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Walter White and Sinclair Lewis: The History of a Literary Friendship
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
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In a long and turbulent career, Sinclair Lewis met thousands of people. Only rarely, though, did chance meetings develop into more meaningful relationships, and what few friendships Lewis formed were invariably short-lived. Perhaps the stinging rebuffs he met as a child from the “gang” his brother Claude led made him wary of becoming close to people; perhaps the reasons lie elsewhere; but Sinclair Lewis spent much of his life largely friendless. However, the friendship he formed with Walter F. White lasted for nearly a quarter of a century and to some extent was reflected in Lewis' novels.
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- An American Tragedy: A 50th Anniversary
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976
References
NOTES
1. Schorer, Mark, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life (New York: McGraw Hill, 1961), esp. pp. 803–04Google Scholar; also Lewis, Grace Hegger, With Love From Gracie (New York: Harcourt, 1955), p. 334.Google Scholar
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5. For examples, see: Our Mr. Wrenn (New York: Harper, 1914), p. 27Google Scholar: “He had a … neck like a blue-gum nigger;” The Job (New York: Harper, 1917), p. 160Google Scholar; “She heard a negro shouting dithyrambics about some religion she could never make out” (also pp. 19, 200, and 233); and Free Air (New York: Harcourt, 1919), p. 256Google Scholar; “He begged of a high nosed colored functionary. … The Abyssinian Prince gave him a check.…”
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37. List of members, April 10, 1934, NAACP Records, Administrative File, Subject File, Anti-Lynching Measures: Writer's League.
38. White, Walter to Lewis, Sinclair, 01 17, 1935Google Scholar, NAACP Records, Administrative File, Subject File, Awards: Spingarn Award. Hereafter cited as Spingarn Award File.
39. An Art Commentary on Lynching, exhibition catalogue, Arthur U. Newton Galleries, NAACP Records, Administrative File, Subject File; Anti-Lynching Measures: Art Exhibit. Also, Zangrando, , p. 111.Google Scholar
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46. White, Walter to Lewis, Sinclair, 08 19, 1936Google Scholar. White's complaint seems to me to be unjustified. To be sure, Jews come in far more heavily than Negroes in It Can't Happen Here (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1935)Google Scholar, but see especially point 10 of Windrip, Berzelius's “The Fifteen Points of Victory for the Forgotten Men,” p. 77.Google Scholar
47. The NAACP Records in the Library of Congress have been organized for use and described only for the period 1909–1939. Due to the bulk of material and inadequate organization and description for the post 1940 period, it is possible that correspondence for the period 1940–1944 between Lewis and White exists in an unknown file in the collection.
48. Telegram, Walter White to Sinclair Lewis, nd, but November 13 or 14, 1944. NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2. When and if this portion of the NAACP Records is organized, the file and box designations given will change.
49. Lewis, Sinclair, “Gentlemen, This is Revolution,” Esquire, 23 (06, 1945), pp. 76–77Google Scholar. This is a review essay of 4 books about racial problems, and reveals an acquaintance with a number of other books on the subject.
50. See, for example, White, Walter to Marshall, Thurgood, 10 15, 1945Google Scholar (NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2).
51. Schorer, , p. 737.Google Scholar
52. Lewis, Sinclair to Jones, Madison, 01 3, 1946Google Scholar, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2.
53. See Sinclair Lewis' report to the Guggenheim Foundation, November 1, 1926.
54. Shelley v. Kraemer, Supreme Court of the United States, 334 U. S. 1 (1948) and Hurd v. Hodge, Supreme Court of the United States, 334 U.S. 24 (1948).
55. White, , A Man Called White, pp. 73–79.Google Scholar
56. Maule, Harry E. to White, Walter, 01 10, 1947Google Scholar, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2.
57. White, Walter to Lewis, Sinclair, 08 15, 1947Google Scholar, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2 and Walter White, “Hails Lewis' Book,” Chicago Daily News, 08 16, 1947, p. 6, c. 3.Google Scholar
58. White, Walter to Lewis, Sinclair, 01 9, 1948, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2.Google Scholar
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60. Lewis, Sinclair to White, Walter, 01 14, 1948Google Scholar, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2. Jane is Jane White, Walter White's daughter, and an actress who on occasion visited Lewis in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with Marcella Powers. See Schorer, , p. 748.Google Scholar
61. White, Walter to Lewis, Sinclair, 01 22, 1948, NAACP Records, Post 1940, file 372, box 2.Google Scholar
62. Lewis, Sinclair, The God Seeker (New York: Random, 1949), pp. 22–23.Google Scholar
63. By describing Kingsblood Royal as one of Lewis' lesser novels, I am following the critical tradition of Schorer, , p. 759Google Scholar, Grebstein, Sheldon N., Sinclair Lewis (New York: Twayne, 1962), pp. 152–56Google Scholar, and Dooley, David J., The Art of Sinclair Lewis (Lincoln: The Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1967), pp. 224–27Google Scholar. More recently, lanni, Lawrence, “Sinclair Lewis as a Prophet of Black Pride,” Sinclair Lewis Newsletter, 3 (1971), pp. 13–15, 21Google Scholar; and McCullough, Sarah J., “Kingsblood Royal: A Revaluation,” Sinclair Lewis Newsletter, 4 (1972), pp. 10–12Google Scholar, have urged a re-examination of Kingsblood Royal, finding in it strengths that they believe have been overlooked.
64. In his will, Lewis left money both to the NAACP, and the National Urban League. See Schorer, , p. 770Google Scholar. A copy of Lewis' will and related correspondence is located in the Arthur Spingarn Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. I am indebted to the Spingarn Estate for permission to examine this material.