Sister Carrie

Written in gaudy postmodern prose that bears absolutely no resemblance to Theodore Dreiser's magisterial naturalism, this often hilarious first novel emulates its famous predecessor only in being an account of Carrie Meeber's experiences after she runs away from home (this time in Miami) to discover her own identity in Chicago. Both protagonist and author play with language, taking the placid cliches of everyday life and shocking them into audacious, often bawdy images. Questioned by a curiously detached narrator, Carrie describes a world of fantasies, delusions and ego trips peopled by characters like Queenie, Zenobia, Bro (the prime minister of the count of Nogs), Valmouth and Englebert Humpherifyoucan. Her journey to self-realization is chronicled in her journals and the jottings of her friends. She finds a job with the advertising agency Pimp & Co. and falls in or out of love. She may or may not be a prostitute, a pimp, or a madam; she may or may not have been an actress, a filmmaker, or a model--``Good old reality,'' Carrie says. ``The only perfect thing. Subject to perception.'' Fairbanks struts her stuff through this satyricon of self-revelation in a world gone cynical. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, this is an exhilarating debut by an enormously gifted writer. (Dec.)