FRANKLIN LIBRARY LEATHER Main Street SINCLAIR LEWIS

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FRANKLIN LIBRARY MAIN STREET SINCLAIR LEWIS Illustrated by Robert Heindel Beautiful Topgrain Leather Limited Edition FROM "THE COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LOVED BOOKS" In 1920, the United States was recovering from the First World War, flexing its new muscles and generally appreciating what a growing giant it was. The country was now a force in the world and was, in Sinclair Lewis' words, "pretty darn proud of itself," as inhabitants of its towns conceded on every street corner and inside every new chrome-bright drugstore. The West was won, and the young men and women now went east or to Europe to persuade the world of the glories of middle-class, Midwestern America. But the boisterous expectant young faced what Lewis had faced in "the clash between Main Street and Beacon Street that is eternal in American culture." That clash Lewis had barely survived when he went east to Yale in 1903. He expected to join the wider world at Yale and to escape Sauk Centre, Minnesota, w he had always felt trapped by a hunting, fishing, sports and business mentality that left no room for Russian novels or for much in the way of informed laughter. But the Beacon Streets of the East did not welcome the gawky, exuberant idealist any more than had Main Street in Sauk Centre; all his life, Lewis would be torn between the two cultures. This ambiguity runs all through Main Street and makes it more than just a satire of small-town existence. Lewis loved the people he chose to satirize; as a result, his novel is a richly human story of unforgettable characters. In Main Street , the newly wed Carol comes to Gopher Prairie with dreams of transforming the drab prairie town into a beautiful, lively oasis. The entire population, Will had assured her during their courtship in St. Paul, would welcome someone of Carol's artistic bent, would be inspired by her to pursue high art and new ideas. It soon becomes clear that Carol's job will not be an easy one. Her first view of Gopher Prairie reveals an ugly, planless town, a "frontier camp," Carol thinks despairingly, "not a place to live in, not possibly, not conceivably." The townspeople, too, are disheartening. To Carol, they seem bigoted, intellectually stagnant, conformist - every male citizen must show the same dull interest in cars and gadgets and getting ahead; every female citizen must talk about babies and the Bible and household trivia; houses must look as much alike as possible. Carol sees "a savorless people, gulping tasteless food, and sitting afterward, coatless and thoughtless, in rocking chairs prickly with inane decorations, listening to mechanical music, saying mechanical things about the excellence of Ford automobiles, and viewing themselves as the greatest race in the world." It is this self-congratulatory narrowness that horrifies Carol, and that Lewis ironically mimics in his foreword to Main Street: Main Street is the climax of civilization. That this Ford car might stand in front of the Bon Ton Store, Hannibal invaded Rome and Erasmus wrote in Oxford cloisters. To millions of people, the name Sinclair Lewis once meant America, for Lewis was the first novelist from the United States to be given the Nobel Prize for literature. He received this honor in 1930, at the end of a decade during which he had produced his five best books: Main Street, Babbitt , Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry , and Dodsworth . This beautiful book features: Top Grade Full Tooled Leather Dark Green Binding Hubbed Tooled Leather Spine Lovely Olive Green Satin bookmark, sewn in Elaborate 22-karat gold lettering and ornamentation on the spine, front and back boards Gilding on all page edges, to protect against dust and moisture Decorative Olive Green French silk moire end papers Beautifully reproduced illustrations Acid neutral paper, designed to last generations without discoloring or degrading Acid-free leaves Smyth-sewn for l... read more

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