''Main Street'' is a
satirical novel
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
written by
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 ...
, 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
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
.
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
Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 United States ...
, and became an orphan in her teens. In college, she reads a book on village improvement in a sociology class and begins to dream of redesigning villages and towns. After college, she attends a library school in Chicago and is exposed to many radical ideas and lifestyles. She becomes a librarian in
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...
, the state capital, but finds the work unrewarding. She marries Will Kennicott, a doctor, who is a small-town boy at heart.
When they marry, Will convinces her to live in his home-town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, a town modeled on
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 metropolita ...
, the author's birthplace. Carol immediately sets about her plans to remake Gopher Prairie, but she is filled with disdain for the town's physical ugliness and smug conservatism.
She speaks with its members about progressive changes, joins women's clubs such as the Thanatopsis, distributes literature, and holds a party to liven up Gopher Prairie's inhabitants. Despite her efforts, she is ineffective and constantly derided by the leading cliques.
She finds some comfort and companionship with a variety of social outsiders in the town, but these companions all fail to live up to her expectations.
After a political meeting of the
Nonpartisan League
The Nonpartisan League (NPL) was a left-wing political party founded in 1915 in North Dakota by Arthur C. Townley, a former organizer for the Socialist Party of America. On behalf of small farmers and merchants, the Nonpartisan League advocat ...
is broken up by local authorities, Carol leaves her husband and moves for a time to Washington, D.C., to become a clerk in a wartime government agency. She eventually returns. Nevertheless, Carol does not feel defeated:
I do not admit that Main Street is as beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith. (Chapter 39)
Reception
The book was a commercial success. It was the best-selling work of fiction in America for the year 1921, according to
Publishers Weekly.
Some of Lewis's contemporaries said the novel was too bleak, even humorless, in its conveyance of ignorant small-town life and people. However, ''Main Street'' generally is considered to be Lewis's most significant and enduring work, along with its 1922 successor ''
Babbitt
Babbitt may refer to:
Fiction
* ''Babbitt'' (novel), a 1922 novel by Sinclair Lewis
** ''Babbitt'' (1924 film), a 1924 silent film based on the novel
** ''Babbitt'' (1934 film), a 1934 film based on the novel
*Babbit, the family name of the titl ...
''.
Some small-town residents resented their portrayal, and the book was banned by the public library of
Alexandria, Minnesota
Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. First settled in 1858, it was named after brothers Alexander and William Kinkead from Maryland. The form of the name alludes to Alexandria, Egypt, a center ...
.
Because of the popularity acquired by Lewis and his book, high-school teams from his hometown of
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 metropolita ...
, began to be called the ''Main Streeters'' as early as the 1925–26 school year. This name was essentially given to the town by the nearby towns at school events.
The Sauk Centre High School still goes by the name in a tribute to Lewis.
Awards and nominations
''Main Street'' initially was awarded the
1921 Pulitzer Prize
The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1921.
Journalism awards
*Public Service:
**''The Boston Post'', for its exposure of the operations of Charles Ponzi by a series of articles which finally led to his arrest.Part 2 of article
* Reporting:
...
for
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, but was rejected by the
board of trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, who overturned the jury's decision. The prize instead went to
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
for ''
The Age of Innocence
''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine ''Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Apple ...
''. In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer when he was awarded it for ''
Arrowsmith.''
In 1930, Lewis was the first American ever awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
. While a Nobel Prize is awarded to the author, not the work, and itself does not cite a particular work for which he was chosen, ''Main Street'' was Lewis' best-known work and enormously popular at the time. In the Nobel committee's presentation speech, both ''Main Street'' and ''Arrowsmith'' were cited.
The prize was awarded "... for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters."
In 1998, the
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
ranked ''Main Street'' #68 on its list of the
100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
See also
*
Main Street — the iconic street in small-town America
Notes
External links
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Main Street (Novel)
1920 American novels
American satirical novels
Culture of Saint Paul, Minnesota
Harcourt (publisher) books
Novels by Sinclair Lewis
Novels set in Minnesota