Sinclair Lewis: The Conscience of His Generation, Sauk Center MN

The rolling plains of Sauk Center MN became the launching pad of the most popular American writer of the Jazz Age, Sinclair Lewis. In 1920, America was rocked by the publication of Main Street, a satirical novel ridiculing middle-class values and American smugness. He was called the conscience of his generation and his novels, which horrified the literary and political establishments, went on to become required reading in English classes for decades.
About the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
In 2008, Minnesota voters passed a landmark piece of legislation - the Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment - which provided funding to public television stations serving audiences in Minnesota. Its mission is to help preserve and document the treasures of culture, history, and heritage that make Minnesota special, and to increase access to the natural and cultural resources we all share

[@CAP198462]

The book that he’s best known for now is “It can’t happen here.”

[@Antreus]

The Satirist that isn't forgotten is a sage and guru to those seeking guidance a decades in the future. The same patterns exist even today.

[@krisballard541]

Thanks for this information about Sinclair Lewis!

[@edgarweb]

Main Street is timeless.

[@donaldlewis567]

I agree that he has fallen out of the top league of writers in the country, but can not understand why. Even though his books were written about the 1920's, I disagree with the statement that they are only about that time. Elmer Gantry, Main Street, Babbitt and Dodsworth are all relevant today - when I am reading them, I comment that I think Lewis is a time traveler and these books are about 2015, not 1925!

[@adriancaldwell]

agreed more relevant than ever

[@AxelQC]

I read "Main Street" in high school and it was one of my favorite books. It's a terrific criticism of suburban life today.
I don't really understand how students would get bogged down with the 1920s. I thought it was very relevant to modern suburban mentality.

[@themistersmith]

He will always remain part of the American canon regardless of what others say.

[@amelmahmoud8221]

very useful..thank you

[@chrisgodwin8468]

I started with It Can’t happen Here, then Main Street, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry. I want to read every book. In church sometimes I just laugh to myself at my minister in his night shirt (Elmer Gantry). I manage my political frustrations with people’s opposing views telling myself “Be mindful of your associations, Georgie Boy!) (Babbitt) Next up for me is Kingsblood Royal. Check out Sinclair Lewis Society.

[@lyes-ot6it]

I'm pleased to see that the comments stand-up for Lewis, the man in the film contredicts himself, he said Sinclair was a visionary, then he tells he stuck too much to the 20's, no-sense ! I like Fitzgerald but his works don't say something to us really now, Steinbeck is even more tied to his era with his very social novels depicting the after-crise of 1929, Hemingway dealed with wars at that time. But a book like "Elmer Gauntry"tackles so many topics, it's not just a satyr of bigotry, it talks about power, the way you can lead the masses, manipulation, faith and bad faith, even love with so many female characters, the film doesn't reflect all that, you better not watch it. That guy talking must say to his students that first they have to know about the history of their country through old literature, secondly they must think hard over the books of Sinclair Lewis, and there will see that they remain so available now, and more than any other American writer, even Faulkner is very abstract, you can't tell me all people find themselves in him, or maybe they pretend.

[@user-fw9jn2vt7r]

كان الروائي الأميركي الشهير سنكلير لويس (1885-1951) أول كاتب أميركي يحصل على جائزة نوبل في الآداب عام 1930، وقد دعي ذات مرة ليحاضر أمام مجموعة من الطلاب حول حرفة الكاتب والمهارات الأدبية. وقف على رأس الصف وسأل: “كم من الموجودين هنا لديه رغبة جادة في أن يكون كاتباً؟” وارتفع أمامه أيادي الحاضرين المشهرة. وعندئذٍ تساءل لويس: “حسنٌ، لماذا لا تعودوا جميعاً إلى بيوتكم لتكتبوا؟” قالها ثم خرج من القاعة.

[@Dr.Pepper001]

He was drunk on his ass.

[@louislamonte334]

Actually the movie "Babbitt" is from 1934.

[@marioriospinot]

Nice.

[@EC-ol8nz]

High School students If any teacher tells you we are reading “Small Town” Tell them u demand to read “It can’t happen Here” or “Arrowsmith”
Small town is just a complaint and critics of people. If u read this u would want to skip everything else from Early 20th century authors. Or just read Upton Sinclair Jungle or Ayn Rand Fountainhead . Keep reading 😁

[@willangle4444]

Kingsblood Royal

[@johnparadise3134]

Sinclair Lewis was the most popular American writer of the jazz age? I thought that was that
was F. Scott Fitzgerald?

[@rbbonotto]

No, it was Lewis. His novel 'Main Street' outsold just about every novel written in the 1920's, and 'Babbitt' wasn't far behind.

[@rbbonotto]

This is barely the slightest hint of a taste about what Sinclair Lewis was about (the Hollywood excerpts of "Babbitt" shown aren't even *in* the book, including the 'funny' colored maid). The Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund devotes a total of *seven minutes* for the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?!! TH-cam is nearly empty of details about Lewis' life and work; and this miniscule attempt to fill it is pretty d*mned embarrassing.

[@charlesrichardmcneel5811]

Then 2016

[@djewelbenz4316]

من الادب الامريكي ...يبقى لي ....فولكنر ...همنغواي ....البقية : ثقافة وتاريخ ....يمكنني تجاهل فيتزجيرالد نفسه مادمت مستعدا لتجاهل ..مالفيل ...مارك توين ...و...شاعر الاعشاب الخضراء ...ادغار الان بو نفسه ليس لدي ما افعله به !

[@Dr.Pepper001]

Why don't you comment in English?

[@Dr.Pepper001]

He was a flaming alcoholic.