Elmer Gantry

[ gan-tree ]

noun

1. a novel (1927) by Sinclair Lewis.

Elmer Gantry

1. (1927) A novel by Sinclair Lewis ; the title character is a successful preacher in the Midwest. Lewis stresses the importance of insincerity and clever publicity in the rise of Gantry.

Example Sentences

These political hacks are modern versions of Sinclair Lewis's slick con artist Elmer Gantry, cynically betraying a gullible public to amass personal power and wealth.

From Salon

If Elmer Gantry was the Elijah, Armstrong’s the ‘Christ’ of religious hucksters.

From Literature

Leave aside the worst-case scenarios — a scoundrel in the mold of the fictional Elmer Gantry or the real-life Jim Bakker — the pulpit is filled with perils for even the best-intentioned.

From Los Angeles Times

In the 1920s he published not only “Main Street” and “Babbitt” but three other novels that won comparable acclaim: “Arrowsmith,” about an idealistic young doctor-scientist; “Elmer Gantry,” a scathing satirical account of evangelism and religion in America — the top fiction best seller of 1927; and “Dodsworth,” about a retired American businessman searching abroad for what he senses he’s missed out on in his life — to me, his best-written and most affecting book and, later, the basis of William Wyler’s brilliant film.

From New York Times

He is one part Elmer Gantry, and one part Ned Racine.

From Salon