Main Street
eBook - 2016
In 1930 Sinclair Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and the 1920 publication of Main Street brought him his first serious critical recognition. Born and raised in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Lewis knew the American heartland as few other writers have. He both loved and despised small towns, and the tension between those feelings permeates this classic novel. The setting is Gopher Prairie, a bastion of prosaic, small-minded, middle-class values. Its newest inhabitant is the beautiful young Carol Kennicott, who dreams of transforming her adopted hometown into an oasis of beauty, refinement, and culture. But Carol is no match for the town's provincialism, and her struggle to overcome the complacency, bigotry, and hypocrisy of Gopher Prairie becomes the author's devastating and satiric take on all small towns.
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Publisher:
[Place of publication not identified] :, Dover Publications,, [2016]
Copyright Date:
©2016
ISBN:
9780486815169
Branch Call Number:
DOWNLOADABLE eBOOK
Characteristics:
1 online resource (416 pages)
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Add a CommentDefinitely a book you have to take the time to fully engross yourself in to appreciate it. Insightful as most of his books are. And still relevant today too. Overall, worth taking the time to read.
very long, and makes me thankful for feminist support
Nobel and Pulitzer laureate Sinclair Lewis's first major novel was one of his most controversial and one of his best. Taking dead aim at the hypocrisies, jealousies and gossips of a small, anytown USA, Lewis offers an unflinching look at American values and culture. He also, at a time when there were not many major female writers (Wharton, Cather, Chopin), creates a full-realized female protagonist whose discontents are almost proto-feminist.
I must admit to having trouble seeing this book through. Although I identified Carol's struggles, her socialist and feminist ideals, her inner and personal battles, I found the novel slow, even sluggish - which I suppose was the point. Main Street has an inertia, resistance to change and conformism which swallows and engulfs... for nearly 500 pages. Miles' defeat and Valborg's success are foils that show just how deeply Carol has been enveloped to the point that she wasn't even able to rebuild her life in Washington. The last lines are so pathetic that there's nothing left but to pity Carol. A harsh critique which does not leave much room for hope.