May 2

Babbitt
By Sinclair Lewis

When Lauri Burke and I were putting together a library discussion group on novels published during the prohibition, Babbitt (1922) was a logical choice - plus, it was on my reading bucket list.

Set in the imaginary midwestern city of Zenith, this is the story of a businessman, George Babbitt, who strives to "look good", which involves confirming to many social norms.  He appears to be happily married and a devoted father.  While the story was published too early in the prohibition era to feature any of the crime that came to be associated with the manufacture and stealing of alcohol, the story is still firmly set in its time.  For example, George is thinking of getting a new car, the kind "with windows"; he often spends the night on his sleeping porch, a fixture on many early 20th century houses.  He has a successful real estate business, lives in a nice home, entertains, has a live-in maid - but still feels he can't buck the middle class and yearns for greater status.  He eventually experiences a midlife crisis that causes him to question his middle-class values and experiment with a  more rebellious life style. He ultimately returns, however, to his life of conformity, realizing how much he appreciates his wife and family, although he hints at encouraging his son to try to live a more adventurous life.  While the name "Babbitt" has become synonymous with conformity, his story is typically American, and it's easy for the reader to sympathize with George Babbitt.  It's a well-written chronicle of a bygone era.

In 1930, Lewis won the Nobel Prize in literature for this and other works, the first American to win the prize.