"This new book is a triumph of scholarship. It will become an essential tool for subsequent studies of individual novels insofar as it reveals the designing-and-shaping work behind so many of them. The new reasonable view it provides of Lewis’s craft and character is welcome for its own sake and for the stimulus it will give to further thinking. The book is also very readable—a real virtue, for a scholarly book, that Lewis himself would appreciate."—The Sinclair Lewis Society Newsletter
"In his study of Sinclair Lewis’s most prepotent novels James Hutchisson has swept away the cobwebs of neglect from the reputation of a great American writer, whose acute and indelible portraits of America—its towns, cities and social topography—constructed a mirror that changed the way we see ourselves. In lucid prose Hutchisson recounts the fascinating stories of the writing of these novels, reveals the author at work and the private person and shows the passion and craftsmanship he poured into his books. Now we have a clearer understanding of the sources of Sinclair Lewis’s talent and of the literary significance of his volatile blend of satire and realism, caricature and truth."—Richard Lingeman, author of Small Town America
"Not only is this study impeccably researched and well-written, not only does it bring forth a substantial amount of new material on Lewis’s career, but its publication could not come at a better time. The book should enjoy a considerable audience among those who are committed to a reexamination of the canon."—Robert E. Fleming, University of New Mexico
The best-selling novels Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, and Elmer Gantry debunked cherished American myths, among them small-town life, business and boosterism, the medical profession, and evangelical religion. Their creator, Sinclair Lewis, was perhaps the most sharp-eyed analyst of the American scene during the 1920s. LewisÂ’s phenomenal rise to literary and cultural prominence is one of the most unusual success stories in American literary history, yet it has never been fully told. Was his success merely a fortuitous combination of pluck and timing, or was Lewis a self-conscious stylist with a keen eye for the demands of the literary marketplace?
This study examines the making of these novels—their sources, composition, publication, and subsequent critical reception. Drawing on thousands of pages of material from Lewis’s notes, outlines, and drafts—most of it never before published—James M. Hutchisson shows how Lewis selected usable materials and shaped them, through his unique vision, into novels that reached and remained part of the American literary imagination. By examining Lewis’s typescript revisions, Hutchisson sheds much light on the complex aesthetic matrix that Lewis tried to present in his novels, for he wanted to be recognized both as an acerbic social satirist and as a legitimate artist. Hutchisson also describes for the first time how large a role was played by Lewis’s wives, assistants, and publishers in determining the final shape of his books.
