Selected Short Stories

By Sinclair Lewis

How much of ordinary life depends on playing a part-and what happens when the performance begins to replace the person? Across thirteen literary short stories, public image, private ambition and self-deception collide as people negotiate the expectations of family, work, education and community. A child movie star becomes a focus for the machinery of celebrity, while a bank teller assumes a false identity, exposing the uneasy distance between appearance and reality. From small American towns to Hollywood and college campuses, the collection shifts confidently between comic satire, social realism, psychological crime and domestic drama. Its varied figures include an immigrant farmer entering Yale, a dentist drawn towards farming, an ageing public servant and a wealthy young man studying art. Rather than treating these lives as isolated curiosities, the stories examine the conventions that shape aspiration: status must be displayed, success performed and identity adjusted to suit institutions that may have little room for individual desire. Sharp social observation unites the changing settings and character types. Romance, mobility, wealth and public service become arenas in which people reveal the gap between who they are and who they hope-or claim-to be. The breadth of the collection allows social satire to move from intimate pressures to civic and historical concerns, while its recurring interest in deception gives each new situation an added tension. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 937841317X
• ISBN13: 9789378413179
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"