Main Street

Main Street is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis, and published in 1920.




Satirizing small town life, Main Street is perhaps Sinclair Lewis's most famous book, and led in part to his eventual 1930 Nobel Prize for Literature. It relates the life and struggles of Carol Milford Kennicott in the small town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, as she comes into conflict with the small-town mentality of its residents. Highly acclaimed upon publication, Main Street remains a recognized American classic.




Main Street initially was awarded the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature, but was rejected by the board of trustees, who overturned the jury's decision. The prize instead went 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 in 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."




In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Main Street #68 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. (wikipedia.org)