Answer:
Explanation:
The first American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (1930) was Sinclair Lewis. He wrote about nothing but social issues. The 1920s was his golden era.
The two I'm most familiar with is the two I'll write about. The first was Dodsworth, which is perhaps his masterpiece.
It is the story of a rich industrialist who decides to give it all up and live in Europe. His wife was the real meat of the book; it is her life that bears the pointed satire of the book. Lewis was not enamored with everything American and she was what he despised most. She was frivolous, wasteful, cruel, but she had a hold on Dodsworth. And that is the point of the book. Lewis painted her the way he did because he was trying to awaken America into being more useful, more dedicated and less unthinking than they were in the 20s. It's a dark novel, very realistic in its contents, and not too overly hopeful that things would improve. Still in spite of her, he hoped. Lest you think that Lewis had his knife sharpened on women's hide, the woman Dodsworth eventually falls is everything his wife is not.
The second book I'll talk about is Babbitt. George Babbitt was the embodiment of another trait Lewis was not fond of. He hated unthinking hypocrisy and George was both. He was a hypocrite and unthinking. He was a likable buffoon (that's my interpretation -- it certainly was not what Lewis thought) who got along by agreeing with everyone -- not realizing what he was doing at all. The book actually takes Babbitt apart by mocking his lack of anything that resembled centrality or intelligence. He had no real political will. He opposed everything that those in power had to say, particularly the clergy who were themselves taken apart in Elmer Gantry.
A very old but astonishingly good movie still about Elmer Gantry was made in 1960 and if you live in a mid sized city they likely have it. It shows Gantry at his best/worst. Dodsworth is also a film and it too is a masterpiece. Babbitt has his own film but he is much slimier in Elmer. Babbitt's film is much older than 1960. It's too bad he only had a cameo part.
I've not covered Gantry, because some people are very sensitive about how Religion is treated. And I add this caution: if you are sensitive to how religion is written about, then don't watch Gantry. Lewis shows no mercy. The film is much kinder and enough of Gantry shines though that we tend not to like him. His charm does nothing for him.
The films
Dodsworth and Elmer Gantry.
