Lewis fut un auteur prophetique autant qu'un chroniqueur exact de son temps. L'organisation des Protestants evangelistesqu'il avait predit prit reellement forme par la suite.(...) Elmer Gantry a ete interdit a Boston au moment de sa publication, etsans aucun doute de multiples ecoles et bibliotheques sont encore en train d'essayer de le bannir de leurs rayons. Autant qu'unproduit de son propre moment historique, ce livre s'avere de notre temps egalement, et probablement de tous les temps.

Lewis's classic story of a corrupt and cynical evangelical preacher would seem torn from the pages of current newspapers if the dialogue weren't surprisingly dated. Elmer Gantry is charismatic without being likable, which makes voicing him a tricky business for Anthony Heald. His Elmer is an ambitious, self-righteous sociopath, whose timbre betrays no trace of conscience, self-doubt, regret, or sympathy for others, even at the beginning of his career. Heald's pacing, his accents, his narrative drive are all excellent, although his women tend to sound the same, mostly breathy, credulous ninnies. It may be that that's all there was on the page, but with no character growth in sight, the dispiriting effect is of one jarring note overwhelming the music from beginning to end. B.G. 2009 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine