H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken was a jack of many trades. He was a journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, critic and a student of American English. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 12, 1880 and passed away on January 29, 1956 and is considered one of the most influential American Literary critics of the 1920’s.

H. L. Mencken’s jobs included reporting for the Baltimore Morning Herald, followed by joining the staff for the Baltimore Sun. Between the years 1914 – 1923 Mencken and George Jean Nathan joined forces and spent the years editing the Smart Set (Rothbard, 1962). The Smart Set at the time played a major part and influenced the growth of American Literature. In 1924, American Mercury was founded by both Mencken and Nathan and was edited by Mencken until 1933 (Rothbard, 1962).

The main works of Mencken include “The American Language,” “Prejudices,” “Happy Days,” Newspaper Days, ”Heathen Days,” and “My Life as Author and Editor.”

The American Language, written in 1919, brought together examples of idioms and expressions from the American language. Throughout the years, Mencken continued to update the book yearly and in 1945 and then again in 1948 he published Substantial Supplements (Americanism). When Mencken died, he was considered the leading authority on the American version English language.

Between 1919 – 1927, a collection of his reviews and essays was combined to create his work, Prejudices. He was enthralled in criticizing hypocrisy in both politics and religion (Fecher). One of these works was Notes on Democracy written in 1926, was about the deception of all men being free and equal. Other works included Treaties on the Gods, written in 1930, and Treaties on Right and Wrong, written in 1934. In Treaties on the Gods, he expressed in opinions and skepticism on religion, as well as questioning ethics in Treaties on Right and Wrong (Fecher).

His three works, Happy Day, Newspaper Days and Heathen Days, combined to create his three part memoir reliving events ranging from his childhood to his days as an editor and reporter.

He also covered a very controversial trail called the Scoops Trail. This trail was to prosecute a teacher for teaching evolution.

Mencken soon began to lose popularity. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president, and Mencken expressed so much hatred for him and expressed his strong views with disagreeing with the war, that he lost a lot of his popularity with the public. (Fecher)

In 1948 he had a major stroke that left him unable to read or write, and was killed by cancer in the end. Recently, his diary was published which revealed his use of racist words and is now perceived by many as a racist. (Rothbard, 1962)

Sources:
Rothbard, M. N. (1962). H. L. Mencken: The Joyous Libertarian. New Individualist Review, 2.Retrieved from http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard19.html

Americanism (n.d.). In Encyclopedia of Britannica Online. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

Fecher, C. A. (n.d.). U.S. History Companion: H. L. Mencken. American History Companion, Retrieved From http://www.answers.com/topic/h-l-mencken