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: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg 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

Resources

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 i…

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1429 words

Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "Elmer Gantry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5407, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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