Arrowsmith by Lewis Sinclair

I bought this title not because of the author, or because of the plot, or even because the name Arrowsmith sounded attractive. I purchased it because of the publisher and the series it is a part of. To most readers the name “Modern Library” means nothing, but to me it means a great deal. The “Modern Library” series, which first began publication in 1917, was the American answer to the British series, “Everyman’s Library”. The goal of both series was to provide quality titles at affordable prices. Today, both “Everyman’s Library” and “Modern Library” have become collectibles. I’ve been in bookstores, where depending on the title and the year of publication, a “Modern,” or “Everyman’s” Library can sell for upwards of $25. The books are even more desirable if they contain the dust jackets they originally came with.

I am lucky enough to own a few “Everyman’s Library” books with the jackets in decent condition, but all of the “Modern Library” books that I have do not have the dust jackets. That is okay though, because I collect the books not for their value in dollars, but for their aesthetic value and for their content.

Buying this title, Arrowsmith, for its aesthetic value was a good move because the content is just as satisfying. The novel follows the life of Martin Arrowsmith, a medical student, a doctor, and a bacteriologist who researches the cures and causes of diseases. From the start the reader understands that Martin is not like the other medical students in his class. He desires more in life than a large paycheck and he’s not the kind who traverses easily in society. With his marriage, he tries to settle down and be a country doctor, but he can’t force himself to focus on the people he’s healing. Martin cares more for the laboratory and for research.

He rides a fine line throughout the book, sometimes being his true self, the man who spends days without sleep tucked away in a laboratory doing careful experiments and rejecting the shallowness of high society, and his false self, a man who seeks fame, fortune and the good opinion of others. In the end, he rejects his false self.

The book, although it took me to the very end to realize it, warns against trading your soul for dollars, rejects capitalism, and endorses introversion, the use of the mind and a dedication to the work that a person loves, regardless of its social implications. It’s, in a way, a study of society and of the introverted intellectual within society.

A few shallow lines by Martin’s soon to be ex-wife near the end of the novel, does leave some things open to discussion, however. The reader is left wondering whether Martin is egotistical in sacrificing the people and the world around him for his work, or whether he is a kind of fighter for freedom, symbolizing that the work we love is worth the sacrifice. I like to see him as a symbol of freedom. Martin is not content until he finally rejects his false self and embraces in full the kind of life and dedication to his work that he desires. 

Source for History of Modern Library: 

Toledano, Henry. "History of the Modern Library." N.p., 2002. Web. Aug. 2013. <http://www.modernlib.com/General/ToleHistroySpeech.html>.