Lewis:a Many-faceted Mirror Of American Literature

In 1930, Sinclair Lewis won the Nobel literature prize, becoming the first American writer that acquired this honor. His success shows the American literature melting into the European essential cultural structure for the first time. (1), Critical voice: Society values covers up the art achievements From "The street" to "Babbitt", the most successful works of Lewis always bring about the great repercussions as soon as they released. This exactly is because Lewis touches with the sharp and ironic style of drawing which pain the American's complacent nerve. He carries on keeping the animadversion to all aspects of the American society in his work. His critics comment on him as" indignant American writer". This kind of animadversion expressed his understanding and thinking of the American society, and melted his deeply love to the United States ;The Nobel literature prize committee think Lewis's works best describe the American society of the 1920's , His novels also emerge citizen's personality of the United States vividly, thus give the European a new American's image. The above evaluation embodied a general concentrated reflection to Lewis 'achievements. When talking about Lewis' contribution to the American literature, the critics all compliment the social values that his novels have, but blame at the performance of his art creations .I like to pick in some argues about Lewis 'writing ,hoping to through this thinking process to analyze Lewis 'contribution to the American literature objectively . (2),Identical approbation: vivid and vigorous satire Lewis' artistic talent in satire gains whole praise from his critics. On one hand, his description is vivid, which performance at to the vivid depiction of the person and the environment details; on the other hand, this performance is full of ironic strength. Lewis' irony are arranged with meticulous care, which usually can slice the medium vital part, each detail plays a role in strengthen its attacking strength. There contain abundant emotional contents in the satiric depiction of those segments. Those contents express the writer's deeply thought of American society. His irony sometimes is humorous but sharp, when expressing various disgusting manners of the life in the small town, this performance is obvious; sometimes his irony is truly emotional: Babbitt is funny as a typical model image, but when his pursuit of freedom is destroyed by the cruel actuality, the depiction of those details are sadly; In " Arrowsmith " , when revealing the corrupt phenomenon consisting in American medical science field , his irony becomes gloomy and serious. Lewis'satire is sometimes humorous ,at other time it is serious, but all sharp. In displaying the real American aspects , no other novel can match with it. (3), The compliment :Typical personality One of the most important art achievements of Lewis is" Create a new personality with the tactful humor". In "The street", the figure of Carol lets numerous American readers find out his own shadow, The Babbitt becomes a new literal term in the United States. Lewis molds a typical model image with fresh and clear character. The Nobel literature prize committee think those images can typically represent the American personality . For all that, Lewis'performance in depicting the personality becomes one of the blemishes in his comments. Those who holds above standpoint thinkthat Lewis lacks the spirit excavation for his image .While the writer himself claims that his image as a characteristic model is because the standard life in American society disallow to have the flexible character independent. The existence of the typical personality exactly expresses Lewis'observance to the American life . Laying aside the author's statement, Lewis really lacks in the depiction of the spirit life of his images. But we should see that Lewis has the ability to depict some delicate and complicated image like Babbitt, which is a typical model of American middle class businessman, Babbitt failed in pursuing the freedom. His pain and sufferings were also poured into sympathy by Lewis. (4), Contradict attitude in the writer'creations: "Hybrid of two kinds of literal performance method." In "Babbitt", Lewis tries to extend his achievements from the both sides : On the other hand, compared with "The street", the humor and sarcastic depth and wide of "Babbitt"are all have to be strengthened ; On the other hand, Lewis tries more thoroughly to emerge the heart world of Babbitt, which is lacked in the depiction in Carol .Lewis tries to fill two essentially conflicting factors into his novel at the same time, which directly caused dual centers of the novel .Such performance method exposes of the limit :A sensitive Babbitt with human nature certainly will be broken by the dramatic and satiric Babbitt. Whether the self-contradict attitude of Lewis should be a kind of art defect, it provide his novel a kind of dimensions at least, making his novel more complex and have more spaces to study. (5),Conclusion What we can't deny is , the uneven of the level of Lewis'writing caused difficult in judging his art achievements. Besides, as Lewis is the first American who acquires the Nobel literature prize, the evaluation standard may...