Lewis, (Harry) Sinclair (1885–1951)

US satirical novelist who was the first US writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1930. With the appearance of Main Street (1920), Lewis was recognized as a new force in US literature, a satirist of the first order who saw his country with clear eyes. His best-selling Main Street was followed by Babbitt (1922), the story of a self-satisfied US businessman. Martin Arrowsmith (1925) satirizes the medical profession, and Elmer Gantry (1927) paints a savage picture of the professional religious revivalists. Dodsworth (1929) was the fruit of numerous trips to Europe.

He was born in Sauk Center, Minnesota. Graduating from Yale University in 1907, he worked for a time as a newspaper reporter and then in various editorial capacities with US publishing firms. He published his first novel Hike and the Aeroplane, a book for boys, in 1912.

Other works include Our Mr Wrenn (1914), Ann Vickers (1933), It Can't Happen Here (1935), The Prodigal Parents (1938), Bethel Merriday (1940), Gideon Planish (1943), Cass Timberlane (1945), Kingsblood Royal (1947), The Seeker (1949), and World So Wide (1951). The Man From Main Street (1954) is a collection of his essays.