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Winnemac (fictional U.S. State)
Winnemac is a fictional U.S. state invented by the writer Sinclair Lewis. His novel ''Babbitt'' takes place in Zenith, its largest city (population 361,000, according to a sketch-map Lewis made to guide his writingHelen Batchelor. "A Sinclair Lewis Portfolio of Maps: Zenith to Winnemac". ''Modern Language Quarterly'', December 1971, Vol. 32 Issue 4. 401–29: (Lewis's literary plan, discovery of maps, comparison with Mayfield's map)). Winnemac is also a setting for '' Gideon Planish'', '' Arrowsmith'', ''Elmer Gantry'', and '' Dodsworth''. Description Lewis turned to the creation of a fictional locale after residents of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, were upset with the town's portrayal in '' Main Street''. In one of the essays in "Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays" Mark Schorer describes "the state of Winnemac" as "more typical than any real state in the Union". In "The Last of the Provincials: The American Novel, 1915–1925" critic H. L. Mencken sees Winnemac as exemp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Location
Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality, such as the Negaverse or Planet X. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are also created for use as settings in role-playing games such as ''Dungeons and Dragons''. They may also be used for technical reasons in actual reality for use in the development of specifications, such as the fictional country of Bookland, which is used to allow EAN "country" codes 978 and 979 to be used for ISBN numbers assigned to books, and code 977 to be assigned for use for ISSN numbers on magazines and other periodicals. Fictional locations vary greatly in their size. Very small places like a single room are kept out of the umbrella of fictional locations by convention, as are most single buildings. A fictional location can be the size of a university ( H. P. Lovecraft's Miskatonic University), a town (Stephen King's Salem's Lot), a county ( Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer 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." He is best known for his novels '' Main Street'' (1920), ''Babbitt'' (1922), '' Arrowsmith'' (1925), ''Elmer Gantry'' (1927), '' Dodsworth'' (1929), and ''It Can't Happen Here'' (1935). His works are known for their critical views of American capitalism and materialism in the interwar period. He is also respected for his strong characterizations of modern working women. H. L. Mencken wrote of him, " fthere was ever a novelist among us with an authentic call to the trade ... it is this red-haired tornado from the Minnesota wilds." Early life Born February 7, 1885, in the village of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babbitt (novel)
''Babbitt'' (1922), by Sinclair Lewis, is a satirical novel about American culture and society that critiques the vacuity of middle class life and the social pressure toward conformity. The controversy provoked by ''Babbitt'' was influential in the decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature to Lewis in 1930. The novel has been filmed twice, once as a silent in 1924 and remade as a talkie in 1934. The word ''Babbitt'' has entered the English language as a "person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards". Plot ''The Smart Set''s review of the novel stated, "There is no plot whatever... Babbitt simply grows two years older as the tale unfolds." Mencken, H. L., "Portrait of an American Citizen," ''The Smart Set'' 69 (October 1922) pp. 138–139 The first seven chapters follow Babbitt's life over the course of a single day. Over breakfast, Babbitt dotes on his ten-year-old daughter Tinka, tries to dissuade hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Language Quarterly
Modern Language Quarterly (MLQ), established in 1940, is a quarterly, literary history journal, produced (housed) at the University of Washington and published by Duke University Press. The current editor is Jeffrey Todd Knight. Marshall Brown (University of Washington) was the editor from 1993 to 2021. The first issue of a ''Modern Language Quarterly'' appeared in 1897 but in 1905 this journal became ''The Modern Language Review''. Scope The focus of MLQ is all topics in literary history, which includes all genres, and all time periods. Theory and argument are presented with a chronological organizational structure. Literary works are considered in the context of their time. The focus encompasses papers on literary change in literary practice and the profession of literature. Topical coverage includes how literary change, or literary history, relates to feminism, ethnic studies, cultural materialism, discourse analysis, and cultural critiques. Literature as it occurs in his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gideon Planish
''Gideon Planish'' is a 1943 novel by American writer Sinclair Lewis. The novel tells the story of Gideon Planish, an unprincipled social climber who becomes involved in various shady philanthropic organizations in his quest for stature without accountability. The work did not fare as well with critics as some of Lewis' earlier social novels, and is considered one of his minor works. Plot summary ''Gideon Planish'' takes aim at less-than-honorable fundraising organizations. In a similar manner of his other works, the reader follows the self-titled character through his life and numerous (but slightly related) professions dealing with professional "organizationality" which is better known as the for-profit industry of pompous fundraising run by shady "philanthropists" running a wide variety of guilds, committees, foundations, leagues and councils for selfish and greedy purposes. The focus of the book begins with a young Planish demonstrating a knack for public speaking, and these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arrowsmith (book)
''Arrowsmith'' is a novel by American author Sinclair Lewis, first published in 1925. It won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize (which Lewis declined). Lewis was greatly assisted in its preparation by science writer Paul de Kruif, who received 25% of the royalties on sales, although Lewis was listed as the sole author. ''Arrowsmith'' is an early major novel dealing with the culture of science. It was written in the period after the reforms of medical education flowing from the Flexner Report on ''Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching'', 1910, which had called on medical schools in the United States to adhere to mainstream science in their teaching and research. The book was adapted by Hollywood as '' Arrowsmith'' in 1931, starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Plot ''Arrowsmith'' tells the story of bright and scientifically m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elmer Gantry
''Elmer Gantry'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonist, the Reverend Dr. Elmer Gantry, is initially attracted by booze and easy money (though he eventually renounces tobacco and alcohol) and chasing women. After various forays into evangelism, he becomes a successful Methodist minister despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions. ''Elmer Gantry'' was first published in the United States by Harcourt Trade Publishers in March 1927, dedicated by Lewis to the American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken. Background Lewis researched the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. He first worked with William L. "Big Bill" Stidger, pastor of the Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodsworth (novel)
''Dodsworth'' is a satirical novel by American writer Sinclair Lewis, first published by Harcourt Brace & Company on March 14, 1929. Its subject, the differences between US and European intellect, manners, and morals, is one that frequently appears in the works of Henry James. Plot summary The novel is set in the period between late 1925 and late 1927. Samuel ('Sam') Dodsworth is an ambitious and innovative automobile designer, who builds his fortunes in fictional Zenith, Winnemac. In addition to his success in the business world, he had also succeeded as a young man in winning the hand of Frances 'Fran' Voelker, a beautiful young socialite. While the novel provides the courtship as a backstory, the real story begins upon his retirement. Retiring at the age of fifty as a result of his selling of his successful automobile company (The Revelation Motor Company) to a far larger competitor, he sets out to do what he had always wanted to experience: a leisurely trip to Europe with h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Sauk Centre is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,555 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Sauk Centre is part of the St. Cloud, Minnesota, St. Cloud St. Cloud metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sauk Centre is the birthplace of Sinclair Lewis, a novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It inspired his fictional Gopher Prairie, the setting of Lewis's 1920 novel ''Main Street (novel), Main Street''. History The town was originally named by a lottery. The eight original town shareholders submitted suggestions for a name, and Sauk Centre was selected. The name was submitted by Alexander Moore, who originally bought and platted the town. Sauk refers to the many place names associated with the Sauk_people, Sauk tribe (Sauk River, Sauk Rapids, Little Sauk, Osakis, etc). Centre (the British spelling of "center") refers to the town's central location between Sauk Rapids and Lake Osakis. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main Street (novel)
''Main Street'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis, and published in 1920. The story is set in the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, a fictionalized version of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Lewis's hometown. The novel takes place in the 1910s, with references to the start of World War I, the United States' entry into the war, and the years following the end of the war, including the start of Prohibition. Satirizing small-town life, ''Main Street'' is perhaps Sinclair Lewis's most famous book, and led in part to his eventual 1930 Nobel Prize for Literature. It relates the life and struggles of Carol Milford Kennicott as she comes into conflict with the small-town mentality of the residents of Gopher Prairie. Highly acclaimed upon publication, ''Main Street'' remains a recognized American classic. Plot Carol Milford, the daughter of a judge, grew up in Mankato, Minnesota, and became an orphan in her teens. In college, she reads a book on village improvement in a soci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Speaking
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech delivered over great distance by means of technology. Confucius, one of many scholars associated with public speaking, once taught that if a speech was considered to be a good speech, it would impact the individuals' lives whether they listened to it directly or not. His idea was that the words and actions of someone of power can influence the world. Public speaking is used for many different purposes, but usually as some mixture of teaching, persuasion, or entertaining. Each of these calls upon slightly different approaches and techniques. Public speaking was developed as a primary sphere of knowledge in Greece and Rome, where prominent thinkers codified it as a central part of rhetoric. Today, the art of public speaking has been transformed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Located in the city's University Hill, Syracuse, University Hill neighborhood, east and southeast of Downtown Syracuse, the large campus features an eclectic mix of architecture, ranging from nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival architecture, Romanesque Revival to contemporary buildings. Syracuse University is organized into 13 schools and colleges, with nationally recognized programs in Syracuse University School of Architecture, architecture, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, public administration, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, journalism and communications, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, business administration, Syracuse University School of Information Studies, information studies, Syracuse Univers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
