Harry Lewis SinclairAwards:
Nobel Prize in Literature-1930. First writer from
USA to be
awarded the Prize. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.Nobel Committee
in its citation stated that the prize was given for
"for his vigorous and graphic art of
description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types
of characters."
Born: 07/02/1885 in Sauk Center, Minnesota,
US
Died: 10/01/1951 near Rome, Italy
Citizen: US
Language: English
Lewis Sinclair's father was a
physician and loved discipline. When the young boy was only 6 year
old, his mother died and father remarried. Boyhood and early
adolescent of Lewis was lonely. He was tall, extremely thin and did
not make much friends partly because of his habit of creating self
importance. At the age of 13, he ran away from home to become a
drummer boy in Spanish American War.
In 1903, he got admitted to Yale
University but could not graduate till 1908 because of frequent
interruption in study by travel and other activities. He had however
started writing articles and poems and became the Editor of Yale
Literary Magazine. His first published book was the Hike and the
Aeroplane published in 1912 under the pseudonym Tom Graham. His
first serious novel was Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventure of a
Gentle Man published in 1914. This was followed by The Trial of
the Hawk: A Comedy of the seriousness of Life (1915) and The
Job(1917).
Lewis married Grace Livingstone
Heggar, Editor of Vogue in 1914. They had a son who was killed in
Second World War. In 1925, he divorced his wife and married Dorothy
Thompson.
Sinclair's writing career advanced after Main Street was published in
October,1920. The sale of 1,80,000 copies during first six
months was spectacular in those days. It made Sinclair rich. Then
followed Babbitt and Arrowsmith. Arrowsmith
narrated the agony and hurdles faced by an idealistic doctor. This
novel fetched him the Pulitzer Prize which he refused to accept.
Sinclair continued to write
vigorously even after getting the Nobel Prize but many critics feel
that the quality and style of his writing declined. During 1937, he
had a serious problem due to chronic alcoholism and had to be treated.
However, he never got over this problem and died in Rome in 1951 due
to heart failure aggravated by alcoholism.
Notable Works:
Main Street(1920), Babbitt(1922),
Arrowsmith(1925),
Man Trap(1926),
Elmer Gantry
(1927) ,Dodsworth
(1929),It Can't Happen Here(1935),The
Prodigal Parents(1938),Class
Timberlane(1945),
The God Seeker(1949)
Order Lewis Sinclair's Books below
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