1900. American author, outstanding representative of naturalism, whose novels depict real-life subjects in a harsh light. Dreiser's books were held to be amoral, and he battled throughout his career against censorship and popular taste. Dreiser's first novel, Sister Carrie tells the story of a pretty small-town girl who comes to the big city filled with ambition. She quickly becomes a victim of men, but uses them in turn to become a successful Broadway actress. Meanwhile, George Hurstwood, the married man who has run away with her, loses his hold on life and falls into beggary and suicide. The book was the first masterpiece of the American naturalistic movement in its unwavering presentation of urban life and in its ingenuous heroine, who goes unpunished for her transgressions against conventional sexual morality. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.