Babbitt
George F. Babbitt, a conniving, prosperous real estate man from Zenith, Ohio, revels in his popularity, his success, and, especially, in the material rewards they bring. He bullies his wife, flirts with other women, and patronizes the less successful. But when his best friend is sent to prison...
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George F. Babbitt, a conniving, prosperous real estate man from Zenith, Ohio, revels in his popularity, his success, and, especially, in the material rewards they bring. He bullies his wife, flirts with other women, and patronizes the less successful. But when his best friend is sent to prison for killing his wife, Babbitt's middle-class complacency is shattered, and he rebels, seeking a more "meaningful" life. His small revolt is quickly defeated, however, by public opinion and his own need for acceptance. Babbitt captures the flavor of America during the economic boom years of the 1920's, and its protagonist has become the symbol of middle-class mediocrity, his name an enduring part of the American lexicon. "The equal of any novel written in English in the present century." —Virginia Woolf in The Saturday Review
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780140189025 (0140189025)
Publish date: April 1st 1996
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Edition language: English
I am reading Sinclair Lewis after Min Jin Lee shared her passion for his writing with us at our Library Author lunch. I don't remember reading any of his books, but if I did, it was in the blur of high school required reading, so I am having another go at these. This one reminded me of the Cheever s...
- Alors... on prétend que les rêves sont le contraire de la réalité.Et ainsi il se rendit compte que c'était de la folie de prendre la fuite, parce qu'il ne pourrait jamais se fuir lui-même.
I was wary of this novel of 1920s America, given what very little I knew of it, which was only that its title has become a metaphor, now fairly little-used, for an entirely conventional and complacent middle-class man. I thought that it would be very satirical, and very much of its time and place, a...
In the USA the word "Babbitt" has become synonymous for Philistine, thus for "a self-satisfied person who conforms readily to conventional, middle-class ideas and ideals, especially of business and material success" (babbitt. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dicti...
It was okay, and only stuck through it for class. I don't ever plan on reading this again. It's basically about conformity.