'Sister Carrie' fantatics share their literary passion at Penn

Watch out Penn -- the Dreiseriacs have arrived. This group of more than 60 literary scholars, most clad in bow ties, tweed coats and sporting grey hair, gathered in Van Pelt Library last night to extol the virtues of their namesake. But don't mistake them for being Trekkies. They answer to a higher power: Famed American author Theodore Dreiser. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie and the 250th anniversary of the Penn libraries, a three-day event entitled "Sister Carrie Turns 100" is being held on campus. Penn holds the original manuscripts of the influential novel. The celebration will feature dramatic readings of Dreiser's work, film versions of his books and discussions about his important role within the turn-of-the-century literary canon. "The opportunity to juxtapose these two events is wonderful," Vice Provost Paul Mosher said at the introduction. The character of Sister Carrie, a working class woman who became an actress and transcended her social boundaries, was described by keynote speaker Joseph Epstein, a retired editor of American Scholar, as one who ranks with Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina "as one of the great literary figures." The novel, published on November 8, 1900, presents many of the problems faced by early 20th century America, including urbanization, alienation, the exploitation of women and the working classes and the harshness of that period's economic system. And on top of the harsh realism, the reason Carrie succeeds is because she is supported by a succession of affluent men, who fall as she makes her ascent. "It was very racy when it came out because it was about a woman living a lifestyle that just wasn't accepted in those days," said audience member AnnMarie Hamel of Connecticut. "It would have been fine if the heroine went down, but Carrie went up while her boyfriends became bums." Dreiser himself lived a controversial life by joining the Communist Party and by being "the most notorious heterosexual of writers -- one would have thought twice to leave him alone with their own grandmother," according to Epstein. Describing Dreiser as a man apart from his fellow writers of the time, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Epstein said few readers would ever be drawn to Dreiser for his style. "If other novelists are guilty of anthropomorphizing animals, Dreiser is guilty of zoologizing human beings," Epstein said, citing such quotes from Dreiser as, "He was like a fly caught in the web wearying himself by flapping his wings." Dreiser drew from his personal life when writing Sister Carrie, basing Carrie on the life of his sister Emma and adding events that occurred in the life of his brother, song-writer Paul. "Dreiser seems to have captured human nature perfectly in a way that no other author that I've read has," Hamel said. "It allows you to get into the head of a person from the turn of the century." Dreiser published six other novels, including Jenny Gerhardt and An American Tragedy, which became academic standards at many universities, including Penn. Carrie was made into a film with Laurence Olivier in 1952. "Theodore Dreiser had the magic -- his fiction lived when he wrote it, and much of it lives now, decades and decades after he wrote it," Epstein said. Just don't expect to see Captain Kirk in the crowd.