Main Street
by Lewis, Sinclair
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Near Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1948. NEAR FINE/VG. Gray cloth with blue to front and spine. Patterned Harcourt Brace endpapers. "quarrrels" on p. 223, "P.10.62" on copyright page. Price intact ($2.50) mylar sleeved jacket has a horizontal crease top front, couple tiny tears. Harcourt Brace Modern Classics series. 451 pp.
Synopsis
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is a satirical novel concerning small town America. The story follows Carol Milford, a liberal and free-spirited woman, as she marries Dr. William Kennicott and settles in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Upon arrival, Carol is shocked by the conservatism and general backwardness of Gopher Prairie—which is loosely based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The residents of Gopher Prairie seem more interested in gossip than larger cultural or social issues, which frustrates Carol. In various attempts to reform the town, she implements one improvement project after another, all of them ending in failure. In the end, Carol realizes that her frustrations with the individuals of the town should really have been directed towards its institutions and that although she was been beaten, she has kept the faith. Lewis initially seems to be attacking his small town roots in the novel, but his satire is double-edged; Main Street is not only a critique of simple townspeople, but also of the superficial intellectuals who look down on them. Main Street was not expected to be a commercial success. Lewis anticipated selling 10,000 copies; Harcourt, Brace and Howe anticipated 20,000. In the first six months of 1921, Main Street sold over 180,000 copies. Main Street is ranked 68th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was initially awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature that year, but the Board of Trustees overturned the decision and gave the prize to Edith Wharton for The Age of Innocence instead. (In 1925, Lewis rejected the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith because he felt that he had deserved the prize for Main Street.)
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Details
- Bookseller
- Cyberaisle (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 5191
- Title
- Main Street
- Author
- Lewis, Sinclair
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Harcourt Brace & World
- Date Published
- 1948
- Size
- 8vo
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- fiction; literature;
Terms of Sale
Cyberaisle
30 day return guarantee with full refund if not satisfied. Standard shipping (media mail) is $3.50, with $1.50 for each additional item. Orders are packaged carefully and shipped promptly, usually the same or next Business day. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LBS, or 1 KG. If your item is heavy extra shipping May be required. Tracking is provided on all domestic orders. Credit card orders should be paid THROUGH THE BIBLIO WEBSITE. Money orders and personal checks are accepted, orders paid by check should be made out to "Scott Hurst" and will be processed upon clearing my bank.
About the Seller
Cyberaisle
About Cyberaisle
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...