Mark Schorer (1908–1977)

Sinclair Lewis: An American Life by Mark Schorer

At one time, Sinclair Lewis was the toast of the literary world. In the span of a single decade, he wrote five first-rate novels (as well as a couple of so-so novels). In the same decade (1920-1929), he wrote 60 short stories, articles, reviews, essays, and other published writings. He was passed over for one Pulitzer, later awarded the prize for a different book (which prize he rejected), and finally, became the first American author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (which prize he accepted). It was pretty much downhill from there. He died alone in an obscure hospital outside Rome in 1951.

A writer as significant as Lewis deserves an in-depth biography, but I don't think [Sinclair Lewis: An American Life] by [[Mark Schorer]] is the one Lewis deserves. It is exhaustive, with 800+ pages devoted to his birth, childhood, education, and literary career. It examines the subjects and the author's intentions; how he researched and outlined them, pouring out an extensive character study of each person in the book, writing, then rewriting, invariably pruning and condensing. The biography enumerates endless dinners, soirees, trips, visits, binges, friendships and fights. It details his two marriages (both ending in divorce) and his almost non-existent relationships with his two sons. It describes Lewis' ceaseless movement—from room to room, house to house to house, country to country.

Harry Sinclair Lewis was born in 1885 in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. His father was a physician. He had two older brothers, Claude, who became a surgeon, and Fred, an auto mechanic. Their mother died when the boys were young, and Dr. Lewis remarried. The doctor was reserved and conservative, favoring Claude and withholding from Harry, as the father always called his son, the love and approval and praise that he craved.

Growing up, Lewis was a tall, gawky, redhead with dreadful acne and a brilliant mind. Naturally, he was known as Red. He was self-centered, egotistical, articulate, creative...and maddening. The butt of pranks and bullying, he had very few friends. In high school, he was writing poetry and short pieces, and he was first published in the local newspaper in 1902. His father was a pinch-penny and bickered over college costs, but Harry went to Yale and did graduate, though not with his class.

Hike and the Aeroplane, a young reader's book, was published in 1912 under the pen name Tom Graham. Two years later, he published Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man under his own name, followed by four more books in six years. And then it was 1920, the year Main Street was introduced to America, making Sinclair Lewis a famous writer and a wealthy man. In the decade that followed, Lewis published Babbitt in 1922, Arrowsmith in 1925, Elmer Gantry in 1927, and finally, in 1929, Dodsworth.

Each of these five books was controversial, generating offense, consternation, anger, disapproval, and—on the other hand—praise and approval. Oh, and sales. Lots and lots of book sales. Yes, Lewis was rich. He was a big shot and expected everyone to know it and to show him the proper respect. He had always been thin-skinned, looking for slights and insults, and volcanic of temper. His alcoholism, a major contributor to his decline and death, amped up his every disagreeable trait.

Having won and accepted the Nobel, Lewis' career was pretty much over. Only the noise, bluster, and tempest carried on. He became stage struck, channeling energy, effort, and money into staging and directing plays, even acting in them. He wrote play after play, relatively few produced, none particularly successful.

It's all here in the biography Schorer spent ten years researching and writing. Somehow, he makes it boring. I'm in the market for a good Red Lewis bio. I give this one the razzburries.… (more)

No, this is not the "definitive" biography of Sinclair Lewis; however, Mark Schorer's biog "definitely" destroyed Lewis's career, at least for a generation (c.1960-1990) and possibly longer. Chances are, if you were in school during those years, you weren't assigned to read anything by Sinclair Lewis.

Schorer despised Lewis, and his "serene loathing" of Lewis, as Gore Vidal once called it, is found throughout the book. Vidal once asked Schorer (a man who drank almost as much as Lewis) why he had taken on a subject he so clearly despised. Schorer's answer: money.

Read this biog if this sort of reputation destruction interests you (in academic circles where reputation-building is taught, Schorer's book is an exemplar of destruction), but don't stop there. Try a more recent Lewis biog by Richard Lingeman (2005), Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street.… (more)