H.L. Mencken
Biography
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) has been described as the most influential critic in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning as a newspaper reporter in his native Baltimore, H.L. Mencken's interests quickly broadened to include political, social and literary commentary. As editor with George Jean Nathan of the influential Jazz Age magazines, Smart Set and American Mercury, Mencken promoted modernism in literature, championing the causes of Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain among others. In newspaper columns and books, H.L. Mencken lampooned many social conventions and political icons. His targets included bigotry, intellectual posturing and corruption by public servants. Above all, H.L. Mencken loved the English language, reveling in its endless variety and subtle nuances. His multiple revisions of his masterpiece, The American Language, was a celebration of the written and spoken word.
Primary Source Material
The principal collections of H.L. Mencken’s papers are in The Mencken Room, Enoch Pratt Free library ; the Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library; and the Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Full text works
The American Language
In Defense of Women
The Monkey Trial: a Reporter's Account
Prejudices: First Series
Web Resources
The Mencken Society
The official website of the Mencken society. This organization was formed to encourage the reading of and to pursue research into
the writings of Henry L. Mencken, as well as to provide a forum for opinions both spoken and written about the late journalist, author, editor, critic and iconoclast.
Friends of the H.L. Mencken House
The purpose of the Friends of the H. L. Mencken House is to educate the public about the life and legacy of H. L. Mencken, and to acquire Mencken’s lifelong residence at 1524 Hollins Street for the purpose of restoring, preserving and operating a nonprofit museum.
The Mencken Collection at Goucher College
This website contains a bibliography of the Mencken Collection in the Julie Rogers Library at Goucher College.
The H.L. Mencken page
Put together by a fan of the writings of H.L. Mencken this website contains links to online versions of Mencken's works, biographies, web resources, and photographs.
