Stories of Sinclair Lewis
From the Sauk Centre Herald

Lewis and Bryant Library
Cast gets into Sinclair Lewis' skin
Bookseller remembers afternoon with Lewis
Is Lewis relavent?
Carol Kennicott returns to Main Street
Lewis scholars celebrate 75th anniversary of Babbitt
Enlightened on Lewis

Lewis and Bryant Library

by Dave Simpkins

It is appropriate for the Bryant Library to be celebrating the centennial of its Carnegie building during Sinclair Lewis Days.
Lewis was a born bookworm growing up in a family of readers who supported the library.
Lewis' father, Dr. Edwin Lewis, came to town with two wagons, one filled with household items and medical supplies and the other filled with books.
Lewis' step-mother, Isabel Lewis, belonged to the Gradatim Club hosting many book readings in the living room of their home.
The tall, thin Lewis spent much of his time with his nose in a book. It was his job to split firewood. He created a method of propping a book in the crotch of a tree. He would read a few paragraphs, chop a few logs, read and chop, read and chop.
It is said he read all the books in the library collection before graduating from high school in 1904.
When Lewis and his wife Gracie returned to Sauk Centre for the summer of 1916 the Sauk Centre Herald reported, "Lewis had gained recognition as one of the most compelling young fiction writers in the country," who wrote, "gems of short stories" whose latest novel, "The Trail of the Hawk" was "among the year's best sellers"
After a talk at the Commercial Club the Herald reported Lewis was a "rapid fire talker"
Lewis became famous for his short stories in the Saturday Evening Post along side the drawings of Norman Rockwell.
Lewis gave a benefit lecture to raise money for the library giving a talk on "the real inside of how the modern literature of today is made." Donations totaled 25 cents.
Lewis had worked in the publishing business before he was an author becoming friends and business partner with the up and coming Alfred Harcourt who would found Harcourt, Brace and Howe. Lewis and Harcourt brought many innovative ideas into the publishing of Main Street in 1920 making it the largest selling book up to that time.
Main Street took a satirical view of small town America and many of the characters look all too much like people from Sauk Centre. Some people protested it being on the shelves of the Bryant Library. Those protests died down when Lewis became the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1930.
In the 1930's, Lewis sent about 80 books to the library including his best sellers, books sent to him to be reviewed and books he felt Sauk Centre would enjoy reading. Many of these books were autographed by the authors.
Lewis wrote the books were a payment for the debt he owed the library for providing him with so much entertainment and knowledge while he was growing up.
Inscribed on the jacket of a copy Main Street was, "To the Bryant Library, Sauk Centre, with love and with lovely memory of the days when its books were my greatest adventure," Sinclair Lewis, New York, Nov. 6 1937. An article in the Minneapolis Journal hinted this was in atonement for the ruckus the book created.
Lewis would find even more adventures in today's Bryant Library. Now part of the Great River Regional Library System, the library has a limitless collection of books, tapes and videos as well as the internet to explore.

Cast gets into Sinclair Lewis' skin

by Anne Robinson, Herald Intern
Get into Sinclair Lewis' skin. That was the goal of the cast and director of Strangers, a play about Sinclair Lewis and Dorothy Thompson. Director Risa Brainin, cast members Jim Walker who plays Lewis, Marilyn Mays who plays Thompson, Paulette O'Dowd, Walter Eccles, Pepe Denarest and stage manager Jason Smith of St. Croix Festival Theatre came to Sauk Centre on Wednesday to research. They visited the Interpretive Center, the Palmer House and Boyhood Home. "We can do a lot of reading but there is nothing like being here," Walker said. Strangers was written by Sherman Yellen and was first produced on Broadway in 1978. The ticket sales started out slow and as they began to increase, the star left and the play was done, It was produced in Sauk Centre in the early 1980s. The St. Croix Festival Theatre's mission is to unearth lost or forgotten plays. They felt Strangers fit the description.
Strangers takes place in Europe from 1927 to 1947. Sauk Centre is mentioned in the play. The theme of Strangers is whether or not Lewis and Thompson's relationship can withstand their competition against each other and the tension of their professional lives.
"Their relationship was fascinating. They were two extremely well known, bright, intelligent people who tried and succeeded at fabulous professional lives and struggled deeply for a private life," Mays said. You hear about Lewis' accomplishments and you hear about Thompson, but only as Lewis' wife.
Mays said Thompson was a journalist during World War II. She was thrown out of Germany for exposing what was happening with Hitler and the Third Reich. She then started writing her own column and going on the radio.
"She was more widely read than her husband ever was. It was a source of pride as well as tension," Mays said.
Brainin said normally the company has to create parts of characters lives not included in the script. Because Sinclair Lewis was a real person and there is abundant information, they have the luxury of finding the real man.
"I have a deeper appreciation of Sinclair Lewis and where he came from and how accurate and inaccurate the script is," Walker said.
They came to Sauk Centre to find out where Sinclair Lewis came from, they left with their own view of the town.
"People here are marvelous. They are so friendly," Mays said.
"It (Sauk Centre) certainly is not as ugly as he thought it was," Walker said.
The St. Croix Festival Theatre is in its fifth season. Presently, a barn in Osceola Wis. is being renovated to be a new theatre.---Sauk Centre Herald, August 30, 1994 Main Street celebrates 75 years of publication.

Bookseller remembers afternoon with Lewis

by Anne Robinson, Herald Intern
J. Harold Kittleson, Minneapolis, describes Sinclair Lewis as a warm, friendly, restless man. Kittleson, age 91, managed book stores and worked as a salesperson for Random House, Lewis' last publisher, for 45 years. He spent an afternoon at the Lewis home in Duluth shortly after World War II.
"He was a wonderful man and one of this century's greatest writers," Kittleson said.
Kittleson remembers sitting in the livingroom of the Lewis home. He and Lewis discussed the book column Lewis was writing for Esquire magazine at the time. Lewis expressed disappointment in an ungracious reception when he spoke at the University of Minnesota--Duluth.
"The most important thing to say about Lewis is he wasn't a very happy man," Kittleson said. Kittleson said professors and students today read the work of Lewis with pleasure and understanding, indicating his vision and relevance."
He was a really important, significant writer who could be called a genius," Kittleson said. "Most creative people have vision. That is why they are good. Kittleson is glad Sauk Centre recognizes Lewis and his writing as part of the city's heritage. Kittleson said Lewis would be honored Sauk Centre named the annual community celebration after him."
"There is some vanity in everybody that you have made a contribution," Kittleson said. Kittleson has been to Sauk Centre. He spoke at the opening of the Boyhood Home. He is also responsible for establishing the Sinclair Lewis book collection at Macalester College, St. Paul." Lewis was a very special event in my life," Kittleson said.
Gopher Prairie Gazette produced by the Sauk Centre Herald, July 16, 1996

Is Lewis' relevant?

by Anne Robinson, Herald Intern

The people of Sauk Centre come together once a year to celebrate the community and Sinclair Lewis, the man for whom the community event is named. The 75th anniversary of the publication of Main Street is being celebrated during the 25th annual Sinclair Lewis Days. A program will be held at 8 p.m., Thursday, July 13 at the high school. The program will include a portrayal of Carol Kennicott by actress Kathy Rae and a panel discussion on the relevance of Main Street in 1995.
"Main Street is relevant today because people are people and people haven't changed,"said Roberta Olson, president of the Sinclair Lewis Foundation and author of several books on Lewis. Others see Main Street as an inaccurate representation of life in small-town America.
"Small towns are more progressive today," said David Simpkins, publisher of the Sauk Centre Herald.
"There is more openness." Simpkins said small towns have more exposure to ideas today due to transportation and the media. The social comments Lewis made are just as meaningful today in all communities. Lewis also said the hypocrisy, prejudice and sin can be found in large towns as well as in small towns. "
Dr. Barbara Olive, professor of English at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., said the satire of small town life in Main Street is dated and takes more translation by the reader but is still relevant.
"The content and observations are still as fresh and crisp as they were in 1920," said Jim Umhoefer, writer and member of the Sinclair Lewis Foundation. Umhoefer said the writing style is harder to read for today's audience due to the wordiness."Main Street is the perception of one individual on small-town America," said Paul Theisen, mayor of Sauk Centre." I don't think his perception was correct. I don't think it ever did exist the way he portrayed it."
Main Street was published by Alfred Harcourt on Oct. 23, 1920 and sold 200,000 copies within a few months. By 1951 it sold two million copies in the United States. It was the first American novel to become a success by criticizing popula culture. Main Street was published during a time when American culture was being questioned. World War I had just ended; prohibition was an issue and women were declared legally equal to men.
"Americans were questioning themselves about what their country really stood for, what its place in history would be and should be," said Richard Lewis in his book about Lewis. Main Street became instantly popular and caused controversy among writers as well as readers. Lewis found himself in the position of the best-selling writer scorned by the literati because of the suspicion that any book that is popular must be artistically defective," said James Lundquist in his book on Lewis.
Olive said the images and the issues in main street remain vivid in the mind of readers, a quality of art. Umhoefer said Main Street told the honest side of small town life including the pros and the cons. At the time small town life was often idealized."
"It showed the warts as well as the good stuff," Umhoefer said. Umhoefer said he admires Lewis' observations of the human condition and his dedication to a writing schedule by treating his writing as a job. Olson said there is renewed interest in the work of Lewis. Scholars on Lewis are doing new studies on his style because it differs from the style of other writers of the era. " It is still good reading for every student of life," Olson said.
---Gopher Prairie Gazette, July 11, 1996



Carol Kennicott returns to Main Street

by Anne Robinson, Herald Intern

Carol Kennicott made a return to Gopher Prairie during Sinclair Lewis Days. Carol made her appearance at the 75th anniversary of the publication of Main Street program held Thursday evening. Kathy Ray, an actress from Barrett, Minn., played Carol Kennicott in a monologue, Gopher Prairie Then and Now. A panel of six discussed the relevance of Main street 75 years later and other topics pertaining to Lewis and his writing.
Panel member included Kathy Ray; Dr. Lawrence Ianni, chancellor of the University of Minnesota, Duluth; Dr. George Killough, associate professor of English, College of St. Scholastica, Duluth; Dr. Roger Daniels Forseth, professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin, Superior; John Koblas, author/lecturer and Dr. Sally Parry, assistant professor of English, Illinois State University of English, Illinois State University, Normal Ill. Jim Umhoefer, board member of the Sinclair Lewis Foundation, served as moderator. The monologue included Carol's perceptions of Gopher Prairie in 1920 and of modern Gopher Prairie.
Ray addressed architecture; culture and leisure, entertainment and social attitudes.
"I have no reform program for you but criticism is a start," Carol said. "The real problem is spiritual."
"I first read Main Street as a junior in college. If I could have toned down my personality a little bit, I could have been called an angry young man," Ianni said.
He grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh and found he could relate to the novel. "Midwestern small towns have no exclusive claim on small mindedness," Ianni said. "You can find it anywhere."
Parry said Lewis' works are relevant, including works written after he won the Nobel prize. Her students are interested in what Lewis says about marriage relationships and women in society. "Lewis brought out the human heart and how hard it is to get along," Parry said. Killough has interviewed people who knew Lewis while he was living in Duluth and is editing a journal Lewis wrote in the 1940s.
Killough has heard an anecdote regarding the research of Kingsblood Royal. It is said Lewis would invite a group of black people and a group of blue-bloods to his home. Lewis would retire to a corner to take notes on the interaction between the two classes. Killough feels Carol's struggle for a conscious life is felt by women in small towns today. " "There is individual aspiration on one hand and hard reality on the other," Killough said.
Gopher Prairie represented something much larger. A member of a historical society suggested Koblas write on book on Sinclair Lewis. Koblas was interested in F. Scott Fitzgerald at the time. Sometime later he realized he was interested in Lewis, he said. He found a niece in Cross Lake, Minn. and was given a box of unpublished letters and journals in return for drinking a cup of jasmine tea with her.
"I wish I could say I was interested in Sinclair Lewis since kindergarten," Koblas said. "Forseth said Lewis' drunkenness is the typical description of the writer."
"What does that have to do with Lewis the writer," Forseth questioned. Forseth considers Main Street as a courtship between Carol Kennicott and Gopher Prairie.
"It was a process of mutual learning, rejection and ultimately, a successful relationship," Forseth said.
---Sauk Centre Herald, July 18, 1995

Lewis scholars celebrate 75th anniversary of Babbitt

by Dave Simpkins
Herald Editor/Publisher
July 1997

If you like Sinclair Lewis, you would have loved the Sinclair Lewis Conference held in conjunction with Sauk Centre's Sinclair Lewis Days.

About 40 Lewis enthusiasts professors and writers came to this academic conference to read scholarly papers and share their interest in America's first Nobel prize winning author.

"Oh this is just wonderful," said Sally E. Parry Executive Director of the Sinclair Lewis Society located at Illinois State University.

Parry and her husband Robert McLaughlin teach English Literature at Illinois State and hosted the conference.

"It is just wonderful to see so much enthusiasm and respect for Lewis from younger people here.

The event came to Sauk Centre to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publishing of Babbitt and the 50th anniversary of Kingsblood Royal.

The presenters agreed Lewis was the leading chronicler the jazz age and the social change that was occurring during the roaring twenties.

"I use the books Babbitt and Elmer Gantry to jazz up my history classes," said Dr. Jane Lamm Carroll a history professor from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.

"Students will remember George Babbitt and Elmer Gantry long after they put the text books away. Fiction connects students emotionally to another time.

" Lewis gave us a compelling window on his time. These two books tell the story of social change in America when business became a religion and religion became a business. "There also many other important themes such as consumerism, feminism, race, advertising, the automobile, credit and mass merchandising.

"Lewis' us of the language of the time is also rich and informative for modern readers," added Carroll.

The conference was attended by two Lewis authors, Jim Hutchisson an English professor at the Citadel and biographer Richard Lengeman a senior editor of the Nation.

"The popularity of this conference is a testimony to the renewed interest in Lewis," said Hutchinsson.

"We are moving away from this greedy days of the Reagan-Bush years into a more reflective age where social critics like Lewis are regaining popularity.

"I'm sure this conference will stimulate a new batch of good, solid critical work on Lewis, the themes he talked about and how relevant they still are," said Hutchinsson.

Hutchinsson is the president of the Society and has edited a collection of essays on Lewis and a book entitled, The Rise of Sinclair Lewis which outlines the craftsmanship of Lewis books written in he 1920s.

Lingeman is currently working on a new biography of Lewis which scholars are hoping will replace the Mark Schorer book.

While Schorer's book was very detailed it was also very critical of Lewis.

"It is time for a new perspective on Lewis," said Lingeman at his Thursday night Keynote address.

"I don't believe I need to defend Lewis against the attacks of the Schorer book. I'd rather document the growing new attitude and information that points to the fine quality of his work.

Lingeman pointed out Lewis' Italian death certificate noted he died of a "paralysis of the heart."

"Here we have a man with a wonderful career and lost much of what was important to him to alcohol. He was a social prophet and an astute commentator on the American way of life yet he had such sadness," said Lingemann.

While Lewis is often presented as a sad and lonely figure several of the presenters told many stories of Lewis humor and satire.

Roger Forseth of the University of Wisconsin, Superior revealed the contents of Lewis FBI file. Apparently, Lewis and Marcella Powers received a grand tour of the FBI offices in 1939 shortly before his divorce to Dorothy Thompson was final. He was doing research for a possible crime fighting novel.

When the day was ending he suggested to the Assistant Director that his wife Dorothy might be interested in a tour and they should give her a call.

Parry and Hutchinsson agreed having the conference in Sauk Centre gave them a greater appreciation for Lewis and how Sauk Centre impacted his writing style.

"Coming to Sauk Centre makes the stories, people and places in Lewis' books jump out of the page. This is truly small town America.

The Sinclair Lewis Foundation cooperated in the event. Roberta Olson agreed it was beneficial to local Lewis enthusiasts to hear so many informative lecturers.

"This was really great to meet so many people so knowledgible about Lewis and his writing," said Olson

Enlightened on Lewis

If you've ever wondered why we have a Sinclair Lewis Avenue, celebrate Sinclair Lewis Days and cheer the Mainstreeters, you will want to read the new biography, Sinclair Lewis, Rebel From Mainstreet by Richard Lingeman.
Lingeman does a better job than any biographer before him in describing one very complicated person. I learned more of the significance of Lewis as a Nobel Prize winning author and national commentator as well as more than I'd really care to know about a lonely, cynical man from this small town on the prairies.
Lingeman is sensitive and honest in her easy to read chronology of Lewis incredible life.
Odd duck
Reading Lingeman, it sounds like Lewis was born on the wrong side of the bed. He was awkward, unappealing and cynical from the start. His father was fond of asking him, "Why can't you be like the other boys."
He lost his mother at an early age and suffered under his fathers well-meaning but oppressive encouragement to settle in his hometown, live an upstanding life of a businessman or doctor. Instead he withdrew into books and a career writing satirical books about his hometown, business, medicine and religion.
The awkward, gangling, red-haired teenager knew he was going to be a writer. He sent off poems and story ideas to publishers while in high school under the name H. Sinclayre Lewis. One summer he went around town interviewing people with the idea of writing a book. It is believed he sold story ideas to Jack London.
We're proud to say Lewis was first published in the Sauk Centre Herald reporting on commencement ceremonies. The summer before he left for college, he went around town interviewing locals. He used his newspaper job to gather notes and character sketches for future novels.
Never left town
Lewis never really left Sauk Centre and Sauk Centre never really left him. It has been 100 years since he left town at the age of 17 and people are still linking him with his hometown.
While hobnobbing with the cads at Yale or the high society of New York's publishing circles and Hollywood's acting world he still came off as a small town guy. H. L. Mencken said he was a hick and a genius, never really leaving his rural roots even though he partied with the likes of Lord and Lady Astor.
"I have heard them for 17 years and love themThey make me feel that the world and its riches are not worth a sliver of home and its surroundings," wrote Lewis in his diary about the church bells he would miss once he left home.
Savvy writer
After Yale, Lewis bounced around working for newspapers and publishing houses learning just what kind of stories sell. He teamed up with a young publisher named Alf Harcourt. Lewis would become an early investor in Harcourt and Brace, which became one of the largest publishing houses in the nation.
Lewis' imagination was legendary. He could spin out story lines like the Beatles spun songs. He began writing short fiction for the Saturday Evening Post. This was the popular magazine with all those beautiful Normal Rockwell paintings on the cover. These stories gave him celebrity status and enough money to live well in rented mansions and travel often with his first wife Gracie.
He had some real foresight into what would become the movie industry because he told Harcourt to give him the movie rights to his books rather than an advance. There would be 88 movies made from his 23 novels of which he made the royalties.
Lewis didn't want to write sweet little magazine articles all this life. He wanted to make a statement and that he did with three controversial novels, Main Street, Babbett and Elmer Gantry. While all his books had important things to say to the people of the roaring twenties they also sold like hot cakes. Main Street was the biggest selling book of its time.
Politics and religion
I've always questioned Lewis' liberal politics. Today, he'd be called a limousine liberal. A rich man concerned about the poor and downtrodden but he didn't spend much time with those folks. Instead, he spent his time with the rich and famous, like himself.
There are many reports of his generosity. He was always helping some struggling writer and farmers. He inherited land in North Dakota and ended up building the renters a new home with all the luxuries of the city.
He wanted to write a great labor novel but couldn't get too close to labor leaders. I figure he had a tough time with people so strongly committed to an ideal that they couldn't see any other point of view. He felt the same way with religion and pointed that out in Elmer Gantry.
Lewis' dislike for power politics may have been one reason he didn't get along with his second wife Dorothy Thompson a leading political reporter and commentator of the 1930s and 40s.
Party animal
Lewis could be the life or death of a party. Wherever he and his wife went, a party was soon to follow. They loved having people over for dinner and conversation. Lewis would do research on his guests so he could discuss or debate about their field of work. He would recite dramatic poems with his guests in the stanza or imitate great writers and national personalities.
Eventually, his partying and drinking would get the best of him. He went from being fun at parties to being dangerous. While working on a lake near Brainard, he punched out some guy critical of his books.
Family and nation
Lewis died a sad and lonely man. He had separated himself from friends and family and his writing abilities dried up. His relationships with his wives, sons and father were sad at best. He died without family or friends around him.
While Lewis could be charming, entertaining and brilliant he was driven by some ideal of perfection that even he couldn't live up to.
He looked at America the same way. He loved his country but he didn't like it. He wanted us to be a far greater nation. He wanted Americans to have culture, grace and generosity.
Lingeman's biography does a good job of outlining this complicated life and presenting a case for Lewis' importance as an American author and man worthy of a festival. While he wasn't a warm and fuzzy story teller he did manage to draw our attention to what is important.