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H. L. Mencken as a Philologist

H. L. Mencken was an American writer and editor who rose to prominence in the 1920s. For a time, Mencken was considered one of the most astute observers of American life and culture. His prose contained countless quotable phrases that entered the national discourse. During his lifetime, the Baltimore native was often referred to as the "Baltimore Sage."
Mencken, often considered a highly controversial figure, was known for expressing sharp opinions that were difficult to divide. He commented on political issues in a syndicated newspaper column and influenced contemporary literature through the popular magazine he co-edited, The American Mercury.
Henry Louis Mencken was born on September 12, 1880, in Baltimore, Maryland. His grandfather, who emigrated from Germany in the 1840s, succeeded in the tobacco business. Mencken's father, Augustus, was also in the tobacco business, and young Henry grew up in a comfortable middle-class home.
As a child Mencken was sent to a private school run by a German professor. As a teenager, he moved on to a public high school, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated at age 16. His education focused on science and mechanics, subjects that prepared him for a career in manufacturing. much more into writing and the study of literature. He attributes his love of writing to his childhood discovery of Mark Twain, especially Twain's classic novel Huckleberry Finn. Mencken became an avid reader and aspired to become a writer.
His father, however, had other ideas. He wanted his son to follow him into the tobacco business, and for several years Mencken worked for his father. When Mencken was 18 years old, however, his father died, and he took this as a chance to fulfill his ambitions. He showed up at the local newspaper, The Herald, and asked for a job. At first, he was turned down, but he insisted and eventually got a job as a writer for the paper. An energetic and quick learner, Mencken quickly became the city editor of the Herald and eventually editor.⁹
In 1906 Mencken moved to the Baltimore Sun Hotel, which became his professional home for the rest of his life. At the Sun, he was asked to write his own column called "The Freelance." As a columnist, Mencken developed a style in which he attacked what he considered ignorance and pompousness. Much of his writing was aimed at what he considered mediocrity in politics and culture, and often contained sharp satire in carefully crafted essays.

Mencken criticized those he considered hypocrites, including sanctimonious religious figures and politicians. When his scathing prose appeared in
⁹ A. Betty., Mencken`s Bibliography, 1968
magazines across the country, he attracted readers who regarded him as an honest assessor of American society.
When World War I broke out, Mencken, who was very proud of his German roots and skeptical of the British, seemed to be on the wrong side of prevailing American opinion. He was somewhat side-lined during the controversy over his loyalty, especially after the United States entered the war, but his career rebounded in the 1920s.
In the summer of 1925, when Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes went on trial for teaching the theory of evolution, Mencken travelled to Dayton, Tennessee, to cover his case. His reports circulated in newspapers across the country. Renowned orator and political activist William Jennings Bryan was brought in as a special prosecutor for the case. Mencken cheerfully ridiculed him and his fundamentalist followers.
Mencken's report of the Scopes trial was widely read, and the people of the Tennessee town where the trial took place were outraged. On July 17, 1925, the New York Times published a dispatch from Dayton, topped with the following headlines: "Mencken Epithets, Rose Dayton Rage," "Citizens Outraged at Being Called 'Babbitts," "Morons," "Peasants," Billis "and" Yokels "and" Talk of Beating Him Up."
Shortly after the conclusion of the trial, William Jennings Bryan died. Mencken, who scolded Bryan during his lifetime, wrote a brutally shocking assessment of him. In an essay entitled "In Memoriam: WJB," Mencken mercilessly attacked the recently departed Bryan, ruining Bryan's reputation in classic Mencken style: "If this guy was sincere, so was P.T. Barnum. In fact, he was a charlatan, a charlatan, a fool without reason or dignity."
Mencken's opinion of Brian seemed to define his role in the America of the turbulent twenties. His wild opinions, written in elegant prose, drew fans to him,
and his rebellion against what he considered puritanical ignorance inspired readers.¹⁰
Running his syndicated newspaper column, Mencken, along with his friend George Jean Nathan, held a second and equally demanding job as co- editor of The American Mercury literary magazine. The magazine published short fiction as well as op-ed pieces, and generally published Mencken's articles and critiques. The magazine became known for publishing works by major American writers of the era, including William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis and W. B. DuBois.
The American Mercury was banned in Boston in 1925 when a story in it was deemed immoral. Mencken went to Boston and personally sold a copy of the issue to one of the censors so that he could be arrested (when a crowd of students cheered him on). He was acquitted and widely praised for defending press freedom.
Mencken left the editorial board of the American Mercury in 1933 when his political views became more conservative and out of step with progressive readers. Mencken expressed open contempt for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and endlessly ridiculed and condemned New Deal programs. The eloquent rebel of the 1920s turned into a grumpy reactionary as the country suffered during the Great Depression.¹¹
Mencken had always taken a deep interest in the development of language, and in 1919 he published American Language, which documented how words came to be used by Americans. In the 1930s Mencken returned to work on documenting language. He encouraged readers to send him examples of words in different regions of the country and undertook this research.





¹⁰ G. Lloyd., Mencken Diaries` Bar Lifted, 1985
¹¹ C. Richard., H.L. Mencken as a Critic of Poetry, 1950

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