Home > H. L. Mencken

Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a cigar factory owner. He became a reporter for the Baltimore Morning Herald in 1899, and moved to the Baltimore Sun in 1906. In 1908 he also began writing as a literary critic for the magazine The Smart Set . He founded his own influential magazine, The American Mercury in January of 1924, which soon had a national circulation. In his capacity as editor and "man of ideas" Mencken became close friends with the leading literary figures of his time, including Theodore DreiserCarl Van Vechten, 1933 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( July 27, 1871 December 28, 1945) was an American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, into a strict German-American family. The po, F. Scott FitzgeraldCarl Van Vechten, 1937 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald ( September 24, 1896- December 21, 1940), was a Jazz Age novelist. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th Century. The self-styled spoke, and Alfred Knopf.

Mencken was an outspoken defender of freedom of conscience and civil rightsCivil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. Examples include the right to vote and anti- discrimination laws. Civil rights movements usually want equal protection of the laws for minorities,, an opponent of persecution and of injustice and of the puritanism and self-righteousness that masks the oppressive impulse. As a nationally syndicated columnist and author of numerous books he notably assaulted America's preoccupation with fundamentalist ChristianityFundamentalist Christianity is a fundamentalist movement, especially within American Protestantism. The term, Fundamentalist tends to have a variable meaning. Historically, and for those who use the name to describe themselves, a Fundamentalist Christian, attacked the "Booboisie," his word for the ignorant middling classes, and heaped scorn not only upon most democratic officials but American democracy itself. In 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the, the legislature of the state of ArkansasArkansas [akns] is a southern state in the southern United States. The 2000 census was 2,673,400. postal abbreviation is AR. It was admitted in 1836. USS Arkansas was named in honor of this state. History The early French explorers of the state gave it it passed a motion to pray for Mencken's soul, after he had raised the state to the "apex of moronia".

Mencken's views are usually regarded as libertarian by most commentators, but Mencken's writing also had a strong elitist strain and even a pronounced racist element in excess of early-twentieth century Social Darwinist thought:

"The educated Negro of today is a failure, not because he meets insuperable difficulties in life, but because he is a Negro. His brain is not fitted for the higher forms of mental effort; his ideals, no matter how laboriously he is trained and sheltered, remain those of a clown.".

He sometimes took positions in his essays more for shock value than for deep-seated conviction, such as his essay arguing that the Anglo-Saxon race was demonstrably the most cowardly in human history, published at a time when much of his readership considered Anglo-Saxons the noble pinnacle of civilization. He captivated young intellectuals with total assurance and a delightfully hateful, but no less erudite style.

Mencken suffered a cerebral thrombosis in 1948, from which he never fully recovered. Ironically, and sadly, the damage to his brain left him fully conscious and aware but unable to read or write. In his later years he enjoyed listening to classical music and talking with friends, but he sometimes referred to himself in the past tense as if already dead. He died in 1956 and was interred in the Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. His epitaph reads:

If after I depart this vale you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner, and wink your eye at some homely girl.

Mencken suggested this epitaph in The Smart Set . After his death, it was inscribed on a plaque in the lobby of the Baltimore Sun. The well-known journalist P. J. O'Rourke called Mencken the "...creator of a new and distinct style of journalism I like to call 'big-city smartass.'"

Also a latent prophet of sorts Mencken predicted "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

See also Bathtub Hoax.