''Main Street'' is a novel written by
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...
, and published in 1920. 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
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...
.
The story is set in the small town of Gopher Prairie, a fictionalized version of
Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Sauk Centre ( ) is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,555 at the 2020 census. Sauk Centre is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Sauk Centre is the birthplace of Sinclair Lewis, a noveli ...
, Lewis's hometown, during the 1910s. It relates the life and struggles of Carol Milford Kennicott, a self-made young woman with a strong personality, as she comes into conflict with the small-town mentality of the residents of Gopher Prairie. References are made to the start of World War I, the United States' entry into the war, and the years following its end, 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 b ...
in 1920.
Highly acclaimed upon publication, ''Main Street'' was turned into a play in 1921, and a
movie
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
in 1923, the first by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
studio. It 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 U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The ...
, and became an orphan in her teenage years. 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 (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...
, the state capital, but finds the work unrewarding. She marries Will Kennicott, a doctor from the small town of Gopher Prairie. When they marry, Will convinces her to live in his hometown. Carol is filled with disdain for the town's physical ugliness and smug conservatism and immediately formulates plans to remake Gopher Prairie.
She speaks with its members about progressive changes, joins women's clubs, distributes literature, and holds a party to liven up Gopher Prairie's inhabitants. Despite her efforts, these ventures are ineffective and she is 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 advocated ...
is broken up by local authorities, Carol leaves her husband and moves to Washington, D.C. to become a clerk in a wartime government agency but she eventually returns. Nevertheless, she 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 dishwashing 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 the United States for the year 1921, according to
Publishers Weekly.
Some of Lewis's contemporaries said the novel was too bleak, even humorless, in its portrayal of ignorant small-town life and people. However, ''Main Street'' is generally considered some of Lewis's most significant and enduring work, along with its 1922 successor ''
Babbitt''.
Contemporary parodies of the book included ''Ptomaine Street'', by
Carolyn Wells
Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 — March 26, 1942) was an American mystery author and poet.
Life and career
Born in Rahway, New Jersey, she was the daughter of William Edmund and Anna Potter Wells (née Woodruff).
After finishing school, she wo ...
, and ''Jane Street of Gopher Prairie'', by
James Stetson Metcalfe.
Some small-town residents resented being portrayed this way, 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. The population was 14,335 as of the 2020 census. I-94 passes through Alexandria, along with Minnesota State Highways 27 and 29. It is south of Lake ...
.
Because Lewis and his book had become so popular, high-school sports teams from his hometown 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.
Sauk Centre High School teams still go by the name in a tribute to Lewis.
Awards and nominations
''Main Street'' was initially chosen by the jury for the
1921 Pulitzer Prize for
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
, but the
board of trustees
A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency.
The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
overturned the jury's decision. The prize instead went to
Edith Wharton
Edith Newbold Wharton (; ; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gil ...
for ''
The Age of Innocence
''The Age of Innocence'' is a novel by American author Edith Wharton, published on 25 October 1920. It was her eighth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was rele ...
''. In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer when he was awarded it for ''
Arrowsmith.''
In 1930, Lewis was the first American to be awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
. 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 (trade name), 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, Moder ...
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
* ''
I Married a Doctor'' — 1936 Warner Bros. adaptation of ''Main Street''
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