The Job: An American Novel, by Sinclair Lewis

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 1 person | Log in to rate

Ranked #2,265 in Arts , #48,034 overall

The Job: An American Novel, by Sinclair Lewis

The Job: An American Novel is one of the early novels written by famous American author, Sinclair Lewis.  This novel was one of the stepping stones towards Lewis's success.  The first edition was printed in 1917, and is now a very rare and valuable antique book.

One of the Rarest Sinclair Lewis Novels 

The serious novel out of two 1917 releases

The Job: An American Novel was one of two novels printd by Sinclair Lewis in 1917. The other was The Innocents which many consider to be another "pot boiler" of a novel. "Pot boiler" is the modern equivilant of "pulp fiction" or "mass market fiction." The Job is a serious novel.

"The Job" takes place over a decade from 1905-1915. In this novel the hero is actually a heroine: Miss Una Golden. In 1905 she is 24 yrs. old and lives in the town of Panama, Pennsylvania.

The rest of the story over those ten years is about Una's determination to find a good, romantic man to fall in love with while also making a career for herself in business, considered a "man's job."

Walter Babson is an early suitor who appears like a good man. However, there is another man who appears, a widower named Edward Schwirtz who is a smooh talking salesman. In a bad decision, she marries him. The next couple years are unhappy and finally she divorces him.

The novel focuses a lot on the issues of exploited workers, particularly women workers. This time period the question really is work vs. marriage since it was deeply frowned upon for a woman to do both.

It is difficult for working women to find a mate because there is a stigma attached to working, part of the reason that Una makes a bad decision to marry the wrong man.

But along the way, she meets very influential women, and Una proves to be a smart, capable woman who finds her way in a male dominated world. Despite a lot of darkness, this book ends up with a deus ex machina happy ending in the last few pages.

The first man she really had any interest in, Walter Babson, turns up again and the ending pages cause the reader to believe that they will make there future together, both with jobs, and hoping to have children.

This book was very controversial during its time, pushing women's rights, dealing with anti-Semetism, and this novel was daring enough to mention alcoholism, venereal disease, divorce, adoption by a single women, and women who drink and smoke. Through out dealing with all this, the main heroine, Una, still remains a proper Victorian lady.

This is an interesting work, an is considered by many to be the first of three novels written by Sinclair Lewis that strongly pushes the rights of the working woman.

Sinclair Lewis & Antique Novels 

Links to useful information on Sinclair Lewis and his novels, including places to buy the now collectible works.
Best Sinclair Lewis Lens
This is my most comprehensive Sinclair Lewis lens and covers a lot of great information on the author, his works, and antique books in general!
Lens on Hike and the Aeroplane
On Lewis's first published novel.
Lens about The Job
A lens on another early Sinclair Lewis novel.
Our Mr. Wrenn
On Sinclair Lewis's first "serious" novel.
Class Outline on "The Job"
Great online notes from a professor teaching a Sinclair Lewis course.
Collecting Antique Books
A great starting site to learn how to collect antique books.

Great Sinclair Lewis Novels on eBay! 

Good first editions, even occasionally get a really rare one on here!

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

Sinclair Lewis on Wikipedia 

Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 ? January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as their strong characterizations of modern working women.

Reader Feedback 

Thank you for leaving a comment. If you found this lens useful, please remember to rate this lens. Thanks!

submit

Reprints of the most popular Sinclair Lewis novels 

Lewis's writing style is simple enough to make a popular, as well as academic, comeback.

It Can't Happen Here

Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Arrowsmith

Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Babbitt (Signet Classics)

Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Lewis: Main Street and Babbitt (Library of America)

Amazon Price: $27.05 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street

Amazon Price: $18.96 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

The Job by Sinclair Lewis on Blogs Across the Web 

The Sheet : Mammoth's Free, Almost Daily Newspaper: The Best and ...
Dana's ?job? was to find the films that she liked the most; mine was to find the worst. But before I dive into what I felt were the worst of the films, I have to admit there were some that I really enjoyed (Message from the East, .... Thanks to the inter-library book exchange I am able to ?compare & contrast? Sinclair Lewis' work, ?It Can't Happen Here? (1935) with : Amity Shlaes' ?The Forgotten Man? (2007); Wendell Wilkie's One World (1943); John A. Stormer's ?None Dare ...
Job, The by Lewis, Sinclair
'The Job' is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis. It is considered an early declaration of the rights of working women. The focus is on the main character, Una Golden, who desires to establish herself in a legitimate ...
Constance Reader's Guide to Throwing Books with Great Force: I'm ...
In order to bring in a little money, Agnes applies for a job as a governess with the wealthy Bloomfield family. The people there are rotten to her. She leaves, and applies for a job with the wealthy Murray family and misses her family lots ... But for all of her skill at writing prose, this is (as Sherwood Anderson once said of Sinclair Lewis) some of the most joyless prose I've ever experienced. There's nothing to this book but dourness and self-pity and flat gray walls. ...
CRIME Blog | The Dallas Morning News
I know this will not happen because people no longer look at any employment as a career but merely a job or paycheck and do not concern themselves with the quality of perfection they offer. ... Alas, Ms Wilhite is no Sinclair Lewis or Rachel Carson. Others that have trudged through this thing describe it somewhere between boldfaced lies and outright libel. Generally, I expect extraordinary proof to back extraordinary claims, but I was willing to let her have her say. ...

Loosely Related Links 

If you have an original copy of "The Job," then that's a pretty darn good find for a beginning Book hound. If Lewis encourages you to write, then check out this page on how to be a writer.

by Monteath

Hey all. I was previously in Austin, Texas, as well as Fairbanks, Alaska, and now proudly live as a digital vagabond writer. The picture is from Alas...

(more)

Explore related pages

Create a Lens!