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Elmer Gantry (Signet Classics (Prebound))
 
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Elmer Gantry (Signet Classics (Prebound)) (Library Binding)

by Sinclair Lewis (Author), Jason Stevens (Introduction)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Library Binding: 469 pages
  • Publisher: Topeka Bindery (4 Dec 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1417810696
  • ISBN-13: 978-1417810697
  • Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.9 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,939,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #69 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Lewis, Sinclair

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Elmer Gantry (Signet Classics (Prebound))
66% buy the item featured on this page:
Elmer Gantry (Signet Classics (Prebound)) 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
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It Can't Happen Here (Signet Classics)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Irresistible rise of a hot-gospel preacher, 13 Jan 2009
By Bob Sherunkle (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Elmer Gantry (Signet Classics) (Paperback)
The story begins in the rural Mid-West at the start of the 20th century. Elmer Gantry has been destined from birth, by the choice of his devout widowed mother, for the ministry, and is about to enter a Baptist seminary.

At a few points in the story Gantry is, momentarily and inexplicably, seized by genuine religious fervour, and even remorse for his misdeeds, but the rest of the time he is obsessed with using a religious career to gain money, fame and power, while he has a bit on the side - well several bits, actually. He is a bully, both physically and psychologically, and cleverly calculating when not ruled by his hormones. However, he is empty culturally as well as morally - as a listener to Gantry's radio programme observes, he "was blown out of a saxophone", i.e. he ends up as just another ephemeral feature of the Jazz Age. He often deceives even himself, rewriting his memory of an incident to portray his actions in a much better light than they deserve.

There are several characters in the novel with varying degrees and types of integrity, but the pessimistic message is that only the strong survive, whether bad or good. Repeatedly Lewis suggests that it is better to be an honest atheist than a hypocritical Christian.

One of the strengths of the book is the analysis of how Gantry's relationship with each of the major characters relates to his career, and how it affects each of them - in many cases, disastrously for them. Gantry is, essentially, a friendless user, and there are only two men with whom he ever feels real kinship; they are every bit as cynical as him, though they have somewhat more respect for mankind.

The love of his life, his infatuation with fellow-evangelist Sharon Falconer, is really a story within the story. One could argue that it doesn't fit with the rest of his personality, but Sharon is the only person for whom he is prepared to give up all else. This is because she is truly irrestible to him, and is an even shrewder manipulator of people than he is (though she has a strong, and ultimately fatal, streak of insanity).

As well as attacking the fire-and-brimstone brand of Christianity, the novel has little good to say about the more sedate denominations, and not surprisingly it met considerable hostility on its publication. Lewis clearly suggests that a major weakness of religion is the hypocrisy and self-interest of many church leaders and members.

So far this may sound like a really depressing read, but the reader is constantly buoyed up by Lewis' biting humour and the hilarity of the misadventures which Gantry brings on himself by his indiscretions.

I haven't yet seen the film adaptation (starring Burt Lancaster), but I gather that it ends at the novel's halfway point, so the book will take you much further through Gantry's career.

In providing the context for the events of the novel, Lewis gives an evocative picture of America's transition in twenty years from the horse-and-buggy Mid-West to the cities of the Roaring Twenties.
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