La novela que creo un nuevo arquetipo en la literatura estadounidense y le valio a su autor el Premio Nobel de Literatura. En esta novela imprescindible de la narrativa americana, Sinclair Lewis nos presenta a George F. Babbit, un agente inmobiliario bullicioso, arrogante y siemp...re preocupado por su reputacion. Babbit es el epitome de una nueva figura en la literatura estadounidense: el conformista total, un personaje que piensa y siente lo mismo que la multitud. O eso quiere creer. En grandes escenas satiricas, lo vemos participar en reuniones, actos sociales y viajes de negocios que capturan toda la agitacion de la cultura comercial de su pais. Sin embargo, Lewis estudia tambien las grietas de su personalidad, y el retrato de sus dudas acaba mostrando la cara oculta de un periodo de la historia de Estados Unidos en que el mito de la prosperidad ilimitada estaba por dar paso a la era de la ansiedad. No conozco una novela americana que represente de manera tan precisa la America real . -H.L. Mencken ENGLISH DESCRIPTION The novel that created a new archetype in American literature and earned its author the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is a tale of the emptiness of materialism in the roaring twenties that applies today to those wanting a simpler life. A satirical novel about American culture and society that critiques the vacuity of middle-class life and the social pressure toward conformity. Prosperous and socially prominent, George Babbitt appears to have everything a man could wish: good health, a fine family, and a profitable business in a booming Midwestern city. But the middle-aged real estate agent is shaken from his self-satisfaction by a growing restlessness with the limitations of his life. When a personal crisis forces a reexamination of his values, Babbitt mounts a rebellion against social expectations - jeopardizing his reputation and business standing as well as his marriage. Widely considered Sinclair Lewis's greatest novel, this satire of the American social landscape created a sensation upon its 1922 publication. Babbitt's name became an instant and enduring synonym for middle-class complacency, and the strictures of his existence revealed the emptiness of the mainstream vision of success. His story reflects the nature of a conformist society, in which the pressures of maintaining propriety can ultimately cause individuals to lose their place in the world. Babbitt ranks among the important 20th-century works addressing the struggles of people caught in the machinery of modern life, and it remains ever-relevant as a cautionary tale against clinging to conventional values.
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