HBJ Modern Classic

3 total works

Babbitt

by Sinclair Lewis

Published 3 January 1922

BY THE AUTHOR OF IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE

Businessman George F. Babbitt loves the latest appliances, making money and the Republican party. In fact, he loves being a Solid Citizen even more than he loves his wife. But Babbitt comes to resent the middle class trappings he has worked so hard to acquire. Realising that his life is devoid of meaning, he grows determined to transcend his trivial existence and search for a greater purpose.

In the economic boom years of 1920s' America, Babbitt became a symbol of middle-class mediocrity, and his name an enduring part of the American lexicon.

Main Street

by Sinclair Lewis

Published 3 April 1905

This classic by Sinclair Lewis shattered the sentimental American myth of happy small-town life with its satire. Main Street attacks the conformity and dullness of early 20th Century midwestern village life in the story of Carol Milford, the city girl who marries the town doctor. Her efforts to bring culture to the prairie village are met by a wall of gossip, greed, and petty small-minded bigotry. Lewis's complex and compelling work established him as an important character in American literature.

Arrowsmith

by Sinclair Lewis

Published 6 January 1925

The origins of Arrowsmith can be traced to the late 1960s in Sunapee, New Hampshire. Steven Tyler was a drummer and vocalist originally from Yonkers, New York, who had been in a series of relatively unsuccessful bands such as The Vic Tallarico Orchestra, The Strangeurs/Chain Reaction, The Chain, Fox Chase, and William Proud. In 1969, while vacationing in Sunapee, he met Joe Perry, who was at the time washing dishes at the Anchorage in Sunapee Harbor, and playing in a band called the Jam Band with bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer David "Pudge" Scott. This meeting would eventually lead to the formation of Arrowsmith