Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as characterizations of modern working women.
As early as 1916, Lewis began taking notes for a realistic novel about small-town life.
Work on that novel continued through mid-1920, when he completed Main Street which was published on
October 23, 1920. Based on sales of his prior books, the most optimistic projection was a sale of
25,000 copies. In the first six months of 1921 alone, Main Street sold 180,000 copies, and within a few
years were estimated at two million. Main Street earned Sinclair Lewis about three million current dollars.
He followed up this great success with Babbitt in 1922, a novel that satirized the American commercial
culture . The story was set in the fictional Zenith, Winnemac, a setting Lewis would
return to in future novels.
His success in the 1920s continued with Arrowsmith in 1925, a novel about an idealistic doctor which
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (which he refused). The controversial Elmer Gantry in 1927, which
exposed the hypocrisy of hysterical evangelicalism, was denounced by religious leaders and was banned
in some U.S. cities.
Lewis closed out the decade with Dodsworth in 1929, a novel about the most affluent and successful members of American society leading essentially pointless lives in spite of their great wealth and advantages.