Parry and her husband Robert McLaughlin teach English Literature at Illinois State and hosted the conference. It is just wonderful to see so much enthusiasm and respect for Lewis from younger people here. The event came to Sauk Centre to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publishing of Babbitt and the 50th anniversary of Kingsblood Royal. The presenters agreed Lewis was the leading chronicler the jazz age and the social change that was occurring during the roaring twenties. Students will remember George Babbitt and Elmer Gantry long after they put the text books away.
Fiction connects students emotionally to another time.
Lewis gave us a compelling window on his time. These two books tell the story of social change in America when business became a religion and religion became a business. There also many other important themes such as consumerism, feminism, race, advertising, the automobile, credit and mass merchandising. The conference was attended by two Lewis authors, Jim Hutchisson an English professor at the Citadel and biographer Richard Lengeman a senior editor of the Nation. We are moving away from this greedy days of the Reagan-Bush years into a more reflective age where social critics like Lewis are regaining popularity.