Babbitt (ePub)

Harry Sinclair Lewis (7th February, 1885 - 10th January, 1951) was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930 "e;for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters."e; Whilst an accurate description of his writing it misses the central theme and tone of his work which is more evident from his own words in accepting the Prize: "e;America is the most contradictory, the most depressing, the most stirring, of any land in the world today"e; and on American literary establishment: "e;Our American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead."e; Lewis was born in the small town of Sauk in Minnesota and although he led an unhappy childhood there, the town was to provide the model for the fictional town of Gopher Prairie in Minnesota where the Main Street of the book's titles was set. The publication of Main Street was a phenomenal success, selling 2 million copies despite the projected sales of 25,000 by his agent and securing Lewis's financial and literary future. Sinclair wrote many very fine novels including Arrowsmith and the book, published here, Babbitt. Lewis has been honored with a postage stamp in the US and many feel strongly that his impact on modern American life was far greater than Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Faulkner.