New-York tribune., 1920-10-27

Something ought to be said in this
lays Potterisn, which is one of the best
books Of the year. Probably it will be
said next Friday. To-day we have the
opportunity Of stepping down from our
pulpit to make room for a visiting cler-
gyman, and the rest of the column be-
longs to Floyd Dell, of The Liberator,
who writes as follows:
"May I get in on the discussion of
Sinclair Lewis's Main Street? I want
to discuss it not as a work of art but
as an argument-as Mr.. Lewis's con-
trbution to a problem that interests us
all, the problem of the relation of the
young idealist to the stodgy community
IN Which he lives. I don't think Sinclair
Lewis confines his attack to the small
town; | think his small town is really
symbol for all America. And the pre-
dicament of the we'll meaning Young
woman who marres and goes to
Gopher Prairie to live is identical with
the predicament of well meaning young
Americans who find themselves at odds
with American commercialism. If Mr..
Lewis is able to describe the disappoint-
nent of his young heroine so svmpa-
thetically, it is because he has himself
suffered some such disappointment. She
Is batfed and kurt by the stupidity of
Gopher Prairie, which cannot under
stand what she wants and can make
but the slightest use of her abilities.
She wants to create a Town Beautiful
and she is merely permitted to help
IN putting a flower bed in a vacant lot
beside the railway station. The situa-
ton is presented in its extreme form
IN the sentence in which ccrnmercialsm
is accused of seeking to set Dante at
boosting Gopher Prairie Mr.. Lewis
himself must have felt that q similar
misuse was being made of his own
idealistic hopes when, instead of revo-
lutionizing American fiction Gas all
young writers under the H. G. Wells
influence hope to do), he was permitted
only to entertain the million and
half readers of The Saturday Evening
Post with stories in which the Ameri-
canism which he is here satirizng was
glorifed in the customary manner.
"What l want to know is, What does
Mr.. Lewis propose to do about it?
What solution does he suggest for other
young dealists who find themselves in
the same situation? l find in his book
that his heroine makes her escape from
Gopher Prairie, goes to Washington,
D. c., to live in what she feels to be
more self-respecting manner, but in the
end returns to Gopher Prairie to take
up again the responsibilities she has
assumed. 1t would be easy enough to
be sarcastic at Mr.. Lewis's expense. and
say that his solution for the rest of us
is to run away and have our fling at
the dullness of the public-and then so
back and surrender. But I don't think
he means exactly that. Underneath his
anger at the dullness and meanness of
American commercialism is feeling
that the idealist must make terms with
it-that running away and staying away
is futile. l agree that it would not
profit US much if Mr. Lewis stopped
writing stories for The Saturday Even
ing Post and contributed only to the
esoteric pages of The Little Review.
But | do complain that the terms upon
which Mr.. Lewis's heroine goes back to
Gopher Prairie are unconditional sur
render; and l do not think that Mr..
Lewis, or any Of u.s. needs to make such
terms. think that the idealist need
not be either a victim of commercialism
or all exile from it,
"You have anticipated part of my
conclusion in your remark that Mr..