Harry Sinclair Lewis (/ˈluːɪs/;
February 7, 1885 –
January 10, 1951) was an
American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In
1930, he became the first writer from the
United States to receive the
Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." His works are known for their insightful and critical views of
American capitalism and materialism between the wars. He is also respected for his strong characterizations of modern working women.
H. L. Mencken wrote of him, "[If] there was ever a novelist among us with an authentic call to the trade
... it is this red-haired tornado from the
Minnesota wilds."
He has been honored by the
U.S. Postal Service with a postage stamp in the
Great Americans series.
Lewis's earliest published creative work—romantic poetry and short sketches—appeared in the
Yale Courant and the
Yale Literary Magazine, of which he became an editor. After graduation
Lewis moved from job to job and from place to place in an effort to make ends meet, write fiction for publication and to chase away boredom. While working for newspapers and publishing houses (and for a time at the
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California writers' colony), he developed a facility for turning out shallow, popular stories that were purchased by a variety of magazines. He also earned money by selling plots to
Jack London, including one for the latter's unfinished novel
The Assassination Bureau, Ltd.
Lewis's first published book was Hike and the
Aeroplane, a Tom Swift-style potboiler that appeared in 1912 under the pseudonym
Tom Graham.
Sinclair Lewis's first serious novel,
Our Mr. Wrenn:
The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man, appeared in
1914, followed by
The Trail of the Hawk: A
Comedy of the Seriousness of
Life (
1915) and
The Job (
1917). That same year also saw the publication of another potboiler,
The Innocents:
A Story for
Lovers, an expanded version of a serial story that had originally appeared in
Woman's Home Companion.
Free Air, another refurbished serial story, was published in
1919.
Upon moving to
Washington, D.C., Lewis devoted himself to writing. As early as
1916, he began taking notes for a realistic novel about small-town life.
Work on that novel continued through mid-1920, when he completed
Main Street, which was published on
October 23,
1920.[7] As his biographer
Mark Schorer wrote, the phenomenal success of Main Street "was the most sensational event in twentieth-century American publishing history."[8] Lewis's agent had the most optimistic projection of sales at 25,
000 copies. In its first six months, Main Street sold
180,000 copies,[9] and within a few years, sales were estimated at two million.[10] According to biographer
Richard Lingeman, "Main Street made [Lewis] rich—earning him perhaps three million current [
2005] dollars".
Lewis followed up this first great success with
Babbitt (
1922), a novel that satirized the American commercial culture and boosterism. The story was set in the fictional
Midwestern town of
Zenith, Winnemac, a setting to which Lewis would return in future novels, including
Gideon Planish and
Dodsworth.
Lewis continued his success in the
1920s with
Arrowsmith (1925), a novel about the challenges faced by an idealistic doctor. It was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize, which Lewis declined.[12] Adapted as a 1931
Hollywood film directed by
John Ford and starring
Ronald Colman, it was nominated for four
Academy Awards.
Next Lewis published
Elmer Gantry (
1927), which depicted an evangelical minister as deeply hypocritical. The novel was denounced by many religious leaders and banned in some
U.S. cities. Adapted for the screen more than a generation later, the novel was the basis of the
1960 movie starring
Burt Lancaster, who earned a
Best Actor Oscar for his performance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis
- published: 10 Jan 2016
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