Babbit by Sinclair Lewis

So I used to have this job--I'll keep the details to a minimum to protect the innocent--and the boss at this job was a royal pain in my ass. He wasn't a sexual harrasser or anything (although he allowed that kind of thing to go on), but he thought he was this really amazing, really generous guy for paying me $12/hour to take care of his invoicing and run the office, etc. Looking back, I feel bad for him, because he really loved everything about his business except the running-the-business part, and that happens to a lot of folks.

Working with him was my first recognition of Babbitry.

I knew "Babbit" because Auntie Mame talks about him all the time. It is only now, four years after I left this job, that I actually read the book.

Is there a lot of Boss X in the original Babbit? Boy howdy! Is there a lot of my parents and the rest of my family? Well, yes. And of me? Hmmm.... I do wish that one could learn how to play a musical instrument well without practising. But I think that means that I'm lazy, not necessarily because I am a soulless consumer.

But Babbit isn't exactly the kind of book that inspires this kind of reflection or sympathy for the blowhard. He is a rude, horrible man whose horrible personal misdeeds contribute to the overall horribleness of the U.S. in 1920. He is anti-intellectual, misogynist, racist, elitist, and absent of any sensitivity to people, beauty, or art. His logic is relentlessly circular and self-serving (hey, this remind you of any national leaders yet?). Here's my favorite part (so far):

"A good labor union is of value because it keeps out radical unions, which would destroy property. No one ought to be forced to belong to a union, however. All labor agitators who try to force men to join a union should be hanged. In fact, just between ourselves, there oughtn't be any unions allowed at all; and as its the best way of fighting the unions, every business man ought to belong to an employers'-association and to the Chamber of Commerce. In union there is strength. So any selfish hog who doesn't join the Chamber of Commerce ought to be forced to." (41-42)

The notes in the Barnes & Noble Classics edition are geared towards idiots, so we are told that Warren G. Harding was an American president, that "receipt" means "recipe," and what "bobbed hair" looks like. I'm sure Babbit would approve of making the book easier for nitwits to understand.

[Also, how awesome is that cover? The edition I read was much more boring.]