Main Street (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Sinclair Lewis
- First Published: 1920
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social satire
- Time of Work: c. 1910-1920
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Values, Social reform, Tradition, Midwest, Doctors, Manners or customs, 1910’s, Small-town life, Idealism, Conformity, Gossip
- Locales: Chicago, IL, Washington, D.C., Midwest (U.S.), Minneapolis, MN
Places Discussed
Gopher Prairie. Fictional Minnesota town that is the novel’s primary setting and target of its satire. Lewis begins with a prologue describing Gopher Prairie’s Main Street as the “continuation of Main Streets everywhere. . . . the climax of civilization. . . . Our railway station is the final aspiration of architecture.”
Lewis modeled Gopher Prairie on the similarly sized town of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, in which he grew up. Each is a wheat town of about three thousand residents, situated at the edge of an endless prairie, but within easy reach of...
[The entire page is 1157 words long]
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