Sinclair Lewis (2/7/1885-1/10/1951): turned down a Pulitzer Prize; first American writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Main Street (1920). "Such is our comfortable tradition and sure faith. Would he not betray himself an alien cynic who should otherwise portray Main Street, or distress the citizens by speculating whether there may not be other faiths?"
Babbitt (1922): "The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods."
Arrowsmith (1925). Pulitzer Prize. "It is a Ford Motor Factory, and if its products rattle a little, they are beautifully standardized, with perfectly interchangeable parts."
Elmer Gantry (1927). "Elmer Gantry was drunk. He was eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk."
It Can't Happen Here (1935). "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
Today's Rune: Movement. Free bird!
Other birthdays today: Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957).
Viva Sinclair Lewis!
9 comments:
you can submit your blog to the Blogger-blogs-by-topic directory at www.blogsbytopic.blogspot.com . just follow the instructions on top of the page there.
Enjoyed the post Erik. It has been a while since reading his work but I also remember this qoute from him, I believe it was something like "I love America but I don't like it." Thanks for the memory. Kind of a sign of the time. MW
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
Good god, is that not a prescient line or what?
Another writer I know little about - perhaps Frank Zappa was listening as "It Can't Happen Here" is heavily repeated in Freak Out is it not?
Cheers, DT.
The cross is a powerful symbol. Even the Swastika is a type of cross, so in Germany under Hitler fascism came wrapped in a flag and a cross.
Perry Meisel wrote the intro to "It Can't Happen Here." He's a pretty good literary critic at NYU.
I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was in elementary school. They are very good.
Thanks, y'all for the comments!
MW, great quote. Much better than the knee-jerk right wingers who chant "My country right or wrong."
Johnny, Danny, Charles, Herman, all good points. Zappa probably really was alluding to this. Which reminds me, where is Moon Unit these days? Always loved her name.
Sheila, right on!
I remember reading "Babbit" a long long time ago. I can't remember the whole story line, but correct me if I'm wrong--did Babbit ever have control of his family, or were they a disappointment to him? Was he kind of an Archie Bunker type of guy? Perhaps I'll go back and read the novel again.
Post a Comment