First published in 1922, “Babbitt” is Sinclair Lewis’ satire of American culture in the early part of the 20th century. In the years following World War I Americans began to idealize the middle-class lifestyle as a symbol of success, one crucial to the American identity. The successful self-made family man living in a Midwestern town began to symbolize the “American Dream”. The titular character of this novel, George F. Babbitt, is one such man. Babbitt is a successful middle-aged partner in a real estate firm who is married with three kids living in the fictional Midwestern town of Zenith. While having achieved the “American Dream” Babbitt gradually begins to feel a lack of fulfillment with how his life has turned out. He is a man unaware of the contemporary social and economic conditions that exist outside his own small circle. This lack of awareness begins to become increasingly apparent to him and a feeling of consternation sets in. Controversial upon its first publication for its criticism of what many Americans believed to be the ideal life, “Babbitt” is at once the tale of a middle-life crisis and a satirical critique of the vacuity of middle-class American life. This edition includes an introduction by Hugh Walpole and a biographical afterword.
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