Sinclair_lewis_autobiography_of_miss
Home / General Biography Information / Sinclair_lewis_autobiography_of_miss
After closing night, Doubleday suggested publishing the play as a book. Until the day Lewis died, he struggled with his resentment and appalling regard he felt towards his father whose neglect Lewis’s readers can thank.
September 14, 1922
Today is the day of the much-anticipated publication of Sinclair Lewis’s novel Babbitt.
This was a turning point in his life; the prose of Lewis’s journal entries becomes much more poetic the summer before his departure for New Haven, Connecticut. Some critics approved of the Swedish Academy’s choice over Theodore Dreiser and other American contemporaries and some did not. Lewis was a born traveler and spent much of the 1920s with other great artists in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.
Already having toyed with the idea of divorce from his first wife Grace Livingston Hegger, when Lewis met Thompson in Berlin, Germany, he became enchanted with the most popular newswoman in Europe. From the eyes of the publisher, the extreme resentment felt towards this novel resulted in quite a bit of free and much welcomed publicity for the famous author.
Authorities were unable to reach Lewis due to a preoccupation with a debate in Kankakee, Illinois; news of his son’s death was printed in the next day’s paper before reaching him.
November 5, 1930
Today, in 1930, American author Sinclair Lewis received a phone call congratulating him for becoming the first American to win the Nobel prize in literature.
Termed “whoring” by Lewis, the periodical hack writing turned into a novel was not received very well. Critically acclaimed as actually better in technique and style than Main Street, Babbitt garnered Lewis personal admiration from both Edith Wharton and H. G. Wells. Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith, but refuses it.
His concern with issues involving gender, race, and the powerless in society make his work still vital and pertinent today. His marriage to Grace ended in divorce in 1928, and the only child of their union, their son Wells, was killed overseas during World War II. Prizewinning work In 1920, Lewis was finally recognized as a serious author with the publication of his novel, Main Street, based on his home town of Sauk Center.
His portrayal of Americans overseas is very perceptive.
March 15, 1904
Harry Sinclair Lewis has his first poem published. Most attacked Lewis and questioned the motives he gave for refusing the prize. Along with Our Mr. Wrenn, The Trail of the Hawk established Lewis as an American realist novelist to be paid attention to.
Final years
Lewis spent his last years traveling throughout Europe, unable to find publishers for his work and aware that his impact on American literature was far less than his early admirers had led him to believe. Both of their prolific writing careers demanded extensive travel of each of them, and after one son and literary scandal, the two divorced on January 2, 1942.
June 5, 1902
Sinclair Lewis’s first published works, a column detailing the events of his high school graduation and a short column of news, made their debut in the Sauk Centre Herald.
Though the novel’s male narrative arc irritated some of Lewis’s female readership, total sales reached an astonishing 1,140,000 copies.
October 4, 1937
American author Sinclair Lewis began writing a weekly column titled “Book Week” for Newsweek. Lewis would continue to read reviews of his work until the day he died.
March 19, 1931
Today is the day many literature enthusiasts remember as the one when the conflict between Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser got physical.
His prophecies have become our truths and his fears our most crucial problems.” Sinclair Lewis was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Main Street and Babbitt and won the award for Arrowsmith (although he turned it down). Involved only briefly with Christian youth groups, Lewis became quickly disenchanted with organized religion and adopted an agnostic approach for the rest of his life.
October 3, 1945
American author Sinclair Lewis’s novel Cass Timberlane was published.
For More Information
Hutchisson, James M. The Rise of Sinclair Lewis, 1920–1930.