Sinclair Lewis

Universally recognized as a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized readers when it was first published, causing Sinclair Lewis to be "invited" to a jail cell in New Hampshire and to his own lynching in Virginia. His portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rises to power within his church-a saver of souls who lives a life of duplicity, sensuality, and ruthless self-indulgence-is also the record of a period, a reign of grotesque vulgarity, which but for Lewis would have left no trace of itself. Elmer Gantry has been called the greatest, most vital, and most penetrating study of hypocrisy that has been written since the works of Voltaire.

Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonist, the Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry, is initially attracted by booze and easy money (though he eventually renounces tobacco and alcohol) and chasing women. After various forays into evangelism, he becomes a successful Methodist minister despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions.

Sinclair Lewis' satirical book Babbitt, published in 1922, is about American culture and society and criticizes the superficiality of middle-class life and the temptation to fit in. Babbitt's disagreement had a big impact on the decision to give Lewis the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. The book has been adapted into two motion pictures: a silent version in 1924 and a talkie version in 1934. Babbitt's life is chronicled in the first seven chapters over the course of a single day. Babbitt coos over his ten-year-old daughter Tinka during breakfast, tries to talk his 22-year-old daughter Verona out of her recent socialist tendencies and exhorts his 17-year-old son Ted to work more in school. He dictates letters while at work and has conversations with his staff on real estate advertising. Babbitt hurries home and abandons all disobedience when his wife develops acute appendicitis. They reestablish their intimacy during her prolonged recovery, and Babbitt returns to his emotionless conformity. In the climactic scene, Babbitt learns that his son Ted secretly wed Eunice, his neighbor's daughter. Though he doesn't agree, he declares that he is in favor of the union and commends Ted for leading an independent life.

Imenno s "Glavnoj ulitsy" nachalas vsemirnaja slava Sinklera Ljuisa (1885-1951), odnogo iz krupnejshikh amerikanskikh prozaikov XX veka i pervogo amerikanskogo laureata Nobelevskoj premii po literature. Eto masshtabnoe i iskljuchitelno tochnoe opisanie zhizni amerikanskogo "srednego klassa" s glubokim proniknoveniem v kharaktery i sudby geroev. Tsentralnyj obraz romana - molodaja vypusknitsa universiteta Kerol, kotoraja vykhodit zamuzh za provintsialnogo vracha i poseljaetsja v nebolshom gorodke, Glavnaja ulitsa kotorogo sluzhit metaforoj nravov i obraza zhizni "srednej" Ameriki. Kerol polna energii i zhelanija rastormoshit razmerennoe do unylosti suschestvovanie obitatelej goroda, no kak oderzhat pobedu nad Glavnoj ulitsej? Podobnyj zdorovyj, osnovatelnyj i satiricheskij podkhod do sikh por otsutstvoval v amerikanskoj obschestvennoj mysli i literature. V kazhdoj strane est svoja Glavnaja ulitsa, kotoraja ostro nuzhdaetsja v diagnoze, no Amerike vesma poschastlivilos obresti v vas stol pronitsatelnogo i spravedlivogo issledovatelja. Dzhon GolsuorsiJa nikogda nichego ne pisal s bolshim uvlecheniem, chem "Glavnuju ulitsu"... Nadejus, chto eta kniga perezhivet svoe vremja. Sinkler LjuisPerevodchik: Gorfinkel Daniil

Molodoj talantlivyj vrach Martin Erousmit vsegda mechtal posvjatit svoju zhizn nauchnym issledovanijam na blago chelovechestva. Za chastnoj praktikoj v glukhoj provintsii sleduet rabota v krupnoj klinike v megapolise, a potom i dolzhnost v nauchnom institute. Odnako vezde Erousmit stalkivaetsja s pagubnym dlja professii, prizvannoj spasat zhizni, karerizmom kolleg, dlja kotorykh meditsina - obychnyj dokhodnyj biznes. No odnazhdy Martinu vse zhe vypadaet shans ispolnit svoi mechty o beskorystnoj pomoschi ljudjam i proverit sozdannoe im novoe lekarstvo v uslovijakh smertelno opasnoj epidemii... Roman byl polozhen v osnovu stsenarija odnoimennogo filma Dzhona Forda, nominirovannogo na premiju "Oskar" v chetyrekh kategorijakh.

Arrowsmith is a novel by American author Sinclair Lewis, first published in 1925. It won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize (which Lewis declined). Lewis was greatly assisted in its preparation by science writer Paul de Kruif, who received 25% of the royalties on sales, although Lewis was listed as the sole author. Arrowsmith is an early major novel dealing with the culture of science. It was written in the period after the reforms of medical education flowing from the Flexner Report on Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1910, which had called on medical schools in the United States to adhere to mainstream science in their teaching and research. (wikipedia.org)

The Job is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis. It is considered an early declaration of the rights of working women. The focus is on the main character, Una Golden, and her desire to establish herself in a legitimate occupation while balancing the eventual need for marriage. The story takes place in the early 1900-1920s and takes Una from a small Pennsylvania town to New York. Forced to work due to family illness, Una shows a talent for the traditional male bastion of commercial real estate and, while valued by her company, she struggles to achieve the same status of her male coworkers. On a parallel track, her quest for traditional romance and love is important but her unique role as a working woman, doing a man's job, makes it tough to find an appropriate suitor. Una is on track to marry Walter Babson, who appears to be a good man but lacks the excitement of her eventual husband, Edward Schwirtz. He is a salesman with all the charm necessary to win her heart, but the marriage is doomed from the start. Una eventually determines to divorce him, which is also scandalous for the time. As the book closes, Una emerges triumphant in both her career and her personal life. The novel was published before Lewis achieved any significant fame and provides insights on working women as well as the unique nature (for the time) of having a woman as the lead character. (wikipedia.org)