Clementine Classics:
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Annotated by
Clementine the Hedgehog
Black Balloon Publishing
New York
Published by Black Balloon Publishing
www.blackballoonpublishing.com
Annotations copyright © 2013 by Clementine the Hedgehog
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-936787-10-4
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FIRST EDITION
CONTENTS
Introduction by Clementine the Hedgehog
Chapter 1 THE MAGNET ATTRACTING—A WAIF AMID FORCES
Chapter 2 WHAT POVERTY THREATENED—OF GRANITE AND BRASS
Chapter 3 WEE QUESTION OF FORTUNE—FOUR-FIFTY A WEEK
Chapter 4 THE SPENDINGS OF FANCY—FACTS ANSWER WITH SNEERS
Chapter 5 A GLITTERING NIGHT FLOWER —THE USE OF A NAME
Chapter 6 THE MACHINE AND THE MAIDEN—A KNIGHT OF TODAY
Chapter 7 THE LURE OF THE MATERIAL—BEAUTY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
Chapter 8 INTIMATIONS BY WINTER—AN AMBASSADOR SUMMONED
Chapter 9 CONVENTION’S OWN TINDER-BOX—THE EYE THAT IS GREEN
Chapter 10 THE COUNSEL OF WINTER—FORTUNE’S AMBASSADOR CALLS
Chapter 11 THE PERSUASION OF FASHION—FEELING GUARDS O’ER ITS OWN
Chapter 12 OF THE LAMPS OF THE MANSIONS—THE AMBASSADOR PLEA
Chapter 13 HIS CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED—A BABEL OF TONGUES
Chapter 14 WITH EYES AND NOT SEEING—ONE INFLUENCE WANES
Chapter 15 THE IRK OF THE OLD TIES—THE MAGIC OF YOUTH
Chapter 16 A WITLESS ALADDIN—THE GATE TO THE WORLD
Chapter 17 A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE GATEWAY—HOPE LIGHTENS THE EYE
Chapter 18 JUST OVER THE BORDER—A HAIL AND FAREWELL
Chapter 19 AN HOUR IN ELFLAND—A CLAMOR HALF HEARD
Chapter 20 THE LURE OF THE SPIRIT—THE FLESH IN PURSUIT
Chapter 21 THE LURE OF THE SPIRIT—THE FLESH IN PURSUIT
Chapter 22 THE BLAZE OF THE TINDER—FLESH WARS WITH THE FLESH
Chapter 23 A SPIRIT IN TRAVAIL—ONE RUNG PUT BEHIND
Chapter 24 ASHES OF TINDER—A FACE AT THE WINDOW
Chapter 25 ASHES OF TINDER—THE LOOSING OF STAYS
Chapter 26 THE AMBASSADOR FALLEN—A SEARCH FOR THE GATE
Chapter 27 WHEN WATERS ENGULF US WE REACH FOR A STAR
Chapter 28 A PILGRIM, AN OUTLAW—THE SPIRIT DETAINED
Chapter 29 THE SOLACE OF TRAVEL—THE BOATS OF THE SEA
Chapter 30 THE KINGDOM OF GREATNESS—THE PILGRIM A DREAM
Chapter 31 A PET OF GOOD FORTUNE—BROADWAY FLAUNTS ITS JOYS
Chapter 32 THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR—A SEER TO TRANSLATE
Chapter 33 WITHOUT THE WALLED CITY—THE SLOPE OF THE YEARS
Chapter 34 THE GRIND OF THE MILLSTONES—A SAMPLE OF CHAFF
Chapter 35 THE PASSING OF EFFORT—THE VISAGE OF CARE
Chapter 36 A GRIM RETROGRESSION—THE PHANTOM OF CHANCE
Chapter 37 THE SPIRIT AWAKENS—NEW SEARCH FOR THE GATE
Chapter 38 IN ELF LAND DISPORTING—THE GRIM WORLD WITHOUT
Chapter 39 OF LIGHTS AND OF SHADOWS—THE PARTING OF WORLDS
Chapter 40 A PUBLIC DISSENSION—A FINAL APPEAL
Chapter 41 THE STRIKE
Chapter 42 A TOUCH OF SPRING—THE EMPTY SHELL
Chapter 43 THE WORLD TURNS FLATTERER—AN EYE IN THE DARK
Chapter 44 AND THIS IS NOT ELF LAND—WHAT GOLD WILL NOT BUY
Chapter 45 CURIOUS SHIFTS OF THE POOR
Chapter 46 STIRRING TROUBLED WATERS
Chapter 47 THE WAY OF THE BEATEN—A HARP IN THE WIND
Clementine the Hedgehog
I do not like Victorian novels. In fact, I am strictly a contemporary fiction ‘hog. I’m a sucker for sparse writing and constant plot development, two things that just don’t seem to happen in old timey books. But as I near middle age (I’m almost two fucking years old—how did that happen?) I feel like I should be embracing new things, starting with the books I read. I thumbed through some of the classics, and God, was that a mistake. Austen? Grow a fucking pair. Hardy? Yawn. Dickens? More like dickhead.
I finally settled on Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie because it seemed like a story that could take place today, preferably in a sitcom: starry-eyed waif moves to the big city and falls under the influence of rich, older men. I’m somewhat of a cultural anthropologist living amongst you humans, and the ideals romanticized in this book—materialism,