The Sauk Centre herald., 1921-08-04
SAUk CENTRE NOT
GOPHER PRAIRIE"
,SlNCLAIR LEWIS SAYS CHARAC-
TIERS IN MAIN STREET.
ARE COMPOSITE
ANY TOWN MIGHT HAVElTHEM
rhoPLE FROM MAINE TO TEXAS
INSIST AUTHOR HAD THEIR
TOWN IN MIND

Fralrle of main Street"
lhat is not statement of surm;so,
1acts, but the direct assertion of +ha
author of main Street" Sincla;r
Lewis, who in a letter to the editor
VI the Herald this week, emphaticallv
denled that the Gopher Prairie of his
mover was portray of his old home
town of Sauk Centre. ~
According to Mr.. Lewis. practical,v
every small town in the I1nited Statay
mas answered "Here" to the cali If
Main Street" The author saws ba
Is IN receipt of hundreds of letters
from various towns in which readers
OF his novel inquire as to where be
secured his information regarding
their town. 'is
But the point Mr.. Lewis desires
most to impress upon the world is
'iiae ne did not have reference to anv
partlcular town when he wrote "Main
otfeet' but merely based his story
upon composite conditions as be eau,
them IN numerous towns and VILLAGES
he mas met up with in his travels.
Mr.. Lewis communications to tho
Herald written from Mullion. Corn
wall, England, follow:
Dear Asa: 30
Greetings! How are YOU NV wife.
and have been in England for a
couple of months now and. desnite
the great coal strike just over find II
perfectly comfortable, in hctels
Trans, and everything, with prices q
little less, though not vastly less.
than in America.
Il was surprised to learn. from, !,
letter from Minnesota friend. that
people in Sauk Centre believe, merely
because | was. born there and because
the scene of the book is Minnesota.
that my novel "Main Street" is an
attempt to portray Sauk Centre. For
this reason ! am sending you the en-
closed statement which it might in.
terest your readers to see.
/. Gopher Prairie of the book Is. of
course, as you will understand rom
your journalistic experience, no one
town but a composite of the hundreds
OF towns | have seen from living in
them and motoring through them
: My best to the whole Herald staff
and the Wallace. family, and believe
me, etc." -.
The communication issued for pub
lication by Mr.. Lewis regarding
"Main Street" follows:
The Editor, {
The Sauk Coyfro uor,1l
Sir:
ut has come to my attention that
certain number of people in Sauk
Centre believe that my novel Main
Street portrays real people and real
scenes in Sauk Centre, and that there
has been an attempt to identify my
fictional characters with real ones.,
May say that this is totally erron-
eous? Practically all of the charac-
ters and scenes in Main Street are
either composites, combinations Of
the things and persons l have noted
in the scores of American towns I
have seen in all parts of the country,
or else they are totally imaginary.
"In the whole book there is only
one character even suggested by a
person whom / met in Sauk Centre,
and that is one of the younger men
in the book. Even in his case, the
character was merely suggested by
an actual person, and as the story
worked out, the character departs
sharply and completely from the act
ual young man-who, by the way,
left Sauk Centre years ago.
eff any of your readers feel sure
they recognize the characters, then
let me tell them that / have had let
ters from number of towns in states
as widely apart as Texas and Con-
necticut informing me that readers
in those towns also recognized all
the characters and that they could
name all of them from their own
towns. In one case a woman from
a Michigan town of which l had never
heard wanted to know when and how
! had become acquainted with her
town!
Sincerely yours,
Sinclair Lewis