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23 NOVELS OF SINCLAIR LEWIS (1885 -
1951)
taught by Dr Mary Klein Killough and Mr T. Patrick Killough SESSION TO MEET MCCALL'S TEACHERS OF SEVEN COURSES. AND SIGN-UP FOR SELECTED COURSES Wednesday September 28, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Montreat College, Gaither Fellowship Hall Introductory Remarks by Mary and Patrick Killough on "NOVELS OF SINCLAIR LEWIS" --Background Music, "We shall gather at the river," from movie ELMER GANTRY. I. PATRICK: Who is Sinclair Lewis and why is he important? The structure of our course; chronological review of Lewis's 23 novels published between 1912 (HIKE AND THE AEROPLANE) and (posthumously) in 1951 (WORLD SO WIDE). We will concentrate on the following eight: MAIN STREET .. BABBITT .. ARROWSMITH .. ELMER GANTRY .. DODSWORTH .. IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE .. KINGSBLOOD ROYAL .. CASS TIMBERLANE For each novel Mary and I will (A) --summarize the PLOT of the novel --READ ALOUD selected passages (B) --Discuss the LIFE and TIMES of Sinclair Lewis -- EVENTS in his life, people he knew, books he read contemporary with his novel --How these events became SOURCES for the novel (C) The Author's METHODS --of RESEARCH --of WRITING (D) IMPACT of the novel --on PUBLICS. especially for those novels turned into FILMS --on CRITICS, including the committees for the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes II. MARY: Sinclair Lewis writes comparatively little about young children and normal family life. But he has much to say about adult men and women trying to relate to the opposite sex, to their work and to their ambitions. I will focus on Lewis's treatment of women, especially in four novels MAIN STREET, THE JOB, ANN VICKERS and BETHEL MERRIDAY. It is not necessary for you to read any of Sinclair Lewis's novels before taking the course. When the course is done, Patrick and I hope that you will have a good basis for selecting two or three that you expect to find most rewarding personally. _________________________________________________________________________ COURSE OUTLINE
Consecutive Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. October 05 - November 09, 2005 HENRY Building, 4th Floor Montreat Presbyterian CHURCH building Campus of Montreat College for Adult Education Program ("MCCALL") _________________________________________________________________________ SESSION ONE: October 5 --(A) Course Overview. --Life of Lewis. His greatness. Techniques of researching, writing. His flaws. Films based on novels. --Course sequence: We will present 23 novels in chronological order from 1912 to 1951. In the list below greatest attention will go to those seven (7) in CAPITAL LETTERS, namely, ------MAIN STREET.....BABBITT.....ARROWSMITH.....ELMER GANTRY.....DODSWORTH.....IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE..... KINGSBLOOD ROYAL....and.....CASS TIMBERLANE In their chronological context, the novels are linked with the life of their author. He sometimes converted to fiction aspects of events in his own life in the past four or five years and/or research he did into various "themes" of his novel: e.g. doctors, lawyers, pilots, preachers. As time permits, passages will be read aloud from each work studied. For their music, opinions, insights into contemporary Americans. --(B) First Four Novels (1) 1912 HIKE AND THE AEROPLANE. (writing as Tom Graham.) Boy's aviation adventure yarn. (2) 1914 OUR MR. WRENN. A timid clerk dreams of travel. He tours London with an expatriate artist before returning home to marry a down-to-earth girl and settle back into commonplace life. (3) 1915 THE TRAIL OF THE HAWK. The boyhood, youth, and career of a man who escapes from provincial small town Minnesota to become an aviator. (4) 1917 THE JOB. A woman rises in business in New York City. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= SESSION TWO: October 12. Novels 5 - 8. (5) 1917 THE INNOCENTS; A STORY FOR LOVERS. Seth and Sarah Jane Appleby break out of Seth's 40 year rut of selling shoes. They open a Tea Shop. When it fails, they wander to West Virginia and transform a hobo jungle. The tramps scatter and spread a legend of two rich eccentric wanderers doing good. The Applebys find happiness in small town Indiana. (6) 1919 FREE AIR. Last of the author's apprentice works before Main Street (1920). Sentimental story of a transcontinental romance, based on a cross-country trip Lewis had made himself. Has source material for his later satirical treatment of American life. (7) 1920 MAIN STREET. Attack on small-town American life, through the frustrations and eventual rebellion of Carol Kennicott in Gopher Prairie. Criticizes sanctified topics such as marriage, gender roles, and American values: "the most sensational event in twentieth-century American publishing history." (8) 1922 BABBITT. A satirical indictment of American provincialism through realtor and booster George Babbitt of Zenith, who desires "to seize something more than motor cars and a house before it's too late," but eventually bows to his conventional, materialistic fate. "Conformity is the great price that our predominantly commercial culture exacts.... But when Babbitt was published, this was its revelation to Americans." =-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---=-=- SESSION THREE: October 19. Novels 9 - 11. (9) 1925 ARROWSMITH. Lewis declines the Pulitzer Prize for his novel about an idealistic doctor and scientist who encounters self-interest, corruption, and jealousy at every level of his profession. (10) 1926 MANTRAP. Minor novel about a New York lawyer in the Canadian wilderness who is befriended by a backwoodsman and attracted to his flirtatious wife. (11) 1927 ELMER GANTRY. Satire on American religious fundamentalism. Gantry is a religious charlatan who trades on his good looks and promotional skills to become a popular evangelist and a leader of a large Midwestern church. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- SESSION FOUR: October 26. Novels 12- 15. (12) 1928 THE MAN WHO KNEW COOLIDGE. Lewis continues his documentation of Babbittry in this extended ironic monologue by a businessman whose conventional opinions on many matters make Lewis's satirical points. (13) 1929 DODSWORTH. Retired businessman Samuel Dodsworth reassesses his marriage and his life while traveling in Europe. The novel marks a shift from Lewis's previous satirizing of Midwesterners by presenting a sympathetic portrait of his title character. The author would collaborate with Sidney Howard on a dramatic version in 1934. (14) 1933 ANN VICKERS. Lewis, criticized for his treatment of his women characters, undertakes a novel with a female protagonist, an idealistic social worker. The novel features an acknowledgment of lesbianism and a moral justification for extramarital relationships. (15) 1934 WORK OF ART. Reviewers detect a less angry author in this account of the travails of a hotel manager driven to create the perfect inn. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=- SESSION FIVE: November 2. Novels 16 - 20. (16) 1935 IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE. Lewis projects present-day Germany into America's future in this social satire describing the rise to power of an American dictator. The author would collaborate with John C. Moffitt in a 1936 dramatization simultaneously performed by all units of the Federal Theatre Project. Also published in 1935 is Lewis's Selected Short Stories. (17) 1938 THE PRODIGAL PARENTS. Lewis's novel describes the revolt of middle-aged parents from their two selfish and demanding offspring. Seen by many as second-rate Lewis, the novel draws fire from critic Malcolm Cowley, who charges that "From the first page to the last there wasn't a character that rises above the level of a good comic strip." (18) 1940 BETHEL MERRIDAY. The novel traces a young actress's theatrical career from high school dramatics, through summer stock and a touring company, to her first Broadway appearance. (19) 1943 GIDEON PLANISH. Satirical attack on philanthropic scam-artists: themes visited in BABBITT and ELMER GANTRY. (20) 1945 CASS TIMBERLANE. Subtitled "A Novel of Husbands and Wives," Satirizes American marriage in a portrait of a Minnesota judge's second marriage to a woman half his age, along with side-glances at others' marital and extramarital relations. =-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- SESSION SIX: November 9 (A) Novels 21 - 23. (21) 1947 KINGSBLOOD ROYAL. Racial intolerance is the problem. Midwestern banker learns that he is 1/32 black.. (22) 1949 THE GOD-SEEKER. A historical story set in Minnesota in the 1850s. (23) 1951 WORLD SO WIDE. About Florence, Italy, where Sinclair Lewis died January 10, 1951, a physical wreck. An American architect seeks meaning, purpose and a mate. It was published posthumously. (B) Review and Summing Up. Major Themes. Writing Techniques =-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- web source for some descriptions of novels: http://www.answers.com/topic/sinclair-lewis -OOO- work in progress 09/22/2005 |