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Sinclair Lewis: An American Life
"A monumental study of one of the most famous authors in the 20th century by one of the most distinguished literary men of America today, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life will stand for years to come in the select company of definitive American biographies. As described by Mark Schorer, the book is 'a detailed account of Sinclair Lewis' life, from birth to death, a life lived in many places & full of constant peregrination. It was in many ways a disastrous life, full of sordid horror, & the book does not gloss over that. It was also, in many ways, a life full of comedy & buffoonery, & these too find their place in the text. The approach of the book is not literary or critical; it treats Lewis' books & other writings chiefly as events in his life, & events that helped to form his character. The tone is casual & personal, perhaps slightly ironical. The book attempts to locate Lewis in the American literary scene, contrasting & comparing him with his contemporaries, chiefly people whom he actually knew. Lewis is a prime example of that characteristic phenomenon of American literature--the man who enjoys a tremendous & rather early success & then suffers through a long period of decline & deterioration...'"--jacket description
Permissions
Foreword
Small town
College
Climb
Success
Decline
Fall
A Sinclair Lewis Checklist
Index
Permissions
Foreword
Small town
College
Climb
Success
Decline
Fall
A Sinclair Lewis Checklist
Index
893 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
4 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Mark Schorer
118 books5 followersMark Schorer was an American writer, critic, and scholar born in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
Schorer earned an MA at Harvard and his Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1936. During his academic career, he held positions at Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of California, Berkeley, where he chaired the Department of English from 1960 to 1965. A leading critic of his time, he was best known for his work, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life. Schorer was also the author of many short stories, which appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker, Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, and Esquire.
Among his honors were three Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright professorship at the University of Pisa and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. He also was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the most prestigious honor society for creative arts in the country.
Schorer was called as an expert witness during the 1957 obscenity trial over the Allen Ginsberg poem Howl, and testified in defense of the poem. This incident is dramatized in the film Howl (2010), in which Schorer is portrayed by Treat Williams.
In addition to his scholarly works, he also co-authored a series of science-fiction and horror stories with writer, publisher and childhood friend (both being natives of Sauk City, Wisconsin) August Derleth. These stories, originally published mainly in Weird Tales magazine during the 1920s and 1930s, were eventually anthologized in Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People (1966).
Schorer died from a blood infection following bladder surgery in Oakland, California at the age of 69.
Schorer earned an MA at Harvard and his Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1936. During his academic career, he held positions at Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of California, Berkeley, where he chaired the Department of English from 1960 to 1965. A leading critic of his time, he was best known for his work, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life. Schorer was also the author of many short stories, which appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker, Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, and Esquire.
Among his honors were three Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright professorship at the University of Pisa and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. He also was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the most prestigious honor society for creative arts in the country.
Schorer was called as an expert witness during the 1957 obscenity trial over the Allen Ginsberg poem Howl, and testified in defense of the poem. This incident is dramatized in the film Howl (2010), in which Schorer is portrayed by Treat Williams.
In addition to his scholarly works, he also co-authored a series of science-fiction and horror stories with writer, publisher and childhood friend (both being natives of Sauk City, Wisconsin) August Derleth. These stories, originally published mainly in Weird Tales magazine during the 1920s and 1930s, were eventually anthologized in Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People (1966).
Schorer died from a blood infection following bladder surgery in Oakland, California at the age of 69.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 7, 2015
Just finished reading Mark Schorer's exhaustive 1961 biography Sinclair Lewis: An American Life. I'd had it on my shelf for years but its 800+ pages were daunting. Now I was ready.
I had been interested in it since I had read a number of Lewis novels and was wondering what others of his I might seek out. It turns out that there's a few minor ones I might pick up some day, but they are decidedly minor. I'd read a few of the later works and, with one exception, they are largely forgotten.
His reputation rests on five novels he did in the 1920's that were blockbusters at the time and changed the way Americans looked at themselves: Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth. Such was their impact that he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, a controversial choice especially after his famous -- and notorious -- rejection of the Pulitzer Prize.
As for the biography, it is thorough, perhaps too much so. The level of detail is mindboggling and when, on the last page, Schorer said he hadn't confirmed the weather in Rome on the date in January 1951 when Lewis died but is leaving that to future researchers, one gets the sense that even he had become exhausted. However he did succeed in painting a portrait of a complex man who was a bundle of contradictions. There are times you want to reach back into the past and slap Lewis upside the head and tell him to get his act together, particularly in the treatment of his two wives and two sons. (His second wife was the renown journalist Dorothy Thompson.)
After the Nobel Prize Lewis lived another two decades and published many novels, some of which were best sellers. He daringly tackled racial prejudice in the 1947 Kingsblood Royal. More enduring among his later books is It Can't Happen Here which was a 1935 cautionary tale about a Fascist takeover of America.
Ultimately Schorer argues that Lewis succeeded in capturing part of American life that might otherwise be lost to fiction. Writing at mid-century he notes that the matters that Lewis examined had been taken over in non-fiction works like The Status Seekers and The Organization Man. Where Lewis failed was being unable engage in self-examination and thus break out of his self-destructive behavior.
This is a book worth reading to anyone interested in Lewis or, more generally, twentieth century American writers and publishing. I'm glad I waited until I was ready to make the commitment.
I had been interested in it since I had read a number of Lewis novels and was wondering what others of his I might seek out. It turns out that there's a few minor ones I might pick up some day, but they are decidedly minor. I'd read a few of the later works and, with one exception, they are largely forgotten.
His reputation rests on five novels he did in the 1920's that were blockbusters at the time and changed the way Americans looked at themselves: Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Dodsworth. Such was their impact that he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, a controversial choice especially after his famous -- and notorious -- rejection of the Pulitzer Prize.
As for the biography, it is thorough, perhaps too much so. The level of detail is mindboggling and when, on the last page, Schorer said he hadn't confirmed the weather in Rome on the date in January 1951 when Lewis died but is leaving that to future researchers, one gets the sense that even he had become exhausted. However he did succeed in painting a portrait of a complex man who was a bundle of contradictions. There are times you want to reach back into the past and slap Lewis upside the head and tell him to get his act together, particularly in the treatment of his two wives and two sons. (His second wife was the renown journalist Dorothy Thompson.)
After the Nobel Prize Lewis lived another two decades and published many novels, some of which were best sellers. He daringly tackled racial prejudice in the 1947 Kingsblood Royal. More enduring among his later books is It Can't Happen Here which was a 1935 cautionary tale about a Fascist takeover of America.
Ultimately Schorer argues that Lewis succeeded in capturing part of American life that might otherwise be lost to fiction. Writing at mid-century he notes that the matters that Lewis examined had been taken over in non-fiction works like The Status Seekers and The Organization Man. Where Lewis failed was being unable engage in self-examination and thus break out of his self-destructive behavior.
This is a book worth reading to anyone interested in Lewis or, more generally, twentieth century American writers and publishing. I'm glad I waited until I was ready to make the commitment.
March 11, 2014
Definitive. In 50 years no one has come up with much to expand or alter this version of Lewis' "life." Sadly, Schorer is more frequently contemptuous than the subject deserves, which makes this book somewhat unpleasant to read.
September 14, 2009
Finally finished this huge brick of a book. Excellent and comprehensive bio, but I'm not current enough with Lewis's work to fully appreciate it, having read most of the novels decades ago.
October 3, 2012
First-rate biography of the author. Recommended to all Lewis fans.
May 6, 2017
A challenging read about a challenging man ... I can only imagine the frustration of the author trying to answer the question, "Who is Sinclair Lewis?"
In so many ways, a genius and a wreck ... rooted in his family, with a distant father, a mother who died too young, and then a step-mother who seemingly gave to him a great deal of love, though both father and then step-mother were much too tidy, too demanding of him, too resolute in their determination that he be a respectable citizen of the land.
His lack of looks, his bellicosity, his bizarre humor, his quickness to demand and dominate every conversation, every gathering, to denounce those whom he believed to have rejected him, or his work, and a restlessness that deprived him of the simplest of pleasures ... always yearning for somewhere else, yearning for a home, and never finding it.
From his novels, immense fortune, allowing him to travel extravagantly, to rent hotel rooms and buy villas at whim ... throwing money at the world ... and at friends, though he went through friendship with remorseless criticism, and always disappointed in the end, wondering why "friends" had deserted him.
He married two remarkable women, but it was their very character, their strength, that upset him, until he could no longer tolerate them ... and could only berate them, humiliate them, and send them away.
His first son he kept at a distance, and the boy, who grew into fine manhood was killed in action during WW2, and to this, Lewis gave small attention. Did he bury his sorrow within?
His second son was kept even further away, and his end came years after Lewis died, as his father died, in an alcoholic daze.
Lewis was a critic of America, even as he loved it ... he wanted to understand America and finally concluded that America was too large to grasp, too big to understand ... and with that, I think he was tragically right.
In his eyes, the best and the worst commingled together in America, and for me, it's still a tossup as to which vector America might finally settle upon.
Lewis dies in Rome, a lonely man, having sent away virtually everyone who tried to care for him. He was a man without a home, and maybe a man without a heart ... or a heart that was afraid to love, and so a heart that learned how to despise.
Schorer's work is a tour de force ... a huge book filled page-to-page with anecdotes, quotations, and thoughtful reflections.
One can only wonder why life was so hard for Lewis, in spite of his considerable skill as a writer and his financial success. But he was miserable from early on, and his misery only grew.
His work remains a lasting tribute to an author who, probably better than most of his time, and certainly amongst the best of all time, tried to understand America ... and of that, he had more success than he did of understanding the land within.
In so many ways, a genius and a wreck ... rooted in his family, with a distant father, a mother who died too young, and then a step-mother who seemingly gave to him a great deal of love, though both father and then step-mother were much too tidy, too demanding of him, too resolute in their determination that he be a respectable citizen of the land.
His lack of looks, his bellicosity, his bizarre humor, his quickness to demand and dominate every conversation, every gathering, to denounce those whom he believed to have rejected him, or his work, and a restlessness that deprived him of the simplest of pleasures ... always yearning for somewhere else, yearning for a home, and never finding it.
From his novels, immense fortune, allowing him to travel extravagantly, to rent hotel rooms and buy villas at whim ... throwing money at the world ... and at friends, though he went through friendship with remorseless criticism, and always disappointed in the end, wondering why "friends" had deserted him.
He married two remarkable women, but it was their very character, their strength, that upset him, until he could no longer tolerate them ... and could only berate them, humiliate them, and send them away.
His first son he kept at a distance, and the boy, who grew into fine manhood was killed in action during WW2, and to this, Lewis gave small attention. Did he bury his sorrow within?
His second son was kept even further away, and his end came years after Lewis died, as his father died, in an alcoholic daze.
Lewis was a critic of America, even as he loved it ... he wanted to understand America and finally concluded that America was too large to grasp, too big to understand ... and with that, I think he was tragically right.
In his eyes, the best and the worst commingled together in America, and for me, it's still a tossup as to which vector America might finally settle upon.
Lewis dies in Rome, a lonely man, having sent away virtually everyone who tried to care for him. He was a man without a home, and maybe a man without a heart ... or a heart that was afraid to love, and so a heart that learned how to despise.
Schorer's work is a tour de force ... a huge book filled page-to-page with anecdotes, quotations, and thoughtful reflections.
One can only wonder why life was so hard for Lewis, in spite of his considerable skill as a writer and his financial success. But he was miserable from early on, and his misery only grew.
His work remains a lasting tribute to an author who, probably better than most of his time, and certainly amongst the best of all time, tried to understand America ... and of that, he had more success than he did of understanding the land within.
June 8, 2023
Excellent biography of a very strange man. Looking back, its amazing how popular Sinclair Lewis was back in the 1920-1950 time period. Even his books after WW2, which no one remembers, were massive best sellers, and when Americans were asked - in 1948 - what authors would remembered in 2048, Sinclair Lewis came in 2nd behind Hemingway!
Yet the man himself, was a complete mediocrity. His popularity was built partly on talent, and partly on an uncanny instinctual understanding of what the liberal bourgeoisie wanted to read. And what they wanted attacked and mocked. And so Lewis attacked small-town America, Babbitt's, and Elmer Gantry's in the 1920's, Fascism in the 1930's (it can't happen here) and Racism in the 1940's (Kingsblood Royal).
Schorer details Lewis' life at great length. And its mostly interesting, if somewhat repetitive. He had plenty of flaws: thin-skinned, self-conscious about his ugly face, unable to keep friends, alcoholic, egotistical. He was attracted to strong women, like Dorothy Thompson, but then couldn't tolerate their independence - and turned on them. Later, in life he turned into a pathetic old man, unsuccessfully chasing after "bright young things."
The book's discussion of Lewis' religious and political attitudes is confusing. The author will summarize Lewis' attitudes but the details contradict the summary. For example, lewis is described as "apolitical" but he gave radio addresses and attended rallies supporting FDR in 1940 and 1944. And he's described as "unenthusiastic" about religion, but the quotes indicate he hated Christianity, and the Catholic Church in particular.
Note: There aren't many memorable quotes from Sinclair Lewis in the book, primarily because he was so boring.
Yet the man himself, was a complete mediocrity. His popularity was built partly on talent, and partly on an uncanny instinctual understanding of what the liberal bourgeoisie wanted to read. And what they wanted attacked and mocked. And so Lewis attacked small-town America, Babbitt's, and Elmer Gantry's in the 1920's, Fascism in the 1930's (it can't happen here) and Racism in the 1940's (Kingsblood Royal).
Schorer details Lewis' life at great length. And its mostly interesting, if somewhat repetitive. He had plenty of flaws: thin-skinned, self-conscious about his ugly face, unable to keep friends, alcoholic, egotistical. He was attracted to strong women, like Dorothy Thompson, but then couldn't tolerate their independence - and turned on them. Later, in life he turned into a pathetic old man, unsuccessfully chasing after "bright young things."
The book's discussion of Lewis' religious and political attitudes is confusing. The author will summarize Lewis' attitudes but the details contradict the summary. For example, lewis is described as "apolitical" but he gave radio addresses and attended rallies supporting FDR in 1940 and 1944. And he's described as "unenthusiastic" about religion, but the quotes indicate he hated Christianity, and the Catholic Church in particular.
Note: There aren't many memorable quotes from Sinclair Lewis in the book, primarily because he was so boring.
August 23, 2017
\i started this then decided I did not want to waste valuable reading time reading about an author I have no interest in. I only liked his Vickers book because of the main character and the subject matter. I very much disliked MAIN STREET AND I forget the other one GENTRY something. THAT IS WHAT I WROTE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, but i have come back to read this book. WHY? well nothing much else to choose from. This was one of the most detailed bios I have ever read. Far too many details about a person that was so un interesting to me . I still stand with my opinion that he was NO great literary genius. The Nobel award means nothing to me unless it tells me to avoid reading any books by its winners. And it was sooooo long.
January 12, 2009
a great book about a great writer. one of the best bios i have ever read..read MAIN STREET,ARROWSMITH,BABBITT,ELMER GANTRY and see why sinclair lewis was so great.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews