Sinclair Lewis( 辛克莱·刘易斯).ppt

Sinclair Lewis(1885-1951) Main Street Main Street was a study of idealism and reality in a narrow-minded small-town. Main Street is the continuation of main Streets everywhere. It meant cheap shops, ugly public buildings, and citizens who were bound by rigid conventions. The book had parallels with the authors own early life. The protagonist also has skin problems. Lewis claimed that Main Street was read with the same masochistic pleasure that one has in sucking an aching tooth. Most of the characters of Sinclair Lewis live in a world of illusion. Lewis tries to expose the modern American society, which compels men to wear masks in order to establish their identity. Therefore, men like Babbitt make futile business deals, become members of snobbish clubs, throw wastefully lavish parties, give shallow speeches and lead staid lives. There is a lonely strain of romantic idealism within Babbitt that marks him as human and typical. But in this materialistic society, the idealized images only exist on the basis of his superficiality and in his spiritual vacuum, and his ideal is ruined by the monotonous, conventional real life he is fated to live. When his escapes end with failure, he must face his dreadful destiny as a hollow-minded idealist. 对他来说,这些装置就是真理和美的象征。巴比特的儿女们对物质的崇拜程度自然不亚于他们的父辈,而崇拜的对象比他们父辈的更加高级,更加时尚。他们是典型的追车一族,一谈到车,他们就浑身是劲, 进行了热烈而详尽的讨论,谈到了车身的流线型,车的爬坡能力,车的幅条轮,车的铬钢,车的点火系统,乃至车身的颜色。这已经远不止是对一个运载工具的探究,而是对一种骑士地位的向往。在泽尼斯,在粗俗张狂的二十世纪,拥有家庭小汽车就标志着一个家庭的社会地位,就像贵族头衔能决定一个英国家庭的社会地位一样。 Another notable technique of Lewis’s is the satiric monologue,which he uses widely in his novels. The ironical effect is often produced by emphasizing the inconsistency between a character’s words and his actions. The character would preach a sacred principle in a pompous and solemn speech, but would contradict it in his own practice. Therefore, when he is babbling on triumphantly, that would be the moment the author makes him appear most ridiculous. The two dinners are described