H. L. Mencken

Karen Leick (Ohio State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 12 Sep 1880
Died 29 Jan 1956
Activity 1900-1956

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Cultural Theorist/ Critic
Editor
Essayist
Journalist
Letter-writer/ Diarist
Linguist
Literary Critic/ Historian
Playwright / Dramatist
Poet
Political writer
Satirist
Scholar
Story-writer
Travel writer

Resources

Mencken's Works

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H. L. Mencken was the most well-known and influential American literary and cultural critic of the 1920s. Mencken deliberately printed controversial and even outrageous views and reviews in an effort to encourage readers to think critically about American art and life. He was never afraid to print what he believed, and his honesty, sarcasm, humor and passion attracted young readers in particular. Mencken’s great influence was frequently acknowledged throughout the decade; for example, in Hemingway’s

The Sun Also Rises

(1926), Jake Barnes thinks: “I wondered where Cohn got that incapacity to enjoy Paris. Possibly from Mencken. Mencken hates Paris, I believe. So many young men get their likes and dislikes from Mencken”.

Although Mencken was known as an iconoclast and rebel, his

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1348 words

Citation: Leick, Karen. "H. L. Mencken". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 July 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3079, accessed 25 November 2024.]