Sinclair Lewis : Rebel from Main Street

by Lingeman, Richard R.

• ISBN13: 9780873515412
• ISBN10: 0873515412
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-15
• Publisher: Borealis Books

Summary

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis mocked such sacrosanct institutions as the small town (Main Street), business (Babbitt), medicine (Arrowsmith), and religion (Elmer Gantry). In this definitive biography, Richard Lingeman presents an empathetic, absorbing, and balanced portrait of an eccentric alcoholic-workaholic whose novels and stories exploded shibboleths with a volatile mixture of caricature and realism. Drawing on newly uncovered correspondence, diaries, and criticism, Lingeman gives new life to this prairie Mercutio out of Sauk Centre, Minnesota.

Author Biography

Richard Lingeman is the author of Theodore Dreiser: An American Journey and Small Town America: A Narrative History, 1620-the Present. A senior editor of The Nation, he lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Prologue: Homecoming	xix
CHAPTER 1 Harry	3	(13)
CHAPTER 2 Go East, Young Man	16	(21)
CHAPTER 3 The Seacoast of Bohemia	37	(8)
CHAPTER 4 Our Mr. Lewis	45	(18)
CHAPTER 5 The Commuter	63	(9)
CHAPTER 6 The "Satevenposter"	72	(16)
CHAPTER 7 Research Magnificent	88	(12)
CHAPTER 8 Home Front	100	(17)
CHAPTER 9 Looking for Main Street	117	(19)
CHAPTER 10 Washington Merry-Go-Round	136	(13)
CHAPTER 11 The Famooser	149	(17)
CHAPTER 12 Babbitts Abroad	166	(13)
CHAPTER 13 Babbitt in London Town	179	(20)
CHAPTER 14 The Age of Pep	199	(16)
CHAPTER 15 In Search of Arrowsmith	215	(21)
CHAPTER 16 A London Season	236	(16)
CHAPTER 17 Designs for Living	252	(15)
CHAPTER 18 Sounding Brass	267	(15)
CHAPTER 19 The Triumph of Gantryism	282	(16)
CHAPTER 20 The Tears of Things	298	(78)
CHAPTER 21 Dorothy and Red	376
CHAPTER 22 Travels on the Left	335	(11)
CHAPTER 23 Zenith in Stockholm	346	(14)
CHAPTER 24 Thorns in the Laurels	360	(17)
CHAPTER 25 A Great Woman	377	(15)
CHAPTER 26 Can It Happen Here?	392	(15)
CHAPTER 27 Political Theater	407	(21)
CHAPTER 28 Exits and Entrances	428	(18)
CHAPTER 29 The Quiet Mind	446	(16)
CHAPTER 30 On Native Ground	462	(16)
CHAPTER 31 Grand Republic	478	(14)
CHAPTER 32 The American Dilemma	492	(17)
CHAPTER 33 The Lion at Evening	509	(15)
CHAPTER 34 Wanderer	524	(25)
Epilogue	549	(6)
Notes	555	(70)
Selected Bibliography	625	(8)
Index	633