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21. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis | |
Paperback: 352
Pages
(2009-08-29)
list price: US$14.90 -- used & new: US$12.64 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 8562022977 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
22. Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis | |
Hardcover: 377
Pages
(1929-03-01)
list price: US$10.00 Isbn: 9997412370 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (9)
Rat race addiction versus mid life crisis
A Novel That Sings Like Middle American Opera
Not Lewis' Best The characterizations, in fact, strain credibility.How a man50 years of age, president of an auto manufacturing company, can be so entirely innocent of the customs of the U.S. and the world outside his small city is baffling.He evidences no ability for making small talk, is ignorant of all current events and politics, is absent of even minor social charms with the rich-- all of these traits are overexaggerated for the purposes of the book.That Dodsworth and his wife have such a sudden disaffection and disenchantment ignores the certain difficulties of raising two children and navigating 20 years of maariage.It seems unlikely that Fran's pretentions emerge only on their trip. Certainly her preferences and choices in managing a family would have foreshadowed these problems. A common criticism of Lewis's body of work is its uneveness.The depth and success of "Main Street" are contrasted with many of his later writings.I found "Dodsworth" too to read more like a novelization of an early screenplay, exaggerated and distorted for dramatic effect.
"Trophy Wife Dumps Hubby for Euro-Glitz" Samuel Dodsworth is an automobile magnate in the early years of the business. When his company is bought-out, he's left free at age 50, to do whatever he wants. But he has a slick, steel-willed, glamorous socialite for a wife and she has ambitions of climbing. He had always been "too busy to be discontented, and he managed to believe that Fran loved him.""(p.11) Sam gets roped into an extended European tour. Turns out, he's just an escort and backdrop for her movie. He experiences rising discomfort as she worms her way into European high society (or what she takes to be such). The trip gives both of them the first chance in decades to find out who they are---the common motif in literature and life of travelling to discover yourself---and they realize that they don't have much in common. Their European experiences transform them. On a visit back to the States, Dodsworth finds that he has changed; he can't regard his old friends, their old routines and concerns, and their ways with the same equanimity. They have become provincial and empty in his eyes, but what has he become ? He slowly comes to the conclusion that he's cut loose from all the went before, but has no direction for the future. He takes up several possibilities, but is caught among the rocks of loving the wayward Fran, wanting to do something useful in the world, and needing love himself. It's a long haul, but he makes it. Lewis skillfully keeps the psychological tension going to the very last page. Great stuff ! As for Fran, you'll have to read the book. DODSWORTH is a psychological study of the first order, sincere, unpretentious and so well-written. It is not a satire on the lines of "Main Street", "Babbitt" or "Elmer Gantry", but a serious novel in the full sense of the word. Samuel Dodsworth comes across as a solid man of conservative nature who may have once been in a rut, but learns to think far more than people ever give him credit for, particularly his wife. He becomes flexible and learns to live, while Fran only continues to consume and demand. The plot plays itself out amidst a background of constant discussion as to what makes an American, what makes a European and what are the differences ? While this theme fascinated Henry James and numbers of other writers, it seems a bit passé in this day of the Web, 7 hour flights across 'the pond', massive tourism, MBAs in Europe and great museums in America. Still, it's part of the ambiance of the 1920s when this novel was written. The slow dissolution of the marriage, the contradictions of personality, the existence of strengths and weaknesses, aggressive and passive roles in both husband and wife, the psychological disintegration and re-building of a man's self-image-these are the main themes of DODSWORTH. It's one of the great American novels.
A delightful read |
23. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2009-08-02)
list price: US$0.99 Asin: B002K8POJM Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
24. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2008-12-09)
list price: US$2.29 Asin: B001NGNUOI Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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25. Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street by Richard Lingeman | |
Paperback: 704
Pages
(2005-06-15)
list price: US$24.95 -- used & new: US$16.48 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0873515412 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (5)
A great find.
Justice
Interesting and enjoyable I found this book fascinating and insightful, and I was moved by Lingeman's final argument - that the time is ripe for a rediscovery of Lewis, that the "license to consider Lewis an irrelevant hack" that Schorer's book had conferred on the academic world is expired. I think it's criminal that Lewis is hardly even read in colleges today, while Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cather, Faulkner, Steinbeck, etc., are still read and discussed in detail. (Nothing against these great writers, all of whom I've read extensively, but Lewis was there first and made all their paths to brilliance easier.) As long as America is still loaded with familiar George Babbitts, Elmer Gantrys, Sam Dodsworths, Carol Kennicotts, etc., Lewis will be a classic (if not THE classic) American novelist. And Lingeman's biography presents a revealing picture of the unique, angry, ultimately lonely man behind these characters.
After Schorer I'd nominate Schorer's biography as a great one, qualifying my appraisal only by a parodying Hemingway on Gilbert Seldes: "It could only have been better if Sinclair Lewis had been better." The figure in the carpet, the consistent understanding that ties a book together, is vividly present on every page of Schorer. And unlike Lingeman, Schorer could talk with Lewis's two wives, plus Claude and Michael Lewis, Harry Maule, and Bennett Cerf; his account of Lewis's horrifying, seedy end in Italy is enlivened by portraits of the dermatologist Vincenzo Lapiccirella, the old servant whose refusal to discuss Lewis's alcoholism Schorer finds "engagingly reticent" (Schorer bristles with savage and delicious irony), and the enigmatic Alexander Manson. Beside Schorer, Lingeman is thin and pale, but if Lewis's fixing of quintessential American types and his sense of humor and sense of outrage appeal, you'll want to read his biography anyway, as I did.
Highly readable, very informative Neither heavily academic, nor breezy and light, this biography does exactly what it is supposed to do -- shines light upon a writer we remember, but never really knew. ... Read more |
26. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis - active table of contents by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2009-06-22)
list price: US$1.00 Asin: B002EENOYO Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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27. Mantrap by Sinclair Lewis | |
Hardcover: 308
Pages
(1926)
Asin: B0006AJRVC Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Customer Reviews (2)
Unexpected pulp from a literary author
Lose your New York stress in Canada North of Latitude 53. |
28. Ann Vickers (Bison Book) by Sinclair Lewis | |
Paperback: 564
Pages
(1994-04-01)
list price: US$15.00 Isbn: 0803279477 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (6)
Ann Vickers
Classic Lewis
"I am mine own woman, well at ease."
When America writes books, she sounds like Sinclair Lewis
Missing pages, uneven story=lesser Lewis novel Lewis follows the titular character from her earliest years as a resident of Waubanakee, Illinois to her emergence as a major reformer on the East Coast. Right from the start, we get the idea that Ann is different from the other little boys and girls. The only child of a college professor, Ann's social position is one of high standing and moderate wealth. Nonetheless, she soon falls under the spell of a fiery socialist German immigrant named Klebs. By the time Ann goes to college, she's well on the way to becoming a true extremist. She drops out of the Y.W.C.A. after learning to reject Christianity with the help of a radical professor. Vickers forms a socialist organization on campus, embarks on a forbidden relationship with a faculty member, and earns a decidedly unsavory reputation amongst her fellow students. After graduating, she joins the suffrage movement, an activity that requires her to deliver oratories on street corners, go to jail for organizing protests, and hobnob with prominent personalities. Vickers, like most leftist radicals, never stays with a single cause for long. After several stints as assistant superintendents at homes that teach the urban poor and new immigrants life skills, she sets out to work as a prison reformer. The best part of the book details Ann's struggles in a southern prison, where she battles unsanitary conditions, lackadaisical treatment of prisoners, capital punishment, and corruption. Lewis is very careful to examine all aspects of his character's life. "Ann Vickers" constantly looks behind the rhetoric and politics in an effort to capture the emotional aspects of womanhood. Just because Ann is a radical doesn't mean she's cold to the idea of men. In fact, she has several relationships throughout her life, from a soldier during the First World War named Lafe Resnick to fellow radical Russell Spaulding to a corrupt New York judge named Barney Dolphin. Vickers's experiences with abortion, infidelity, and promiscuity fuel much of the narrative drive of the novel. Her experiences also cool her radical fire so that by the end of the book she's a determined liberal living out of wedlock with a disgraced member of the system. There's a great line at the end of the book where Lewis describes Ann as the "Captive Woman, the Free Woman, the Great Woman, the Feminist Woman, the Domestic Woman, the Passionate Woman, the Cosmopolitan Woman, the Village Woman-the Woman." In short, although he often disagrees with the hypocrisy of Ann and her methods, he does believe that conditions in America were changing enough that a female could now realize all aspects of her personality in both the private and public spheres. The problems of the book are many. First, I've always believed I should support my state university's publishing house, but this University of Nebraska Press edition is an embarrassment. From pages 371 to 394, half of the pages are blank. Yep, someone let a Sinclair Lewis novel go to bookstore shelves without correcting this completely unacceptable blunder. Even worse, the missing pages start up during the best part of the story, when Ann Vickers works in the southern prison. A primal scream is in order here, but I'm hoping this mistake is specific to one copy and not to the entire run. Second, and more in tune to the actual novel, the first 100 pages of the story aren't very interesting. Vickers's childhood and college days reek of boredom. Only when the character heads out into the larger world and starts mixing it up does the book start to soar. Third, I often thought Ann an unpleasant character, especially when her marital machinations emerge towards the end of the story. I think this last point, Ann's adultery, upsets me because I'm male. It's an unfair accusation for me to make, though, because men routinely leave their girlfriends and wives for other women in exactly the same way Vickers does. In any event, it's another example of what Lewis tries to say with the novel, that women now have the freedom to live their lives as they see fit. Ultimately, would I recommend "Ann Vickers"? I don't know. I think "Babbitt" light years ahead of this effort. I do believe "Ann Vickers" doesn't receive attention from today's leftist literati because Lewis viciously skewers the far left on nearly every page. Give it a shot if you're a Lewis fan or a moderate conservative who likes to see the leftist fringe occasionally take it on the chin. ... Read more |
29. The Sinclair Lewis Collection (Halcyon Classics) by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2009-08-03)
list price: US$1.99 Asin: B002KE4AX2 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
30. Sinclair Lewis by Sheldon N. Grebstein | |
Paperback:
Pages
(1962-06)
list price: US$13.95 Isbn: 0808402781 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
31. Babbitt - Sinclair Lewis by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2010-02-16)
list price: US$2.99 Asin: B0038QPA1C Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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32. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2010-06-13)
list price: US$2.99 Asin: B003V8BTUI Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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33. ELMER GANTRY by Sinclair Lewis | |
Hardcover:
Pages
(1929)
Asin: B000GPBFXU Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
34. Babbitt (Oxford World's Classics) by Sinclair Lewis, Gordon Hutner | |
Paperback: 368
Pages
(2010-06-03)
list price: US$10.95 -- used & new: US$6.12 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0199567697 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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35. Minnesota Stories of Sinclair Lewis by Sinclair Lewis | |
Paperback: 352
Pages
(2005-06-15)
list price: US$19.95 -- used & new: US$12.60 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0873515153 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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36. Arrowsmith [First Trade Edition] by Sinclair Lewis | |
Hardcover: 448
Pages
(1925-01-01)
Asin: B001JTO4VW Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
37. Work of Art by Sinclair Lewis | |
Hardcover:
Pages
(1999-12)
list price: US$37.50 Isbn: 0404201598 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description a selection from: Chapter 1 The flat roof of the American House, the most spacious and important hotel in Black Thread Centre, Connecticut, was lined with sheets of red-painted tin, each embossed with 'Phoenix, the Tin of Kings'. Though it was only 6.02, this July morning in 1897, the roof was scorching. The tin was like a flat-iron, and the tar along the brick coping, which had bubbled all yesterday afternoon, was stinging to the fingers. Far below, in Putnam Street, a whole three stories down from the red tin roof, Tad Smith, the constable, said to Mr. Barstow, the furniture-dealer, 'Well, sir, going to be another scorcher, like yesterday.' Mr. Barstow thought it over. 'Don't know but what you're right. Regular scorcher.' 'Yessir, a scorcher,' ruminated Tad, and went his ways--never again, perhaps, to appear in history. But on the red tin roof above these burghers, a young poet was dancing; child of the skies, rejoicing in youth and morning and his new-found power of song. He was alone, except for Lancelot, the hotel dog, and unashamed he saluted the sun-god who was his brother. Whistling 'There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To- night', he strode up and down, his hands swinging as though he were leading a military band, his feet making little intricate patterns, his whole body lurching, his head bobbing from one side to the other in the exhilaration of youth and his own genius. Lancelot barked in appreciation--the first, this, of the applause the Master was some day to know. The young poet was named, not very romantically, Ora Weagle, but he had read a good deal of Swinburne, Longfellow, Tennyson, and Kipling. He was fifteen years old, and already he perceived that he belonged to a world greater than Black Thread Centre. In fact, he despised Black Thread, and in particular all manner of things associated with the American House, as owned by his father, old Tom Weagle. The recollection of the fabulous poem he had written last evening turned Ora's faun-like effervescence to awe, and (while Lancelot looked disappointed and settled down to scratching and slumber), he began to croon, then to murmur, then to shout--Ora, the young Keats, rejoicing in his masterpiece, aloft between Phoenix Roofing and the sky: 'Cold are thine eyes and the flanks of the hands of thee, Cold as crushed snow on Connecticut hills, But lo! I will break and dissever the bands of thee, Till with blown flame thee the power of me fills! See, I am proud, I am potent and terrible, Dust of the highway I tread in my scorn! Thou unto me art a field that is arable, In sun-soaring splendour thy soul shall be born!' Customer Reviews (2)
A GRAND HOTEL NOVEL FOR "BOY SCOUTS AND ROTARIANS"
The career of an hotelman at the begining of the century |
38. Sinclair Lewis's Arrowsmith (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) | |
Library Binding: 102
Pages
(1988-06)
list price: US$29.95 -- used & new: US$79.05 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1555460461 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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39. Main Street-a Signet Classic by Sinclair Lewis | |
Paperback:
Pages
(1961)
Asin: B0012PJMEW Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
40. The Greatest Hits of Sinclair Lewis by Sinclair Lewis, Greatest Hits Series | |
Kindle Edition:
Pages
(2009-05-09)
list price: US$1.00 Asin: B0029ZATF0 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
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