Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis
Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis
List: $27.95 | Sale: $19.57
Club: $13.97

Elmer Gantry

Author: Sinclair Lewis

Narrator: Anthony Heald

Unabridged: 15 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/01/2008

Categories: Fiction, Classic

Synopsis

Elmer Gantry is the portrait of a silvertongued evangelist who rises to power within his church, yet lives a life of hypocrisy, sensuality, and ruthless selfindulgence. The title character starts out as a greedy, shallow, philandering Baptist minister, turns to evangelism, and eventually becomes the leader of a large Methodist congregation. Throughout the novel, Gantry encounters fellow religious hypocrites. Although often exposed as a fraud, Gantry is never fully discredited. Elmer Gantry is considered a landmark in American literature and one of the most penetrating studies of hypocrisy in modern literature. The novel also represents the evangelistic activity of America in the 1920s and peoples attitudes toward it.

About Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930, the first American novelist to be so honored. Born in Minnesota, he attended Yale University but left before graduation to work in Upton Sinclair's socialist colony at Helicon Hall in Englewood, New Jersey. Unable to make a living as a freelance writer, he returned to Yale and earned his degree. In 1914, he published his first novel, Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man. But it was not until his sixth novel, Main Street, that he won recognition as an important American novelist. His other major works include Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth, and It Can't Happen Here, which he also wrote as a play. Lewis was a prolific writer, publishing dozens of books and innumerable articles throughout his career.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael

I think this is my favorite Sinclair Lewis book so far. His character Elmer Gantry is one of the sleaziest protagonists I have ever met. Given the themes of religious fanaticism and hypocrisy, the subject has certainly not aged a day. That makes the book entirely relevant nearly a century later. I a......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List