The Metropolis
1908
Published in 1908, 'The Metropolis' by Upton Sinclair follows Allan Montague, a young man from the countryside, as he navigates the complexities of New York City's upper class. The novel explores themes of social status, wealth disparity, and the struggles of the working class, highlighting the stark contrasts between affluence and poverty. As Allan engages with influential figures and confronts social injustices, Sinclair critiques the human cost of economic progress and the rise of socialist sentiments in early 20th-century America.
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“Then Strathcona discussed literature. He paid his tribute to the "Fleurs de Mal" and the "Songs before Sunrise"; but most, he said, he owed to "the divine Oscar." This English poet of many poses and some vices the law had seized and flung into jail; and since the law is a thing so brutal and wicked that whoever is touched by it is made thereby a martyr and a hero, there had grown up quite a cult about the memory of "Oscar." All up-to-date poets imitated his style and his attitude to life; and so the most revolting of vices had the cloak of romance flung about them”
— Upton Sinclair
