1885 - 1951
Harry Sinclair Lewis (b. 1885) was an acclaimed American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. He became the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930 for his vigorous and graphic art of description. His sharp satirical wit exposed the values and hypocrisies of middle-class American society during the early twentieth century.
Born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Lewis attended Yale University before embarking on a career as a journalist and editor. His breakthrough novel, Main Street, published in 1920, brought him national renown by critiquing the cultural narrowness of small-town life. He followed this success with several defining works that cemented his reputation as a master chronicler of social conformity and commercialism.
Essential Reading
- Free Air (1919): This early novel chronicles an adventurous cross-country automobile journey from Minneapolis to Seattle that tests class divides and romance.
- Main Street (1920): A satirical examination of cultural stagnation and hypocrisy in a fictional Midwestern village.
- Babbitt (1922): A scathing portrait of a complacent American real estate broker trapped in middle-class conformity.
- Arrowsmith (1925): An exploration of the ethical compromises and scientific integrity faced by an idealistic medical doctor.
