diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 
+## 3.3.0.0
+
+*   Add an output option to print escaped and non-printable characters
+    literally when outputting strings.
+    [#68](https://github.com/cdepillabout/pretty-simple/pull/68) and
+    [#69](https://github.com/cdepillabout/pretty-simple/pull/69)
+    Thanks Joe Hermaszewski ([@expipiplus1](https://github.com/expipiplus1))!
+
 ## 3.2.3.0
 
 *   Fix a bug that messes up printing identifiers with `'` in the name.
diff --git a/pretty-simple.cabal b/pretty-simple.cabal
--- a/pretty-simple.cabal
+++ b/pretty-simple.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                pretty-simple
-version:             3.2.3.0
+version:             3.3.0.0
 synopsis:            pretty printer for data types with a 'Show' instance.
 description:         Please see <https://github.com/cdepillabout/pretty-simple#readme README.md>.
 homepage:            https://github.com/cdepillabout/pretty-simple
diff --git a/src/Text/Pretty/Simple.hs b/src/Text/Pretty/Simple.hs
--- a/src/Text/Pretty/Simple.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pretty/Simple.hs
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
   , pStringOpt
   -- * 'OutputOptions'
   , OutputOptions(..)
+  , StringOutputStyle(..)
   , defaultOutputOptionsDarkBg
   , defaultOutputOptionsLightBg
   , defaultOutputOptionsNoColor
@@ -118,10 +119,11 @@
 import System.IO (Handle, stdout)
 
 import Text.Pretty.Simple.Internal
-       (CheckColorTty(..), OutputOptions(..), defaultColorOptionsDarkBg,
-        defaultColorOptionsLightBg, defaultOutputOptionsDarkBg,
-        defaultOutputOptionsLightBg, defaultOutputOptionsNoColor,
-        hCheckTTY, expressionParse, expressionsToOutputs, render)
+       (CheckColorTty(..), OutputOptions(..), StringOutputStyle(..),
+        defaultColorOptionsDarkBg, defaultColorOptionsLightBg,
+        defaultOutputOptionsDarkBg, defaultOutputOptionsLightBg,
+        defaultOutputOptionsNoColor, hCheckTTY, expressionParse,
+        expressionsToOutputs, render)
 
 -- $setup
 -- >>> import Data.Text.Lazy (unpack)
@@ -665,3 +667,6 @@
 --
 -- >>> pPrint "this string has non-printable characters: \x8 and \x9"
 -- "this string has non-printable characters: \x8 and \x9"
+--
+-- If you don't want non-printable characters to be escaped, take a look at
+-- 'outputOptionsStringStyle' and 'StringOutputStyle'.
diff --git a/src/Text/Pretty/Simple/Internal/OutputPrinter.hs b/src/Text/Pretty/Simple/Internal/OutputPrinter.hs
--- a/src/Text/Pretty/Simple/Internal/OutputPrinter.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pretty/Simple/Internal/OutputPrinter.hs
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@
 import Text.Pretty.Simple.Internal.Output
        (NestLevel(..), Output(..), OutputType(..))
 
+-- $setup
+-- >>> import Text.Pretty.Simple (pPrintString, pPrintStringOpt)
+
 -- | Determines whether pretty-simple should check if the output 'Handle' is a
 -- TTY device.  Normally, users only want to print in color if the output
 -- 'Handle' is a TTY device.
@@ -61,6 +64,24 @@
   -- 'outputOptionsColorOptions'.
   deriving (Eq, Generic, Show, Typeable)
 
+-- | Control how escaped and non-printable are output for strings.
+--
+-- See 'outputOptionsStringStyle' for what the output looks like with each of
+-- these options.
+data StringOutputStyle
+  = Literal
+  -- ^ Output string literals by printing the source characters exactly.
+  --
+  -- For examples: without this option the printer will insert a newline in
+  -- place of @"\n"@, with this options the printer will output @'\'@ and
+  -- @'n'@. Similarly the exact escape codes used in the input string will be
+  -- replicated, so @"\65"@ will be printed as @"\65"@ and not @"A"@.
+  | EscapeNonPrintable
+  -- ^ Replace non-printable characters with hexadecimal escape sequences.
+  | DoNotEscapeNonPrintable
+  -- ^ Output non-printable characters without modification.
+  deriving (Eq, Generic, Show, Typeable)
+
 -- | Data-type wrapping up all the options available when rendering the list
 -- of 'Output's.
 data OutputOptions = OutputOptions
@@ -71,9 +92,43 @@
   -- ^ If this is 'Nothing', then don't colorize the output.  If this is
   -- @'Just' colorOptions@, then use @colorOptions@ to colorize the output.
   --
-  , outputOptionsEscapeNonPrintable :: Bool
-  -- ^ Whether to replace non-printable characters with hexadecimal escape
-  -- sequences.
+  , outputOptionsStringStyle :: StringOutputStyle
+  -- ^ Controls how string literals are output.
+  --
+  -- By default, the pPrint functions escape non-printable characters, but
+  -- print all printable characters:
+  --
+  -- >>> pPrintString "\"A \\x42 Ä \\xC4 \\x1 \\n\""
+  -- "A B Ä Ä \x1 "
+  --
+  -- Here, you can see that the character @A@ has been printed as-is.  @\x42@
+  -- has been printed in the non-escaped version, @B@.  The non-printable
+  -- character @\x1@ has been printed as @\x1@.  Newlines will be removed to
+  -- make the output easier to read.
+  --
+  -- This corresponds to the 'StringOutputStyle' called 'EscapeNonPrintable'.
+  --
+  -- (Note that in the above and following examples, the characters have to be
+  -- double-escaped, which makes it somewhat confusing...)
+  --
+  -- Another output style is 'DoNotEscapeNonPrintable'.  This is similar
+  -- to 'EscapeNonPrintable', except that non-printable characters get printed
+  -- out literally to the screen.
+  --
+  -- >>> pPrintStringOpt CheckColorTty defaultOutputOptionsDarkBg{ outputOptionsStringStyle = DoNotEscapeNonPrintable } "\"A \\x42 Ä \\xC4 \\n\""
+  -- "A B Ä Ä "
+  --
+  -- If you change the above example to contain @\x1@, you can see that it is
+  -- output as a literal, non-escaped character.  Newlines are still removed
+  -- for readability.
+  --
+  -- Another output style is 'Literal'.  This just outputs all escape characters.
+  --
+  -- >>> pPrintStringOpt CheckColorTty defaultOutputOptionsDarkBg{ outputOptionsStringStyle = Literal } "\"A \\x42 Ä \\xC4 \\x1 \\n\""
+  -- "A \x42 Ä \xC4 \x1 \n"
+  --
+  -- You can see that all the escape characters get output literally, including
+  -- newline.
   } deriving (Eq, Generic, Show, Typeable)
 
 -- | Default values for 'OutputOptions' when printing to a console with a dark
@@ -84,7 +139,7 @@
   OutputOptions
   { outputOptionsIndentAmount = 4
   , outputOptionsColorOptions = Just defaultColorOptionsDarkBg
-  , outputOptionsEscapeNonPrintable = True
+  , outputOptionsStringStyle = EscapeNonPrintable
   }
 
 -- | Default values for 'OutputOptions' when printing to a console with a light
@@ -95,7 +150,7 @@
   OutputOptions
   { outputOptionsIndentAmount = 4
   , outputOptionsColorOptions = Just defaultColorOptionsLightBg
-  , outputOptionsEscapeNonPrintable = True
+  , outputOptionsStringStyle = EscapeNonPrintable
   }
 
 -- | Default values for 'OutputOptions' when printing using using ANSI escape
@@ -106,7 +161,7 @@
   OutputOptions
   { outputOptionsIndentAmount = 4
   , outputOptionsColorOptions = Nothing
-  , outputOptionsEscapeNonPrintable = True
+  , outputOptionsStringStyle = EscapeNonPrintable
   }
 
 -- | Given 'OutputOptions', disable colorful output if the given handle
@@ -171,10 +226,11 @@
     ]
   where
     process :: OutputOptions -> String -> String
-    process opts =
-      if outputOptionsEscapeNonPrintable opts
-        then indentSubsequentLinesWith spaces . escapeNonPrintable . readStr
-        else indentSubsequentLinesWith spaces . readStr
+    process opts = case outputOptionsStringStyle opts of
+      Literal -> id
+      EscapeNonPrintable ->
+        indentSubsequentLinesWith spaces . escapeNonPrintable . readStr
+      DoNotEscapeNonPrintable -> indentSubsequentLinesWith spaces . readStr
       where
         spaces :: String
         spaces = replicate (indentSpaces + 2) ' '