Sinclair Lewis: An American Life

xxiii+867 pages with frontispiece, Sinclair Lewis Check List and index. Royal octavo (9 1/2" x 6 1/4") bound in original quarter grey cloth with gilt lettering to cover and gilt and blue lettering to spine over black cloth in original pictorial jacket. Book Club Edition. A monumental study of one of the most famous authors in the 20th century by one of the most distinguished literary men of America today, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life will stand for years to come in the select company of definitive American biographies. As described by Mark Schorer, the book is 'a detailed account of Sinclair Lewis' life, from birth to death, a life lived in many places & full of constant peregrination. It was in many ways a disastrous life, full of sordid horror, & the book does not gloss over that. It was also, in many ways, a life full of comedy & buffoonery, & these too find their place in the text. The approach of the book is not literary or critical; it treats Lewis' books & other writings chiefly as events in his life, & events that helped to form his character. The tone is casual & personal, perhaps slightly ironical. The book attempts to locate Lewis in the American literary scene, contrasting & comparing him with his contemporaries, chiefly people whom he actually knew. Lewis is a prime example of that characteristic phenomenon of American literature--the man who enjoys a tremendous & rather early success & then suffers through a long period of decline & deterioration. Condition: Corners gently bumped, corners and spine ends moderately rubbed. Jacket chipped at corners, spine ends and edges; 1/2" x 1/4" loss to heal spine ends; 2" x 1" loss to back heal corner; edge wear with tears and creases else very good in a poor jacket.