Contemporary American Literature Part 41

Bookm. 36 ('12): 347 (portrait); 38 ('13): 233, 236 (portrait).

See also _Book Review Digest_, 1913, 1915-8.

+Edwin Lefevre+ (Colombia, South America, 1871)--novelist, short-story writer.

Uses Wall Street as material. For bibliography, see _Who's Who in America_.

+Sinclair Lewis+--novelist.

Born at Sauk Center, Minnesota, 1885. Son of a physician. A.B., Yale, 1907. During the next ten years was a newspaper man in Connecticut, Iowa, and California, a magazine editor in Washington, D.C., and editor for New York book publishers. During the last five years has been traveling in the United States, living from one day to six months in the most diverse places, and motoring from end to end of twenty-six states. While supporting himself by short stories and experimental novels, he laid the foundation for his unusually successful _Main Street_. His first book, _Our Mr. Wrenn_, is said to contain a good deal of autobiography.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. Do you recognize Gopher Prairie as a type? Is Mr. Lewis's picture photography, caricature, or the kind of portraiture that is art? Or to what degree do you find all these elements?

2. Is the main interest of the book in the story? in the characterization? in the satire? or in an element of propaganda?

3. What is to be said of the constructive theory of living proposed by the heroine? Is it better or worse than the standard that prevailed before she went to Gopher Prairie to live?

4. Explain the success of the book. What, if any, elements of permanent value do you find? What conspicuous defects?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Our Mr. Wrenn. 1914.

The Trail of the Hawk. 1915.

The Job. 1917.

The Innocents. 1917.

Free Air. 1919.

*Main Street. 1920.

Babbitt. 1922.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Am. M. 91 ('21): Apr., p. 16 (portrait). Bookm. 39 ('14): 242, 248 (portrait); 54 ('21): 9. (Archibald Marshall.) Freeman, 2 ('20): 237.

Lit. Digest, 68 ('21): Feb. 12, p. 28 (portrait). New Repub. 25 ('20): 20. Sat. Rev. 132 ('21): 230. See also _Book Review Digest_, 1920.

+Ludwig Lewisohn+--critic.

Born at Berlin, Germany. 1882. Brought to America, 1890. A.B., and A.M., College of Charleston, 1901 (Litt. D., 1914); A.M., Columbia, 1903.

Editorial work and writing for magazines, 1904-10. Translator from the German. College instructor and professor, 1910-19. Dramatic editor of _The Nation_, 1919--.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Modern Drama. 1915.

A Modern Book of Criticism. 1919.

Up Stream, an American Chronicle. 1922.

The Drama and the Stage. 1922.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Bookm. 48 ('19): 558.

Nation 111 ('20): 219.

Sewanee R. 17 ('09): 458.

See also _Book Review Digest_, 1915, 1920.

+Joseph Crosby Lincoln+ (Ma.s.sachusetts, 1870)--novelist.

Writes of New England types, especially sailors. For bibliography, see _Who's Who in America_.

+(Nicholas) Vachel Lindsay+--poet.

Born at Springfield, Illinois, 1879. Educated in the public schools.

Studied at Hiram College, Ohio, 1897-1900; at the Art Inst.i.tute, Chicago, 1900-3, and at the New York School of Art, 1904-5. Member of the Christian (Disciples) Church. Y.M.C.A. lecturer, 1905-09. Lecturer for the Anti-Saloon League throughout central Illinois, 1909-10. Makes long pilgrimages on foot (cf. _A Handy Guide for Beggars_).

In the summer of 1912, he walked from Illinois to New Mexico, distributing his poems and speaking in behalf of "The Gospel of Beauty."

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. Read for background _A Handy Guide for Beggars_ and _Adventures while Preaching the Gospel of Beauty_.

2. An important clue to Mr. Lindsay's work is suggested in his own note on reading his poems. Referring to the Greek lyrics as the type which survives in American vaudeville where every line may be two-thirds spoken and one-third sung, he adds: "I respectfully submit these poems as experiments in which I endeavor to carry this vaudeville form back towards the old Greek presentation of the half-chanted lyric. In this case the one-third of music must be added by the instinct of the reader.... Big general contrasts between the main sections should be the rule of the first attempts at improvising. It is the hope of the writer that after two or three readings each line will suggest its own separate touch of melody to the reader who has become accustomed to the cadences.

Let him read what he likes read, and sing what he likes sung."

In carrying out this suggestion, note that Mr. Lindsay often prints aids to expression by means of italics, capitals, s.p.a.ces, and even side notes and other notes on expression.

3. What different kinds of material appeal especially to Mr. Lindsay's imagination? How do you explain his choice, and his limitations?

4. What effect upon his poetry has the missionary spirit which is so strong in him? Is his poetry more valuable for its singing element or for its ethical appeal? Do you discover any special originality?

5. How does his use of local material compare with that of Masters? of Frost? of Sandburg?

6. Study his rhythmic sense in different poems, the verse forms that he uses, the tendencies in rhyme, his use of refrain, of onomatopoeia, of catalogues, etc.

7. Does Mr. Lindsay offend your poetic taste? If so, can you justify his use of the material you object to?