For my first post on the Luminous blog, I am going to jump in with the all-encompassing Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. As a lit person, I probably should have read this novel a long time ago as it represents a fundamental shift in the history of the American novel. Fortunately, I was never asked any questions about it because up until last week, I thought that the main character was a nun...which I soon learned wasn't the case.
I finished the book in the wee hours of Friday morning because I couldn't put it down. I also couldn't escape the world of the book for the rest of the weekend. Dresier's detailed depictions of Chicago and New York are amazing, probably even more for those of you who live in those cities and know all of the landmarks referenced. These meticulous details filled out the world of the novel and played a large role in drawing me into the book and making me care about the characters.
Dresier also does a great job of showing both Carrie and Hurtwood as products of choice and environment. They are trapped within a system, but they are still responsible for their own decisions. Because of this, I still can't decide whether I feel bad for them as helpless victims or see them as products of their own decisions. I guess this dichotomy is why I still can't shake the book. It is definitely worth a read, even if it is just to help you avoid looking stupid when talking with lit professors!
3 comments:
Awesome. I feel like I've been picking up a bunch of so-so books lately and have been dying to find one that will keep me up all night reading. Maybe this is the answer to my current reading dilemma.
Oh and don't worry, I assumed the main character was a nun too...maybe that is why I never picked it up.
i'm always confusing theodore dreisen with carl theodor dreyer, the old dutch filmmaker. director of passion of joan of arc, and vampyr.
and i think, he wrote novels, too?
MTBT--
Have you read Anna Karenina? I struggled with Anna's character as Tolstoy really drove to make her a product of her environmen. I, however, felt she was responsible for her decisions. This is of course what distinguishes one from siding with Tolstoy or Dostoevsky (and we all know how I feel about that). But I wonder if Carrie is at all in the same boat as Anna when it comes to this struggle.
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