Editing Sinclair Lewis (section)

==Early life==
[[Image:Boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home]] museum]]

Lewis was born February 7, 1885, in the village of [[Sauk Centre, Minnesota]], to Edwin J. Lewis, a physician of [[Welsh Americans|Welsh]] descent,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-1665 |title=The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English |chapter=Lewis, Sinclair |editor=Jenny Stringer |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-212271-1 |access-date=January 23, 2024 |quote=he was the son of a country doctor of Welsh descent}}</ref> and Emma Kermott Lewis.  He had two older siblings, Fred (born 1875) and Claude (born 1878). His father was a stern disciplinarian, who had difficulty relating to his sensitive, unathletic third son. Lewis's mother died in 1891. The next year Edwin married Isabel Warner, whom young Lewis apparently liked. Lewis began reading books while young, and kept a diary. Throughout his lonely boyhood, the ungainly child—tall, extremely thin, stricken with [[acne]] and somewhat pop-eyed—had trouble making friends and pined after local girls. At the age of 13, he ran away from home and unsuccessfully tried to become a drummer boy in the [[Spanish–American War]].<ref>Schorer, 3–22.</ref> In late 1902, Lewis left home for a year at Oberlin Academy (the then-preparatory department of [[Oberlin College]]) to qualify for acceptance at [[Yale University]]. While at Oberlin, he developed a religious enthusiasm that waxed and waned for much of his remaining teenage years. Lewis later became an atheist.<ref>Kauffman, Bill. America First!: Its History, Culture, and Politics. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1995. Print. "Sinclair Lewis was...town atheist..." Pg. 118</ref> He entered Yale in 1903, but did not receive his [[bachelor's degree]] until 1908, taking time off to work at [[Helicon Home Colony]], [[Upton Sinclair]]'s [[Housing cooperative|cooperative-living]] colony in [[Englewood, New Jersey|Englewood]], [[New Jersey]], and to travel to [[Panama]]. Lewis's undistinguished looks, country manners and seeming self-importance made it difficult for him to win and keep friends at Oberlin and Yale. He did make a few friends among the students and professors, some of whom recognized his promise as a writer.<ref>Schorer, 47–136</ref>