Free Air

Infobox Book |
name = Free Air


image_caption = Reprint edition, June 1993
author = Sinclair Lewis
country = United States
language = English
genre = Road novel
publisher =
release_date = 1919
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 370 pp
isbn = NA & (reissue ISBN 0-8032-7943-4)

Free Air is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis. A silent movie version of "Free Air" was also released on April 30, 1922.

Plot summary

Long before Jack Kerouac penned his famous American roadtrip epic, Sinclair Lewis wrote what may in fact be the seminal work of the genreFact|date=January 2008. This cheerful little road novel, published in 1919, is about Claire Boltwood, who, in the early days of the 20th century, travels by automobile from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, where she falls in love with a nice, down-to-earth young man and gives up her snobbish Estate. (From the Book Stub)

From a critical perspective, "Free Air" is consistent with Sinclair Lewis' lean towards Leftist politics, which he displays in his other works (most notably in "It Can't Happen Here"). Examples of his politics in "Free Air" are found in Lewis' emphasis on the heroic role played by the book's protagonist, Milt Dagget, a working class everyman type. Conversely, Lewis presents nearly every upper-class character in Claire Boltwood's world (including her railroad-mogul father) as being snobby elitists. The story also champions the democratic nature of the automobile, versus the more aristocratic railroad travel. Lewis' showing favoritism towards the freedom, which automobiles would eventually accord the working and middle classes, bolster the leftist aestheticClarifyme|date=March 2008Fact|date=January 2008. "Free Air" is one of the first novels about the road trip, a subject that the Beats (most notably Jack Kerouac), would build a cult following around roadtrip culture, in the mid-20th century).