, and Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle. |
| 1907 | Dreiser becomes editor-in-chief for Butterick Publications. Oklahoma is admitted to the Union. Sister Carrie is reissued to greater critical and popular acclaim than when it first appeared. Dreiser and journalist and social critic H. L. Mencken, who will champion Dreiser’s writing throughout his career, begin to correspond. |
| 1909 | Dreiser and Sara separate. Guglielmo Marconi of Italy and Ferdinand Braun of Germany win the Nobel Prize in Physics for wireless telegraphy. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded, establishing its home office in New York City. |
| 1910 | A romance with the seventeen-year-old daughter of one of his associates forces Dreiser’s resignation as Butterick’s editor. In New York City the Manhattan Bridge opens. Emma Goldman’s book Anarchism and Other Essays appears. |
| 1911 | Jennie Gerhardt is published to critical praise and support for its author. Marie Curie is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Standard Oil’s largest remaining company is dissolved by the Supreme Court. In Manhattan the Triangle Shirtwaist Company sweatshop catches fire, killing 146 young immigrant workers. |
| 1912 | The Financier, the first of the “Trilogy of Desire” series about a ruthless American tycoon (based on transportation magnate Charles T. Yerkes), is published. After years of unhappiness, Dreiser and his wife permanently separate. The Titanic sinks after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage, killing 1,500 people. |
| 1913 | “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” a popular song written by Dreiser’s older brother Paul, is adopted as the state song of Indiana. Dreiser publishes A Traveler at Forty, a travelogue of his journey to Europe. Carl Jung publishes The Theory of Psychoanalysis. |
| 1914 | World War I breaks out in Europe. The second “Trilogy of Desire” installment, The Titan, is published. American novelist Booth Tarkington publishes Penrod. |
| 1915 | Dreiser publishes The “Genius,” a semi-autobiographical novel. It is censured by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and removed from bookshelves. Albert Einstein introduces his General Theory of Relativity. |
| 1916 | Dreiser’s memoir A Hoosier Holiday is published, as well as Plays of the Natural and Supernatural. Carl Sandburg publishes Chicago Poems. Nine days after Margaret Sanger opens the nation’s first birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, she is arrested and the clinic is shut down. |
| 1917 | The United States enters World War I. Poet T. S. Eliot publishes Prufrock and Other Observations. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia topples the czar and installs V. I. Lenin as the first head of the Soviet state. H. L. Mencken publishes A Book of Prefaces, a collection of literary essays that includes a positive assessment of Dreiser. |
| 1918 | Dreiser publishes Free and Other Stories and the novel The Hand of the Potter, whose central character is a child molester. H. L. Mencken publishes In Defense of Women. |
| 1919 | World War I ends. Twelve Men, Dreiser’s collection of fictional biographical portraits, appears. He begins a relationship with actress Helen Richardson, his cousin, and moves to Hollywood with her. Sherwood Anderson publishes Winesburg, Ohio, a collection of interconnected stories. Booth Tarkington wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Magnificent Ambersons. |
| 1920 | F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes This Side of Paradise. Dreiser publishes a collection of philosophical sketches titled Hey-Rub-a-Dub-Dub. Sinclair Lewis publishes Main Street. Playwright Eugene O’Neill wins the Pulitzer Prize for his drama Beyond the Horizon. Congress passes the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote. |
| 1922 | Dreiser publishes a second memoir, A Book About Myself, on his newspaper days. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land appears. Ulysses, the avant-garde novel by James Joyce, is published but is burned by the U.S. Post Office. The American stock market takes off, giving rise to the nickname “The Roaring Twenties” for this high-flying decade. |
| 1923 | Dreiser publishes The Color of a Great City, a paean to New York. Sigmund Freud publishes The Ego and the Id. |
| 1925 | An American Tragedy is published. Based on the actual murder of Grace Brown and the subsequent trial of Chester Gillette, the novel is Dreiser’s first major success. American novelist John Dos Passos publishes Manhattan Transfer. Biology teacher John Scopes is convicted of violating Tennessee state law by teaching evolution in public school. Bell Telephone Laboratories is founded. |
| 1926 | Moods, Cadenced and Declaimed, an unremarkable book of Dreiser’s verse, appears |
| 1927 | At the invitation of the Soviet government, Dreiser goes to Moscow for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. Virginia Woolf publishes To The Light-house. The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, introduces talking motion pictures. |
| 1928 | Dreiser Looks at Russia, an account of Dreiser’s visit to the Soviet Union, is published. |
| 1929 | Dreiser publishes A Gallery of Women, a two-volume collection of fifteen fictionalized profiles of women he has either known or wants to celebrate. The American stock market collapses, initiating the Great Depression. Thomas Wolfe publishes Look Homeward Angel. By observing distant galaxies, Edwin Hubble determines that the universe is expanding. |
| 1931 | Dreiser publishes the anti-capitalist treatise Tragic America and a memoir titled Dawn: An Autobiography of Early Youth. He delivers a speech at New York’s Town Hall characterizing the Alabama rape trial of the Scottsboro boys as legal lynching. Josef von Sternberg’s film version of An American Tragedy opens. Robert Frost’s Collected Poems wins the Pulitzer Prize. The Empire State Building, the tallest skyscraper ever built, opens. |
| 1938 | Dreiser settles in California permanently with Helen Richardson. |
| 1939 | World War II breaks out in Europe. John Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath. Film classics Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz premiere. |
| 1941 | The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. |
| 1942 | Sara White Dreiser dies after thirty years of separation from her husband. |
| 1944 | Dreiser marries his longtime companion Helen Richardson. Tennessee Williams debuts his play The Glass Menagerie on Broadway. On June 6 U.S. forces land at Normandy. |
| 1945 | After joining the Communist Party early in the year, Theodore Dreiser dies on December 28, in Hollywood, California. Richard Wright publishes Black Boy. The United States drops atomic bombs on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Europe, World War II ends on May 8. |
| 1946 | The Bulwark is published. |
| 1947 | The Stoic, the last novel in Dreiser’s “Trilogy of Desire,” is published. A collection of Dreiser’s short fiction, The Best Short Stories, is published. |
| 1951 | A Place in the Sun, a film adaptation of An American Tragedy, starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, opens. |