"To go on Doing Babbitts": Recontextualizing Twilight Sleep as Lewisian Satire

Abstract

Despite its glowing sales record, when Twilight Sleep was published in 1927 it received mixed critical reviews. Today, the novel is rarely studied as scholars more often examine others of Wharton's oeuvre. The dominant criticisms of Twilight Sleep argue that the novel does not live up to the standard of Wharton's other works and that Wharton compromised her artistic integrity and wrote the novel to the tastes of the American reading public solely for money. This project attempts to dismantle both critiques by arguing for a recontextualization of Twilight Sleep in light of Sinclair Lewis' 1922 novel, Babbitt. Through an examination of the novels' respective forms of satire, I will demonstrate the authors' similar undertakings and the way in which Twilight Sleep departs from Wharton's previous novels. By reevaluating Twilight Sleep as a discrete work rather than as an inferior work amongst "masterpieces," I will demonstrate the value of Twilight Sleep as a relevant satire of 1920s America, worthy of study today.