Thursday, October 19, 2006

Writer's Corner: Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis was the first American to win the Noble Prize for Literature, and between the years of 1912 and 1951 he published 23 novels. As Sheldon Norman Grebstein wrote in his work Sinclair Lewis, Lewis "was the conscience of his generation and he could well serve as the conscience of our own. His analysis of the America of the 1920's holds true for the America today. His Prophecies have become our truths and his fears have become our most crucial problems".

This is very apparent in his 1935 novel "It Can't Happen here", where a dictator is able to take power in the United States by preying on the needs of a nation in the midst of a depression. The country claims that fascism "can't happen here", but stand helpless as their rights are slowly taken away. For the text of the novel go here.

Of Montreal - Forcast Fascist Future (mp3)

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