Glen A. Love

When the Swedish Academy awarded Sinclar Lewis the Nobel Prize in Literature, it cited the excellence of his 1922 novel Babbitt as a major reason for the decision. Having read Babbitt twice over the years, I have never quite been able to understand what it is about the novel that charms me, despite the obvious flaws and dated values and dreams of its main character. Glen Love's contribution to Twayne's Masterwork Studies helped me understand why its protagonist could engender such ambivalence and sympathy in the reader.

Mr. Love's analysis first explores the literary and historical context of Sinclair Lewis' novel as a book of the 1920s, and then, George Babbit himself as cultural archetype. A third chapter considers the critical response to the book, positive and negative. Successive chapters consider Lewis' use of the realistic approach, his use of satire and style, the romantic idealism of his protagonist, and the character's place in the context of an increasingly technological culture. Mr. Love sees Babbitt as "a great novel of satiric realism", one that (like Lewis' other work) shows "a lonely strain of romantic idealism." As he reminds us, author Sherwood Anderson described Lewis as "a man writing who, wanting passionately to love the life about him, cannot bring himself to do so." In Mr. Love's words, Babbitt is a novel where "satiric inversions jostle with hppeful dreams". Beneath the "conformance and complacency", its protagonst himself is "a romantic yearner who desires more than he understands. And in that yearning we perceive a kind of vestigial worth, a solidity and decency... that silences our derisive laughter." I understand better now the skill with which Sinclair Lewis has drawn his character. A biting satire would have been easy. Lewis's satire is tempered with a deep sympathy for his protagonist borne of recognition and understanding.

I have come to appreciate books of the Twayne's Masterwork Studies, which offer far more than do "Cliffs Notes" and "Monarch Notes." To anyone who has read Babbitt, I would strongly recommend Glen Love's analysis as one that will engender a deeper appreciation and understanding of that seemingly simple novel.… (more)