7 minute read
About Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis’ Nobel Prize Works
Main Street (1920) Babbitt (1922) Arrowsmith (1925) Elmer Gantry (1927) Dodsworth (1929)
ABOUT Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis
Five Interesting Facts
By Neely Simpson, Writer 1.) Thirteen-year-old runaway: When he was 13, Sinclair Lewis ran away from home with hopes of joining the Spanish-American War as a drummer boy. His plans were foiled when his father caught him at the train station and made him come home.
2.) Plot Dealer: While a student at Yale, Lewis met Jack London who had come to lecture on socialism. Gifted at devising creative plots, Lewis sold 14 short story ideas to London in 1910 for the price of $70. One of those plots became London’s unfi nished novel, “The Assassination Bureau, Ltd.”
3.) Two-time Spouse of Successful Career Women: Sinclair Lewis was married twice and divorced twice. In 1914, he married Grace Livingston Hegger, an editor for “Vogue Magazine.” The two met in an elevator in the New York offi ce building in which they both worked. At the time, Lewis was working for Stokes Publishing Company, which had its offi ces a few fl oors below the Vogue offi ces. The couple had one son together, Wells Lewis. However, they separated in 1925 and divorced in 1928. In May of 1928, Lewis married well-known journalist, Dorothy Thompson, who led the Berlin bureau of the New York Post. She was staunchly anti-Hitler and has the distinction of being the fi rst American journalist expelled from Germany, an order given by Hitler himself. In 1939, she appeared on the cover of “Time” magazine, which named her one of the two most infl uential women in America, the other being Eleanor Roosevelt. Lewis and Thompson had one son together, Michael Lewis, but the two divorced in 1942.
4.) Father of a Decorated War Hero: Lewis’s son, Wells Lewis, who was named after H.G. Wells, was killed in action during World War II. After graduating from Harvard - where during his senior year he wrote a well-received novel titled, “They Still Say No” - Wells Lewis enlisted in the Army a year before the U.S. entered World War II. He served in active combat in Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy before coming under the command of Major General John Dahlquist in France, where he served as Dahlquist’s personal aide. During his military service, he achieved the rank of fi rst lieutenant and earned both a silver star and a bronze star. On Oct. 29, 1944, just south of Paris, he was shot by a sniper and died instantly, collapsing into the arms of Major General Dahlquist.
5.) Declined the Pulitzer, Accepted the Nobel: In 1930, Sinclair Lewis was the fi rst American to be awarded a Nobel Prize for literature. The Prize was given to him for the fi ve noteworthy novels he wrote during the 1920s, “Main Street,” “Babbitt,” “Arrowsmith,” “Elmer Gantry,” and “Dodsworth.” In 1926, Lewis’s novel, “Arrowsmith,” was awarded a Pulitzer Prize; however, he declined the Prize, saying he didn’t approve of contests in which one author was deemed better than another. When asked why he was willing to accept the Nobel Prize, but not the Pulitzer, he said it was because the Nobel was much less commercial and was awarded based on the merit of a career rather than a single book. Despite his long and successful career as a great American novelist, Sinclair Lewis ended his life much like he started it: lonely. With failing health, he was surrounded mostly by secretaries he’d hired as companions. He died on Jan. 10, 1951 in Rome from complications of the alcoholism with which he’d struggled most of his life. His last novel, “World So Wide,” was published posthumously.
Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis Writers’ Conference Now one of the longestrunning writers’ conferences in the country, the Sinclair Lewis Writers’ Conference will again focus on inspiring and informing writers of all ages and experience levels. The conference is on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022 at the Sauk Centre High School Auditorium and will be available virtually. This year’s keynote speaker is Don Shelby, who will help us celebrate the 32nd anniversary of this notable conference! For conference details, go to sinclairlewiswritersconference.org. About the conference, Will Weaver said “I think the Sinclair Lewis Writers’ Conference in Sauk Centre is one of the best values going in the Midwest. It allows aspiring writers to plug in for a day with well-known authors and fellow book lovers. You’ll learn a lot, and it’s downright fun.” www.sinclairlewisfoundation.org
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The Sinclair Lewis Boyhood The Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home Home
Sinclair Lewis’ boyhood home, located at 810 Sinclair Lewis Ave., has been restored with antiques appropriate to the period. Many rooms contain items that belonged to the Lewis family. The home will be open for tours the summer of 2022. NEW: “Becoming Sinclair Lewis,” a new biography of Lewis, is available on Amazon NEW: “The Life and Loves of Sinclair Lewis” depicts the rollercoaster ride of his career. Go to www.sinclairlewisfoundation.org for more details.
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