Main Street Contributor(s): Lewis, Sinclair (Author) |
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ISBN: 1499763972 ISBN-13: 9781499763973 Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform OUR PRICE: $14.68 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2014 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics |
Dewey: FIC |
Lexile Measure: 1010 |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.98" W x 9.02" (1.30 lbs) 404 pages |
Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Demographic Orientation - Small Town |
Accelerated Reader Info |
Quiz #: 5991 Reading Level: 8.6 Interest Level: Upper Grades Point Value: 30.0 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Main Street is an satirical novel by Nobel Prize winning author Sinclair Lewis. Carol Milford is a liberal, free-spirited young woman, reared in the metropolis of Saint Paul, Minnesota. She marries Will Kennicott, a doctor, who is a small-town boy at heart. When they marry, Will convinces her to live in his home-town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Carol is appalled at the backwardness of Gopher Prairie. But her disdain for the town's physical ugliness and smug conservatism compels her to reform it. She speaks with its members about progressive changes, joins women's clubs, distributes literature, and holds parties to liven up Gopher Prairie's inhabitants. Despite her friendly but ineffective efforts, she is constantly derided by the leading cliques. She finds comfort and companionship outside her social class. These companions are taken from her one by one. In her unhappiness, Carol leaves her husband and moves for a time to Washington, D.C., but she eventually returns. Nevertheless, Carol does not feel defeated: Main Street was initially awarded the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature, but was rejected by the Board of Trustees, who overturned the jury's decision. The prize went, instead, to Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence. In 1926 Lewis refused the Pulitzer when he was awarded it for Arrowsmith. In 1930, Lewis was the first American ever awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. 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." |