From Romance to Realism
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UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Departamento De-Língua E Literatura Estrangeiras SINCLAIR! LEWIS: the NOBLE BARBARIAN A
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Departamento de-Língua e Literatura Estrangeiras SINCLAIR! LEWIS: THE NOBLE BARBARIAN A Study of the Conflict of European and American Values in the Life and Fiction of Sinclair Lewis Tese submetida à Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina para a i obtençãoí do grau de Mestre em Letras Hein Leonard Bowles Novembro - 1978 Esta Tese foi julgada adequada para a obtenção do título de MESTRE EM LETRAS Especialidade Língua Inglesa e Literatura Correspondente e aprovada em sua forma final pelo Programa de PÓs-Graduação Pro John Bruce Derrick, PhD Orientador Z&L- Prof. Hilário^hacio Bohn, PhD Integrador do Curso Apresentada perante a Comissão Examinadora composta do; professores: Prof. John Bruce Derrick, PhD Para Dirce, Guilherme e Simone Agradecimentos À Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina À Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa À Fundação Faculdade Estadual de Filosofi de Guarapuava Ao Prof. Dr. John B. Derrick Ao Prof. Dr. Arnold Gordenstein ABSTRACT In Sauk Centre, a fairly new and raw midwestern American town in the first years of our century, a solitary youth reads Kipling, Scott, Tennyson and Dickens and becomes enchanted with Europe: its history, traditions and people. Seeing the monotonous and endless extensions of prairie land, the rustic farmer cottages and the haphazard design of his hometown, he imagines the superior graces of. a variegated European landscape; historical cities, old structures, castles and mansions that hint of aristocratic generations. And his people, engaged in the routine of their daily activities; their settled forms of behavior, conversation and clothing, become ; quite uninspiring for him as contrasted to his idealization of a romantic, exotic and stirring European world wherein cultured gentlemen and gracious ladies abound. -
Sinclair Lewis Society Newsletter VOLUME TWENTY, NUMBER ONE FALL 2011
The SINCLAIR LEWIS SOCIETY NEWSLETTER VOLUME TWENTY, NUMBER ONE FALL 2011 LANCELOT TODD: A CASE FOR FICTIONAL INDEPENDENCE Samuel J. Rogal Illinois Valley Community College In a neat package of a single paragraph containing a summarization of Lewis’s Lancelot Todd, Mark Schorer de- termined that Lewis’s pre-1920s version of the present-day public relations agent run wild represented a relatively simple “ANOTHER PERFECT DAY”: WEATHER, instrument of his creator’s satire and farce. Schorer labeled MOOD, AND LANDSCAPE IN SINCLAIR Todd “a suave immoralist” and “swindler” who threads his LEWIS’S MINNESOTA DIARY way through a series of short stories with plots that hold no “real interest” and whose principal fictional function focuses Frederick Betz upon Lewis’s preparations for the larger worlds of George Southern Illinois University–Carbondale Babbitt and Elmer Gantry (Schorer 239). Although few critical commentators of twenty-first-century American fiction seem- Sinclair Lewis’s Minnesota Diary, 1942–46, superbly ingly have possessed the stamina or willingness to challenge introduced and edited by George Killough, “offers an inside Schorer’s generalized characterization of Todd, there lies suf- view of a very public person,” a “strangely quiet and factual” ficient evidence in the stories themselves to allow for at least diarist, who “keeps meticulous notes on weather, writes ap- a defense of Todd as a character who might somehow stand preciative descriptions of scenery, mentions hundreds of people independent of the likes of Babbitt and Gantry. he is meeting, and chronicles exploratory trips around Min- Lancelot Todd appears in seven Lewis stories published nesota” (15). -
Hubert Irey Gibson Collection of Sinclair Lewis (1933-1993)
The Hubert Irey Gibson Collection of Sinclair Lewis (1933-1993) University Archives and Special Collections St. Cloud State University St. Cloud, Minnesota Quantity: .84 linear feet Restrictions: No usage restrictions. St. Cloud State University Archives last modified June 1, 2009 Hubert Irey Gibson Collection of Sinclair Lewis 2 Biography Hubert Irey Gibson (1906 – 1996) Hubert Irey Gibson was born in Mason, Illinois, on December 21, 1906, the eldest of seven children. As a child, Hubert enjoyed writing, dreaming one day to become an author. Not sure that he could make a living solely as an author, he eventually decided to be a lawyer who was a writer. In 1928, Hubert moved to Chicago to attend law school. While in school, he found employment as a law clerk. Unfortunately, as the Great Depression descended upon the country, Hubert found himself with a growing family and no job. While Hubert’s wife, the former Frances Lauk, found steady work as a stenographer and typist, Hubert was unable to land employment. Frances suggested that Hubert gain skills that were in demand, such as typing and shorthand. He listened – Hubert attended night classes at a business college and soon acquired those skills. Those newly learned secretarial skills lead Hubert to his job with Sinclair and Lloyd Lewis in the fall of 1933. Chicago Daily News drama critic Lloyd Lewis, who was reported at the time to be writing a play with a famous author, gave Hubert a job as secretary. Hubert then lived temporarily with Sinclair Lewis at the Sherry Hotel in Chicago, preparing draft after draft of The Jayhawker (which was then called “The Skedaddler” or “The Glory Hole”). -
GUARDIANS of AMERICAN LETTERS Roster As of February 2021
GUARDIANS OF AMERICAN LETTERS roster as of February 2021 An Anonymous Gift in honor of those who have been inspired by the impassioned writings of James Baldwin James Baldwin: Collected Essays In honor of Daniel Aaron Ralph Waldo Emerson: Collected Poems & Translations Charles Ackerman Richard Wright: Early Novels Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation Reporting World War II, Part II, in memory of Pfc. Paul Cauley Clark, U.S.M.C. The Civil War: The Third Year Told By Those Who Lived It, in memory of William B. Warren J. Aron Charitable Foundation Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: Two Years Before the Mast & Other Voyages, in memory of Jack Aron Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959–1975, Parts I & II, in honor of the men and women who served in the War in Vietnam Vincent Astor Foundation, in honor of Brooke Astor Henry Adams: Novels: Mont Saint Michel, The Education Matthew Bacho H. P. Lovecraft: Tales Bay Foundation and Paul Foundation, in memory of Daniel A. Demarest Henry James: Novels 1881–1886 Frederick and Candace Beinecke Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry & Tales Edgar Allan Poe: Essays & Reviews Frank A. Bennack Jr. and Mary Lake Polan James Baldwin: Early Novels & Stories The Berkley Family Foundation American Speeches: Political Oratory from the Revolution to the Civil War American Speeches: Political Oratory from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton The Civil War: The First Year Told By Those Who Lived It The Civil War: The Second Year Told By Those Who Lived It The Civil War: The Final Year Told By Those Who Lived It Ralph Waldo Emerson: Selected -
SINCLAIR LEWIS' Fiction
MR, FLANAGAN, who is professoT of American literature in. the University of Illinois, here brings to a total of fifteen his mafor contributions to this magazine. The article's appearance appropriately coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of Lewis' birth and the fortieth of the publication of Main Street. The MINNESOTA Backgrounds of SINCLAIR LEWIS' Fiction JOHN T. FLANAGAN SINCLAIR. LEWIS 'was once questioned his picture of Gopher Prairie and Minne about the autobiographical elements in sota and the entire Middle W^est became Main Street by a friend 'whose apartment both durable and to a large extent accurate. he 'was temporarily sharing. The novelist A satirist is of course prone to exaggeration. remarked to Charles Breasted that Dr. 'Will Over-emphasis and distortion are his stock Kennicott, the appealing country physician in trade. But despite this tilting of the in his first best seller, 'was a portrait of his balance, his understanding of places and father; and he admitted that Carol, the doc events and people must be reliable, other tor's 'wife, 'was in many respects indistin wise he risks losing touch with reality com guishable from himself. Both "Red" Lewis pletely, Lewis was born in Minnesota, he and Carol Kennicott were always groping spent the first seventeen years of his life in for something beyond attainment, always the state, and he returned on frequent visits, dissatisfied, always restless, and although which sometimes involved extensive stays both were frequently scornful of their im in Minneapolis, St, Paul, or Duluth, A num mediate surroundings they nevertheless ber of his early short stories and six of his lacked any clear vision of what could or twenty-two novels are localized wholly or should be done. -
Sinclair Lewis: Social Satirist
Fort Hays State University FHSU Scholars Repository Master's Theses Graduate School Spring 1951 Sinclair Lewis: Social Satirist Milldred L. Bryant-Parsons Fort Hays Kansas State College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bryant-Parsons, Milldred L., "Sinclair Lewis: Social Satirist" (1951). Master's Theses. 468. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/468 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of FHSU Scholars Repository. SINCLAIR LEWIS: SOCIAL SAT I RI ST being A thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Fort Hays Kansas State College in partial fulfillment of the r equirements f or the De gree of Master of Scien ce by ' \, Mrs . Mildred L. Bryant_!arsons , A. B. Kansas We sleyan University Date ~ /ff/f'J{ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to express her sincere appreciation to Dr. Ralph V. Coder, under whose direction this thesis was prepared, for his eneour- agement and constructive criticism. Dr. F. B. Streeter has been very helpful in showing the mechanics of thesis writing. Miss Roberta Stout has ' offered many excellent suggestions. The writer also wishes to thank the library staff: Mrs. Pauline Lindner, Miss Helen Mcilrath, and Mrs. Nina McIntosh who have helped in gathering materials. c-1> TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION I • SATIRE ON PSEUDO-CULTURE Mains treet. • • 6 Dodsworth •• . 12 The Prodigal Parents .• 13 II. SATIRE ON RACE PREJUDICE Mantrap • • • • • 15 Kingsblood Royal . -
Sinclair Lewis
SATIRE OF CHARACTERIZATION IN THE FICTION OF SINCLAIR LEWIS by SUE SIMPSON PARK, B.A. , M.A. A DISSERTATION IN ENGLISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Technological College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Chairman of the Committee &l^ 1? }n^ci./A^.Q^ Accepted <^ Dean of the Gradu^e SiChool May, 196( (\^ '.-O'p go I 9U I am deeply indebted to Professor Everett A. Gillis for his direction of this dissertation and to the other members of my committee, Professors J. T. McCullen, Jr., and William E. Oden, for their helpful criticism. I would like to express my gratitude, too, to my husband and my daughter, without whose help and encouragement this work would never have been completed. LL CONTENTS I. SINCLAIR LEWIS AND DRAMATIC SATIRE 1 II. THE WORLD OF THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY 33 III. THE PHYSICIAN AND HIS TASK 68 IV. THE ARTIST IN THE AMERICAN MILIEU 99 V. THE DOMESTIC SCENE: WIVES AND MARRIAGE ... 117 VI. THE AMERICAN PRIEST 152 NOTES ^76 BIBLIOGRAPHY 131 ILL CHAPTER I SINCLAIR LEWIS AND DRAMATIC SATIRE In 1930 Sinclair Lewis was probably the most famous American novelist of the time; and that fame without doubt rested, as much as on anything else, on the devastating satire of the American scene contained in his fictional portrayal of the inhabitants of the Gopher Prairies and the Zeniths of the United States. As a satirist, Lewis perhaps ranks with the best--somewhere not far below the great masters of satire, such as Swift and Voltaire. -
PDF of R. Goldstein Article
The View from Summit Avenue: Inspiration Point for Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street ralph l. goldstein n a fine June morning in 1903, eighteen- stay, he cranked out more stories to pay the Oyear-old Harry Sinclair Lewis emerged bills while imagining scenes including the view from the Clarendon Hotel at Sixth and Waba- from the cliff that ultimately found a place in sha Streets and walked to Central High School Main Street, the novel published in 1920 that to take the last of the examinations that might would succeed beyond Lewis’s most optimistic qualify him to enter Yale University. He’d trav- expectations in gaining the nation’s a/ention. eled to Saint Paul and taken the exams the pre- That groundbreaking work, along with Babbi!, vious year, passing only eleven of thirteen. In Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth, 1903, he passed them all. In the late a.ernoons brought him the renown that led in 1930 to following the testing that was conducted over being the first American to win the Nobel Prize three days, the 6'1" redheaded boy from Sauk for Literature and continues to secure his place Centre strolled through the capital city in his in the world literary canon. Footloose through- ill-fi/ing clothes. He noted in his diary that he out much of his adult life, Lewis nevertheless “went up to look at the magnificent white mar- regarded his home state as a lodestar, providing ble Capitol, which is being built,”¹ marveled at inspiration for his writing and a comforting the residences on Summit Avenue and the grand place to return. -
Impact Factor: 6.03(SJIF) Research Journal of English (RJOE)Vol-5
Oray’s Publications Impact Factor: 6.03(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-5, Issue-4, 2020 www.rjoe.org.inAn International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696 Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), International Scientific Indexing (ISI), Directory of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI) Google Scholar &Cosmos. ______________________________________________________________________________ SCIENTIFIC CAREER AND THE INDIVIDUAL STRUGGLE IN SINCLAIR LEWIS’ ARROWSMITH ___________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Chitra Dhanapal Assistant professor of English Arts and Science College for Girls – Al Majardha King Khalid University – Abha Saudi Arabia ___________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: This research paper is concerned with the traits of Sinclair Lewis’s social vision shown in the novel of Arrowsmith and with the insight of scientific career and individual struggle against society that are expressed. Sinclair Lewis known for his satirical writings and the artistic way exploring conflict as the main theme in his works. In Arrowsmith Lewis repeatedly highlighted concept of medical practices and individual struggle against society. Also showing of American culture and behavior are detailed as this novel gives a view of American life and how its effect on the individual. Keywords: scientific career, individual struggle, medical practices and view of American life. Sinclair Lewis was an American writer, playwright and he was the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The writing of Lewis’s represented the American culture and society. His most represented work includes The Main Street, Babbit, Elmer Gantry and Arrowsmith. Lewis was most controversial writer during his period as because most of his works are satirical andhe was very ambivalent about every aspects of life. -
Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis
Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis Chapter 1 The driver of the wagon swaying through forest and swamp of the Ohio wilderness was a ragged girl of fourteen. Her mother they had buried near the Monongahela--the girl herself had heaped with torn sods the grave beside the river of the beautiful name. Her father lay shrinking with fever on the floor of the wagon-box, and about him played her brothers and sisters, dirty brats, tattered brats, hilarious brats. She halted at the fork in the grassy road, and the sick man quavered, "Emmy, ye better turn down towards Cincinnati. If we could find your Uncle Ed, I guess he'd take us in." "Nobody ain't going to take us in," she said. "We're going on jus' long as we can. Going West! They's a whole lot of new things I aim to be seeing!" She cooked the supper, she put the children to bed, and sat by the fire, alone. That was the great-grandmother of Martin Arrowsmith. II Cross-legged in the examining-chair in Doc Vickerson's office, a boy was reading "Gray's Anatomy." His name was Martin Arrowsmith, of Elk Mills, in the state of Winnemac. There was a suspicion in Elk Mills--now, in 1897, a dowdy red-brick village, smelling of apples--that this brown-leather adjustable seat which Doc Vickerson used for minor operations, for the infrequent pulling of teeth and for highly frequent naps, had begun life as a barber's chair. There was also a belief that its proprietor must once have been called Doctor Vickerson, but for years he had been only The Doc, and he was scurfier and much less adjustable than the chair. -
ANALYSIS Main Street
ANALYSIS Main Street (1920) Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) “My dear Mr. Sinclair Lewis-- I am writing to tell you how glad I am that you wrote Main Street. Hope it will be read in every town in America. As a matter of fact I suppose it will find most of its readers in the cities. You’ve sure done a job. Very Truly yours,” Sherwood Anderson Letter to Lewis (1 December 1920) “[Main Street produces] a sense of unity and depth by reflecting Main Street in the consciousness of a woman who suffered from it because she had points of comparison, and was detached enough to situate it in the universe.” Edith Wharton Letter to Lewis (1922) “In Main Street he set out to tell a true story about the American village, whether anybody would read it or not, and he was surprised by the tremendous acclamation. He had not reasoned that it was time to take a new attitude toward the village or calculated that it would be prudent. He only put down, dramatically, the discontents that had been stirring in him for at least fifteen years. But there was something seismographic in his nerves, and he had recorded a ground swell of popular thinking and feeling. His occasional explicit comments on dull villages were quoted till they reverberated. Many readers thought there were more such comments than there were. The novelty was less in the arguments of the book than in the story. That violated a pattern which had been long accepted in American fiction. The heroes of Booth Tarkington, for instance, after a brief rebellion of one kind or other, came to their senses and agreed with their wiser elders. -
ANALYSIS Dodsworth
ANALYSIS Dodsworth (1929) Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) “In Dodsworth (1929) Lewis was only incidentally satirical. Here more profoundly than in any of his novels he studied the ins and outs of a heart through a crucial chapter of a human life. Dodsworth is a Zenith magnate who retires from business. ‘He would certainly (so the observer assumed) produce excellent motor cars; but he would never love passionately, lose tragically, nor sit in contented idleness upon tropic shores.’ His story begins as if he were to be another Innocent Abroad, an American taking his humorous ease in Europe. Though Dodsworth values his own country, and often defends it against any kind of censure, he is no brash frontiersman like the Innocents of Mark Twain. That older kind of traveler had passed with the provincial republic of the mid-nineteenth century. But Dodsworth’s travels are complicated by his wife, a pampered women desperately holding on to her youth, fascinated by what seem to her the superior graces of European society, and susceptible to its men. In her bitter discontent she becomes a poisonous shrew, then deserts her husband for a lover. Long in love with her, Dodsworth cannot break off either his affection or his sense of responsibility. She is in his blood. The history of his recovery is like a convalescence of a spirit, and it is told with feeling and insight. Externally, Dodsworth is the essence of modern America on its grand tour, neither cocksure like Mark Twain’s travelers in Europe, nor quivering and colonial like Henry James’s.