EXHIBITS

Jack London at Utah State University: Sinclair Lewis Plots

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Jack London in his office, 1916. Photo Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkley.

Assassination Bureau, Ltd. Manuscript

Jack London Letters to Sinclair Lewis, dated September through December 1910.

Sinclair Lewis was born February 7, 1885, in Minnesota and went on to become a well- known novelist, playwright, and short story writer. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in 1951.

As a young author, Lewis became acquainted with London and subsequently sold story ideas, or plots, to him. Although famous for his own writing, London had been on the record to say, “I’m damned if my stories just come to me. I had to work like the devil for the themes,” and that he possessed a “damnable lack of origination.” Needing more story ideas, he sought Lewis, whom he had met via Socialism affairs. [1]

On three separate occasions, Lewis submitted at least 55 plots to London in which London purchased 27 for a total of $137.50. Out of those, however, London used only five plots; three for published short stories (When the World Was Young, Winged Blackmail, and The Prodigal Father), one for a novelette (The Abysmal Brute), and one for a novel he never completed, but was published after his death (The Assassination Bureau).[2]

In 1953, Franklin Walker, a Jack London scholar, wrote an essay dealing primarily with the relationship between London and Lewis. At that time he noted, “Unfortunately it is impossible to compare a Lewis plot with a London short story or novelette, to see how London used Lewis’ ideas. For the three short stories, one novelette, and one unfinished novel we have no Lewis plots.” [3]

Fortunately, the London papers at Utah State contain examples of the Lewis plots and how they were used. Special Collections holds the plot “The Dress Suit Pugilist,” as well as the original manuscript for which it was used by London in the novelette The Abysmal Brute. Displayed here is the other connection with the USU collection, the plot from Lewis and the unfinished manuscript of The Assassination Bureau.

[1] Walker, Franklin. “Jack London’s Use of Sinclair Lewis Plots, Together with a Printing of Three of the Plots.” Huntington Library Quarterly 17.1 (1953): 59-74. H. Web.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.