Prejudices, first series - H. L. Mencken

Fourth Printing March, 1921

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

I	Criticism of Criticism of Criticism,		[9]

II	The Late Mr. Wells,		[22]

III	Arnold Bennett,		[36]

IV	The Dean,		[52]

V	Professor Veblen,		[59]

VI	The New Poetry Movement,		[83]

VII	The Heir of Mark Twain,		[97]

VIII	Hermann Sudermann,		[105]

IX	George Ade,		[113]

X	The Butte Bashkirtseff,		[123]

XI	Six Members of the Institute,		[129]
	1.	The Boudoir Balzac,	[129]
	2.	A Stranger on Parnassus,	[134]
	3.	A Merchant of Mush,	[138]
	4.	The Last of the Victorians,	[139]
	5.	A Bad Novelist,	[145]
	6.	A Broadway Brandes,	[148]

XII	The Genealogy of Etiquette,		[150]

XIII	The American Magazine,		[171]

XIV	The Ulster Polonius,		[181]

XV	An Unheeded Law-Giver,		[191]

XVI	The Blushful Mystery,		[195]
	1.	Sex Hygiene,	[195]
	2.	Art and Sex,	[197]
	3.	A Loss to Romance,	[199]
	4.	Sex on the Stage,	[200]

XVII	George Jean Nathan,		[208]

XVIII	Portrait of an Immortal Soul,		[224]

XIX	Jack London,		[236]

XX	Among the Avatars,		[240]

XXI	Three American Immortals,		[246]
	1.	Aristotelean Obsequies,	[246]
	2.	Edgar Allan Poe,	[247]
	3.	Memorial Service,	[249]

PREJUDICES: FIRST SERIES

I. CRITICISM OF CRITICISM OF CRITICISM

Every now and then, a sense of the futility of their daily endeavors falling suddenly upon them, the critics of Christendom turn to a somewhat sour and depressing consideration of the nature and objects of their own craft. That is to say, they turn to criticizing criticism. What is it in plain words? What is its aim, exactly stated in legal terms? How far can it go? What good can it do? What is its normal effect upon the artist and the work of art?

Such a spell of self-searching has been in progress for several years past, and the critics of various countries have contributed theories of more or less lucidity and plausibility to the discussion. Their views of their own art, it appears, are quite as divergent as their views of the arts they more commonly deal with. One group argues, partly by direct statement and partly by attacking all other groups, that the one defensible purpose of the critic is to encourage the virtuous and oppose the sinful—in brief, to police the fine arts and so hold them in tune with the moral order of the world. Another group, repudiating this constabulary function, argues hotly that the arts have nothing to do with morality whatsoever—that their concern is solely with pure beauty. A third group holds that the chief aspect of a work of art, particularly in the field of literature, is its aspect as psychological document—that if it doesn’t help men to know themselves it is nothing. A fourth group reduces the thing to an exact science, and sets up standards that resemble algebraic formulæ—this is the group of metrists, of contrapuntists and of those who gabble of light-waves. And so, in order, follow groups five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, each with its theory and its proofs.

CONTENTS

I. CRITICISM OF CRITICISM OF CRITICISM