Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis
Lewis in 1930
Lewis in 1930
BornHarry Sinclair Lewis
(1885-02-07)February 7, 1885
Sauk Centre, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedJanuary 10, 1951(1951-01-10) (aged 65)
Rome, Italy
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • short-story writer
  • playwright
EducationYale University (BA)
Notable works
Notable awardsNobel Prize in Literature (1930)
Spouse
  • Grace Livingston Hegger
    (m. 1914; div. 1925)
  • (m. 1928; div. 1942)
Children2
Signature

Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." Lewis wrote six popular novels: Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935).

Several of his notable works were critical of American capitalism and materialism during the interwar period.[1] Lewis is respected for his strong characterizations of modern working women. H. L. Mencken wrote of him, "[If] there was ever a novelist among us with an authentic call to the trade ... it is this red-haired tornado from the Minnesota wilds."[2]

  1. ^ "Sinclair Lewis". Biography.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  2. ^ Bode, Carl (1969) Mencken. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 166.