Upton Sinclair, Jimmie Higgins

Karsten Piep (Union University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Atasoy Emrah (University of Warwick), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1919

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Written and chiefly set during the final year of World War I (1914-1918), Upton Beall Sinclair’s

Jimmie Higgins: A Story

(1919) chronicles the improbable adventures of its titular working-class hero, who turns from a staunch opponent of US intervention into a pro-war Socialist and highly decorated war hero, only to be drawn into the ill-fated American military expedition to Archangel, Russia, where he is eventually “water cured” into insanity by his superiors for agitating on behalf of the Bolshevik revolution.

A rank-and-file member of the Socialist Party in fictional Leesville, Jimmie initially toes the official party line by opposing American interventionism abroad and instead focusing on organizing workers at home. He meets the “Candidate” (Sinclair’s moniker for Eugene V.

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1938 words

Citation: Piep, Karsten. "Jimmie Higgins". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 February 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4312, accessed 16 May 2024.]

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