H L Mencken On American Literature - Hardcover

Mencken, H. L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821414291 ISBN 13: 9780821414293

Publisher: Ohio University Press, 2002

Synopsis

H. L. Mencken was one of the leading literary, social, and cultural critics of the 1910s, '20s, and '30s. However, very few of his literary reviews have been reprinted in any form prior to their appearance in this volume.

H. L. Mencken on American Literature presents a comprehensive selection of Mencken's reviews of the leading American writers of his time. Manifestly interested in establishing a canon of American literature, he took great pains to vaunt writers such as Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and James Branch Cabell as the most accomplished authors of the day.

At the same time, he found deficiencies in the work of such highly regarded figures as Edith Wharton, W. D. Howells, and Ambrose Bierce, placing them only in the second rank of American writers. Mencken also considered it his function to demolish the popular work of now-forgotten best-selling writers, demonstrating in his inimitably scathing manner the degree to which their catering to a mass audience rendered their work hollow and subliterary.

Mencken's reviews are a vast and untapped source for his provocative analyses of the best and the worst in American literature. They are presented here in a scrupulously edited and annotated edition.

About this title

About the Author:

S. T. Joshi, who lives in upstate New York, is the author and editor of many books, including H. L. Mencken on American Literature (Ohio, 2002), Mencken’s America (Ohio, 2004), and Closing Arguments: Clarence Darrow on Law, Society, and Religion (Swallow Press).

From Library Journal:

Editor, essayist, and social and cultural critic Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was particularly famous in the early 20th century for being a feared book reviewer. The critical firebrand was not only blunt with American writers of his time but also didn't hesitate to make sweeping indictments of contemporary American thinking, which he found timid and superficial. This volume presents a unique and comprehensive selection of Mencken's reviews and treatises, originally published in Smart Set, American Mercury, and a few other venues. Edited by Joshi (who also edited H.L. Mencken on Religion), the book is arranged in five sections, which are titled to reflect the general spirit of the reviews and essays therein: "Establishing the Canon," "Some Worthy Second-Raters," "Trade Goods," and so on. An extensive 30-page glossary of names mentioned in the text proves vital, especially since most of them are not well-known literary or historical figures. Mencken's analyses and judgments of the best and the worst in American literature are highly recommended for literary collections and large public and college libraries. Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0821414291
• ISBN 13: 9780821414293
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Joshi S. T.