Hidden Literary Gems: Our Mr. Wrenn by Sinclair Lewis

I am a huge fan of Sinclair Lewis novels. Sinclair Lewis was a great American author who bridged the gap from Mark Twain to Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. In fact, John Steinbeck notes Sinclair Lewis as one of his biggest influences.

"Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man" was published in 1914, and was the second novel written by Sinclair Lewis, and the first one that bore his name. He considered this his first somewhat "serious" novel, and though not quite as masterful as several of his later novels, this work received critical acclaim and touched on many of the themes that would later permeate many of his works.

The hero/protagonist of this novel is pacifist and overall good guy Mr. William Wrenn. He bumbles along from 1910, when he is 34, to 1913, all the while he dreams of traveling overseas and finding a contentment in that adventure that he can't get from his everyday job.

A quote from the novel itself tells us all about Mr. Wrenn with a simple but powerful description. Lewis tells us that Wrenn's third floor room abounds with "his friends, books from wander-land (4)." Wrenn hates his job at the Souvenir and Art Novelty Company, and feels like he is unfairly treated shabbily by his boss, Mortimer R. Guilfogle, even after seven years of faithful service.

Despite an active imagination, there are limits to how far Mr. Wrenn can escape through watching travel films at the Nickelorion Moving-Picture Show on 14th Street (isn't it great to read books with terms like "moving picture shows" and "aeroplanes?"). But his luck is soon to change.

Mr. Wrenn receives a small inheritance, which is still enough to allow him to quit his job and go abroad. He begins and ends in New York with a few weeks interlude of "romantic adventure" on a cattle boat where he makes a friend, Morton. The trip does wonders for William Wrenn, who finds within his meek exterior the macho persona of Bill Wrenn, and not only gets into a fist fight, but whips a bully who has it coming.