Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

Robert E. Fleming (University of New Mexico)

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), 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 1927

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

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Recommended Reading

After the publication of his more moderate novel

Arrowsmith

(1925), Sinclair Lewis returned to what he did best, writing unrelieved satire.

Elmer Gantry

(1927) is, in fact, the most scathing satire Lewis ever wrote. Like

Main Street

(1920) and

Babbitt

(1922),

Elmer Gantry

provoked widespread controversy.

Elmer Gantry is the story of a young roughneck who abandons his early ambition to become a lawyer and embarks on a career in the ministry. The opening sentence of the novel, “Elmer Gantry was drunk”, introduces one of Lewis's least likeable protagonists. While an undergraduate in an obscure denominational college, Elmer discovers that he loves to be the center of attention. While he is drunk one day in a small town near the college, he is lead to defend a classmate who is preaching on

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1429 words

Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "Elmer Gantry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5407, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

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