American Literature

Sister Carrie (Norton Critical Editions) An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Sources, And Criticism

9780393927733

Plot

The text of the Third Edition is based on the 1900 Doubleday Page edition, with detailed annotations that reveal the author's use of real people and places in Chicago and New York. The novel is followed by "A Note on the Text," which discusses the relationship between this edition's text and that of the Pennsylvania Edition (1981), and a "Textual Appendix," which provides a generous sampling of the cuts Dreiser and his friend Arthur Henry made in the typescript version of "Sister Carrie," "Backgrounds and Sources" reprints generous excerpts from Dreiser's autobiographies and other writings that help establish his personal connection to the novel. Coverage of the supposed "suppression" of "Sister Carrie" by its first publisher is drawn from Dreiser's correspondence with Frank Norris, Arthur Henry, Walter H. Page, and F. N. Doubleday. "Criticism" collects thirteen essays, six of them new to the Third Edition, that discuss Dreiser's distinctive literary naturalism and narrative technique, the novel's relationship to American culture, and issues of gender and class in the novel, among other topics. Contributors include Ellen Moers, Robert Penn Warren, Amy Kaplan, Alan Trachtenberg, and Donald Pizer, among others. A Chronology of "Sister Carrie" and a Selected Bibliography are also included. About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards whileremaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.