How did Sinclair Lewis approach social critique in his novels?
My method was, quite simply, to observe and to satirize. I felt the most potent way to dissect the absurdities of our national character was to present them with unvarnished clarity, often through the lens of a character who either embodies those flaws or is trying desperately, and often foolishly, to navigate them. I wasn't interested in delivering sermons; I wanted to provoke thought, to make readers squirm with recognition. I’d let the characters and their environments speak for themselves, highlighting the gap between what they claimed to be and what they truly were. The 'whole town' was my laboratory, and my pen, my scalpel.
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