Main Street (1920)

I like a lot of things about the social realism of Sinclair Lewis and enjoyed rereading what is probably his single most famous novel. He wrote quite a bit, nearly two dozen novels, and there are a few others that may or may not be worth chasing down—Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth. I’ve had different reactions. Lewis is also from Minnesota and very good on Upper Midwestern ways. I like the characters and situations of Main Street but a lot of it is dated, potentially boring, and even just weirdly improbable. The main character, Carol Kennicott (nee Milford), is from Minneapolis, the daughter of a judge. She marries a small-town doctor, moves to the town (Gopher Prairie aka Sauk Centre), and confronts its narrow, constricted ways. Of course she is a bit of a snob but she comes by it honestly, in pursuit of her city-bred ideals of art and bohemianism. At heart, though she barely comes to realize it even at the end, she is merely a privileged upper-middle-class woman of her times. She hates class distinctions and claims to despise them, but for the most part she conforms. But she is always testing the limits, often with an amazing amount of naivete. There are relevant points all through the novel: hostility toward immigrants (here mostly Swedes, now accepted as white), blind fealty to capitalism, and refreshingly candid views of marriage and wives and husbands. More often it is strangely irrelevant, silent on the influenza pandemic, which was still ongoing at the time of publication (and one main character is a doctor!), with little to say about suffrage or prohibition, and completely blind to LGBTQ issues. There’s a significant character here who is likely gay, but I’m not sure even Lewis knows it. That’s quite a taboo. But Lewis was always good on at least a couple of things, which are seen here. He has a good ear for American salesman chatter. That’s practically all Babbitt is (and worth looking into) and it’s here too. And then I also think he’s really good—and underrated—on domestic scenes, marriage and particularly women. Carol Kennicott is at the center of Main Street. She is complex and done well. It’s true that much of it is dated and has not aged well. But a good deal of it is easily recognized as merely the ins and outs of any relationship. Lewis would get better at this too, but even putting Carol Kennicott front and center and establishing her as realistic works for me on the most basic terms. Lewis has spent nearly a century now falling out of favor after his unlikely Nobel award in 1930. But I like his open-hearted easygoing style quite a bit, a kind of Dreiser-lite that is a pleasure to read. Or maybe that’s a Minnesota connection.

In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over. (Library of America)