The Story Archive

Elmer Gantry

Sinclair Lewis · 1927 CE · Novel · Modern / American · Modernist

A college football star with a large voice and no convictions is converted at a revival meeting, ordained, disgraced, and works his way back up through tent evangelism, New Thought lecturing and at last a Methodist pulpit in Zenith. Each rise runs through a woman he uses and leaves, and through an appetite for drink and self-belief that he denounces from the platform on Sundays. Preachers organised against it and several cities banned it outright.

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Attributes

Genre
SatireComedy
Theme
Faith & DoubtPower & CorruptionAppearance vs RealityAmbition & Hubris
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
TricksterAnti-HeroVillain / Tyrant
Plot structure
Rise and FallPicaresqueEpisodic
Symbol / motif
The Cross / AltarThe MaskThe Stage
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
SatiricalIronicRealist
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues