: for other uses, see dodsworth (disambiguation)  dodsworth is a satirical novel by american writer sinclair lewis first published by harcourt brace & company in march 1929. its subject, the differences between us and european intellect, manners, and morals, is one that frequently appears in the works of henry james. ==plot summary== samuel 'sam' dodsworth is an ambitious and innovative automobile designer, who builds his fortunes in zenith, winnemac. in addition to his success in the business world, he had also succeeded as a young man in winning the hand of frances 'fran' voelker, a beautiful young socialite. while the book provides the courtship as a backstory, the real novel begins upon his retirement. at the age of fifty and facing retirement as a result of his selling of his successful automobile company (the revelation motor company) to a far larger competitor, he sets out to do what he had always wanted to experience: a leisurely trip to europe with his wife. his forty-one-year-old wife, however, motivated by her own vanity and fear of lost youth, is dissatisfied with married life and small town zenith, wants to live in europe permanently as an expatriate, not just visit for a few months to allow dodsworth to visit some manufacturing plants looking for his next challenge. passing up advancement in his recently sold company, dodsworth leaves for europe with fran but her motivations to get to europe become quickly known. on their extensive travels across europe they are soon caught up in vastly different lifestyles. fran falls in with a crowd of frivolous socialites, while sam plays more of an independent tourist. 'with his red baedeker guide book in hand, he visits such well-known tourist attractions as westminister abbey, notre dame cathedral, sanssouci palace, and the piazza san marco. but the historic sites that he sees prove to be far less significant than the american expatriates that he meets on his extensive journeys across great britain and continental europe' wenzl, bernhard. "american expatriates in interwar europe: sinclair lewis's dodsworth". in: the sinclair lewis society newsletter. vol. 20 (1), fall 2011, 3 & 15-19. he eventually meets edith cortright, an expatriate american widow in venice, who is everything his wife is not: self-assured, self-confident, and able to take care of herself. as they follow their own pursuits, their marriage is strained to the breaking poin
1929_novels 20th-century_American_novels American_novels_adapted_into_films American_satirical_novels Midwestern_United_States_in_fiction Novels_by_Sinclair_Lewis Novels_set_in_Europe