Lewis Sinclair: biography and books

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

Lewis Sinclair is a famous American writer of the last century, the first Nobel Prize winner in literature from the United States. This talented man managed to find his own style in which he created works. His biography and main creations are described in the article.

Early years, studies

Born Lewis Sinclair in the town of Sok Center in Minnesota in 1885. Then the town had just been rebuilt, and his father was the only doctor in the area. They never had large funds, and therefore, from the age of fifteen, the future writer went to work in a printing house as a typesetter. At the university, he set himself the direction to study the intricacies of labor in newspaper publications. He practiced in a wide variety of profile offices, was a reporter. At the same time, he was already beginning to write his first stories. They were published by newspapers where he was listed as an employee. In 1914, the world saw his first novel, Our Mr. Wrenn.

Early work

Lewis Sinclair did not stop at one book, and acquaintance with Jack London, already famous at that time, only inspired him more. Before that, hepublished the novels The Decline of Capitalism and The Flight of the Falcon. In 1917, two works saw the world at once - "Simples" and "Work". The main theme of the young writer was the difficulty in building a career as a loner. One can see the conflict of the individual with the surrounding society, where a person from the lower strata of society is trying to knock out his place under the sun. The novel "Work" in this regard is a little different from other creations. If in other books such problems are presented through the prism of romance, exoticism, then purely realism is presented here. The working American woman works hard for years to build her career. In a similar topic, the problem of tireless work for the sake of a future life is raised, which is not known when it will come. The hopelessness of the situation of people who are trying to break into society on their own is touched upon.

Tipping point

Lewis Sinclair, while working in newspapers, managed to travel a lot around provincial America. He studied the life, customs and culture of ordinary people, which later came in handy for him. With the end of the First World War, an economic crisis came to the country. This gave impetus to the popularity of writers who touched on social topics. Among them was Sinclair, who released the fundamental work "Main Street" during this period. In it, he rebels against all the hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness in the views of the provincial hinterland of the United States. In all the books before that, Sinclair used the technique of creating illusions, dreams of the protagonist, through which he found reconciliation withreality. Here, the characters, on the contrary, break all the romance and strive to fight the unfair attitude towards themselves. The social themes are more acutely visible in this novel, and the departure from the use of romance with illusionary worlds is considered a turning point in creativity.

Further development

Among Lewis Sinclair's books, "Main Street" only became the starting point for further novels. Two years later, in 1922, he released the creation "Babbit". In it, the main character is an ordinary inhabitant in the provinces, who does not want to put up with all the injustices in a capitalist society. He protests against this with all available methods. This novel is a continuation of a new direction for the author. The next book, Martin Arrowsmith, won the Pulitzer Prize for its features. The subject of showing not the best state of science in the country was not new, but in his creation Sinclair showed the demands of the intelligentsia in this area. He outlined the main needs within the work and, from a positive point of view, noted that this can be easily satisfied. This is also the merit of the American scientist Paul de Kruy, who helped to create this masterpiece. In 1927, the novel "Elmer Gantry" ends the golden period in the author's work. This satire on the topic of representatives of religion also found success with the audience.

Recent years

In 1930, for his best books, Lewis Sinclair received the Nobel Prize in the field ofliterature. At the award, it was noted that the writer with satire creates new incredible images, and also greatly captures with his style of narration. The author, even at the award, managed to create a resonance, because he boldly spoke out against the fear of Americans of literature. He noted that most are afraid of any work, except for the ex altation of everything native to the United States. After that, the man released the novel "Anne Vickers" back in 1933, and two years later "It's impossible for us" and "Cass Timberlain". In 1942, he divorced his wife, and for ten years there were no works from him. The latest books have not reached the level that the collected works of Lewis Sinclair during the economic crisis of the 20s. The famous writer died in 1951 in Rome. After his death, the unreleased novel The World is So Wide was published. Many adaptations of his works were made in the twentieth century.