Life and Work of H.L. Mencken, Writer and Social Critic

H.L. Mencken was an American author and editor who rose to prominence in the 1920s. For a time, Mencken was considered one of the sharpest observers of American life and culture. His prose contained countless quotable phrases that worked their way into the national discourse. During his lifetime, the Baltimore native was often called The Sage of Baltimore. Often regarded as a wildly controversial figure, Mencken was known for expressing strident  opinions that were difficult to categorize. He commented on political issues in a syndicated newspaper column and exerted influence on modern literature through a popular magazine he co-edited, The American Mercury. Fast Facts: H.L. Mencken Known As: The Sage of BaltimoreOccupation: Writer, editorBorn: September 12, 1880 in Baltimore, MarylandEducation: Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (high school)Died: January 29, 1956 in Baltimore, MarylandFun Fact: Ernest Hemingway made mention of Menckens influence in his novel The Sun Also Rises, in which protagonist Jake Barnes reflects, So many young men get their likes and dislikes from Mencken. Early Life and Career Henry Louis Mencken was born September 12, 1880 in Baltimore, Maryland. His grandfather, who had emigrated from Germany in the 1840s, prospered in the tobacco business. Menckens father, August, 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 operated by a German professor. As a teen he moved on to a public high school, the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated at the age of 16. His education was focused on science and mechanics, subjects that would prepare him for a career in manufacturing, Yet Mencken was far more fascinated by writing and the study of literature. He credited his love of writing to his childhood discovery of Mark Twain, and especially Twains classic novel,  Huckleberry Finn. Mencken grew into an avid reader and aspired to be a writer. His father, however, had other ideas. He wanted his son to follow him into the tobacco business, and for a few years, Mencken worked for his father. However, when Mencken was 18, his father died, and he took it as a chance to follow his ambition. He presented himself at the office of a local newspaper, The Herald, and asked for a job. He was turned down at first, but persisted and eventually landed a job writing for the paper. An energetic and quick learner, Mencken quickly rose to be the Heralds city editor and ultimately the editor. Journalism Career In 1906, Mencken moved to the Baltimore Sun, which became his professional home for most of the rest of his life. At the Sun, he was offered the chance to write his own column, titled The Freelance. As a columnist, Mencken developed a style in which he attacked what he perceived as ignorance and bombast. Much of his writing targeted what he considered mediocrity in politics and culture, often delivering cutting satire in carefully crafted essays. Mencken blasted those he considered hypocrites, which often included sanctimonious religious figures and politicians. As his scathing prose appeared in magazines nationwide, he attracted a following of readers who saw him as an honest appraiser 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 mainstream American opinion. He was somewhat sidelined during controversies about his loyalty, especially after the United States entered the war, but his career rebounded in the 1920s. Fame and Controversy In the summer of 1925, when a Tennessee schoolteacher, John Scopes, was put on trial for teaching about the theory of evolution, Mencken traveled to Dayton, Tennessee to cover his trial. His dispatches were syndicated to newspapers around the country. The noted orator and political figure William Jennings Bryan had been brought in as a special prosecutor for the case. Mencken gleefully mocked him and his fundamentalist followers. Menckens reporting on the Scopes Trial was widely read, and citizens of the Tennessee town hosting the trial were outraged. On July 17, 1925, the New York Times published a  dispatch from Dayton  topped with the following stacked headlines: Mencken Epithets Rouse Daytons Ire, Citizens Resent Being Called Babbitts, Morons, Peasants, Hill-Billies, and Yokels, and Talk of Beating Him Up. Shortly after the conclusion of the trial, William Jennings Bryan died. Mencken, who had reviled Bryan in life, wrote a brutally shocking appraisal of him. In the essay, titled In Memoriam: W.J.B., Mencken attacked the recently departed Bryan without mercy, dismantling Bryans reputation in classic Mencken style: If the fellow was sincere, then so was P. T. Barnum. The word is disgraced and degraded by such uses. He was, in fact, a charlatan, a mountebank, a zany without sense or dignity. Menckens skewering of Bryan seemed to define his role in the America of the Roaring Twenties. Savage opinions written in elegant prose brought him fans, and his rebellion against what he saw as Puritanical ignorance inspired readers. The American Mercury While writing his syndicated newspaper column, Mencken held a second and equally demanding job as a co-editor, with his friend George Jean Nathan, of the literary magazine The American Mercury. The magazine published short fiction as well as journalism, and generally featured articles and pieces of criticism by Mencken. The magazine became known for publishing the work of major American writers of the era, including  William Faulkner,  F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and  W.E.B. Du Bois. In 1925, an issue of The American Mercury was banned in Boston when a short story in it was deemed to be immoral. Mencken traveled to Boston and personally sold a copy of the issue to one of the censors so he could be arrested (as a crowd of college students cheered him on). He was acquitted and widely praised for his defense of freedom of the press. Mencken resigned from the editorship of the American Mercury in 1933, at a time when his political views were seen as getting more conservative and out of touch with progressive readers. Mencken expressed open contempt for  President Franklin D. Roosevelt  and endlessly mocked and condemned the programs of the  New Deal. The eloquent rebel of the 1920s had turned into a grumpy reactionary as the country suffered during the Great Depression. The American Language Mencken had always been deeply interested in the development of language, and in 1919 had published a book, The American Language, which documented how words came into use by Americans. In the 1930s, Mencken returned to his work documenting language. He encouraged readers to send him examples of words in various regions of the country, and busied himself with that research. A greatly enlarged fourth edition of  The American Language  was published in 1936. He later updated the work with supplements published as separate volumes. Menckens research on how Americans changed and used the English language is dated by now, of course, but it is still informative and often very entertaining. Memoirs and Legacy Mencken had been friendly with Harold Ross, the editor of The New Yorker, and Ross, in the 1930s, encouraged Mencken to write autobiographical essays for the magazine. In a series of articles, Mencken wrote about his childhood in Baltimore, his raucous years as a young journalist, and his adult career as an editor and columnist. The articles were eventually published as a series of three books,  Happy Days,  Newspaper Days, and  Heathen Days. In 1948 Mencken, keeping to his long tradition, covered both major party political conventions and wrote syndicated dispatches about what he had seen. Late that year he suffered a stroke from which he only partly recovered. He had difficulty speaking, and his ability to read and write had been lost. He lived quietly in his house in Baltimore, visited by friends, including William Manchester, who would write the first major biography of Mencken. He died on January 29, 1956. Though he had been out of the public eye for years, his death was  reported as front-page news  by the New York Times. In the decades since his death, Menckens legacy has been widely debated. There is no doubt he was a writer of great talent, but his display of bigoted attitudes surely diminished his reputation. Sources Mencken, H. L. Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature, vol. 3, Gale, 2009, pp. 1112-1116. Gale Virtual Reference Library.  Berner, R. Thomas. Mencken, H. L. (1880–1956). St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 3, St. James Press, 2013, pp. 543-545.  Henry Louis Mencken. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 10, Gale, 2004, pp. 481-483.  Manchester, William.  The Life and Riotous Times of H.L. Mencken. Rosetta Books, 2013.Mencken, H. L., and Alistair Cooke.  The Vintage Mencken. Vintage, 1990.

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Manolo Blahnik Free Essays

Manolo Blahnik has been designing shoes since 1971 and has received many prestigious awards, including three special awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and the British Council’s ‘Accessory Designer of the Year’ in 1990 and 1999. Despite having had no formal training, he’s done it all: backless, heel-less, wedges, stilettos, and kittens, even platforms. Now he is one of the very few brand names that have become a synonym for the product — Hoover, Kleenex, Band-Aid, Post-it and †¦ Manolo. We will write a custom essay sample on Manolo Blahnik or any similar topic only for you Order Now He studied literature and architecture at the University of Geneva, and art at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts and L’Ecole du Louvre in Paris. Originally, he wanted to be a set designer and took a portfolio of drawings to New York in 1971 in the hope of finding work there. Paloma Picasso, a friend from Paris, arranged for him to meet Diana Vreeland, the editor of US Vogue. When she looked at his drawings, Vreeland exclaimed: â€Å"How amusing. Amusing. You can do accessories very well. Why don’t you do that? Go make shoes. Your shoes in these drawings are so amusing. † By the late 1990s when the fashion writer and historian Colin McDowell observed Blahnik at work, he had been in command of his craft for years. The result is the book titled simply â€Å"Manolo Blahnik†. The process of creating a Manolo Blahnik shoe begins with Manolo sketching it at home in Bath, his London office or one of his northern Italian factories with a Tombo Japanese brush pen in three minutes of â€Å"firm, assured hand movements followed by precise, sharp little jabs as the details are fitted in†. â€Å"I’ve been studying the art of the shoe†¦ for over twenty years†, says Blahnik. â€Å"I know every process. I know how to cut and cut away here (the side of the shoe) and still make it so that it stays on the foot. And the secret of toe cleavage, a very important part of the sexuality of the shoe. You must only show the first two cracks. And the heel. Even if it’s twelve centimeters high it still has to feel secure – and that’s a question of balance. † Blahnik drawings exhibit the design skill and craftsmanship that footwear design demands. His design process begins with color-rich sketches that are so finely executed they are as sought-after as the shoes themselves. Some reflect nature, mostly recurring botanical themes while others are more dramatic and others still verging on the fetishistic. Some are so fragile-looking it’s impossible to imagine them withstanding the challenge of being worn; these shoes are the kind that insist you take taxis. Consider Carrie’s unforgettable one liner in Sex and the City, when she was robbed in the street: â€Å"Please sir. You can take my Fendi baguette, you can take my ring and my watch, but don’t take my Manolos Blahniks,† she pleaded. Pathos aside, the scene is testament to the gravitas attributed to Mr. Blahnik’s shoes. ‘Exquisite design sketches †¦ Blahnik’s richly colored drawings are often exuberantly exaggerated – hyper-arched with impossibly thin heels – which add to the sense of magic that imbues his designs †¦ Presented here on a grand scale †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢? – Metro In an interview with aRude magazine, in November last year, Blahnik talks about the technical details involved in his creative process: In relation to your shoe-drawings, are your lines more Ingres, Matisse, Picasso or Aubrey Beardsley? ? Oh, I would love to even come close to one of those geniuses. How can I compare myself to them? Sometimes I can spontaneously get immersed in Ingres and the divine purity of his brushstrokes. Matisse and Picasso always visit my mind as well. What medium do you typically draw in and why? ?I usually draw in China ink. I love the consistence and feel of the liquid. What other mediums did you experiment drawing with before arriving at your present favorite? ?I experimented with acrylic and oil paints in the 70s. Later I tried watercolors until I arrived at the ink. I have always also used the Staedtler pencils to sketch. I still use them. 3H Staedtler is my favorite. Do you prefer, in your drawing, sharp or broad lines, or a combination of both and what kind of paper do you use? ?The lines depend on the kind of paper I use. I usually use Cartridge paper. When do you employ colors and what essential role do they play in the overall harmony of your drawings? Colors play a huge role in my design process. By nature I am always inspired by very bright Mediterranean colors. I grew up with nature and flowers and beautiful landscapes, so that is always conveyed through my shoes. In 2003, Manolo Blahnik Drawings, co-authored by Anna Wintour was published. Contained within it, the book lays out his designs as brightly colored whimsies, sketches that deftl y convey the essences of his creations. As designs, the shoes are salacious cartoons of themselves, curvy and heeled, bejeweled and shimmery. Celeb quotes, interspersed throughout, heighten the spiraling sense of posturing and play. Madonna says, they are as good as sex†¦ and they last longer. His sketches are executed with exuberance and deftness that they have become as sought after as the shoes themselves. Inimitable in style, the drawings vividly convey Blahnik’s unique vision. References: www. manoloblahnik. com Wintour, A. Roberts, M. (2003). Manolo Blahnik Drawings. New York: Thames Hudson Mcdowell, C. (2000). Manolo Blahnik. U. K. : HarperCollins Ude, I. (2010, Nov. ) Manolo Blahnik’s gem-like miracles. aRude magazine. Retrieved Nov 29, 2011 from http://www. arudemag. com/in-his-shoes/ How to cite Manolo Blahnik, Essay examples