FttElilla1 Mm IilliVIlXJALIS!'l

Elements of l~dstentinlism

Issac Goldb,1rg in his The tlJ;m M.enckep has Viewed

Hcncken's 1nd1Vidunl.1Siil as a part o.f his Vigorous

personality. 1 so Goldberg approaches and fixes tiencken

in the Romantic tradition. lt.'lther it is more befitting

to approach !1lencken• s individualism and freedom £ran the

stands of Elnerson and IUetzsche, rather than conceiving

him to be a mere continuer of the age-old romantiCism.

According to Issac Goldberg, f.1eneken is dif.t'erent

from all other critics und as such he is lllisunderstood

as immoral. In the words of Gol®erg:

!!:very legend has its core of truth. l>'hat is the truth of the core of the Hencken legend? Sir.i)}ly this, that the man is manifestly different. 1'he ordinary lllind, which means the popular mind, intelj)rets di.f'ference 1n tema of suspicion and fear. tiellgions, s~dd De Goutmont sooe where, revolve madly around ouest1ons of sex. Let a man be d1f.ferent; let l'i1rl abandon the consecrated altars, and his dissension at once assumes a sexual significance. I!e is different, thcref'ore, he is immoral. 2

Issac Goldberg wrote this in 1925 and at that tii:~e

existcnti::U.ism was yet to e:~orge as a coascious rnov<ncnt.

As such Goldbcrg':J criticism on Ncnclten's individua.liSIJ

( 76 )

_, 77 ,_

missed the thread of llietzsche. Fraa 19lt0 on, with the

diffusion of existentialism through continental El.\roiJ81

its direction have developed in tenns of the diversity

of the interests to ...t1ich they are subject. The rellg1oua

interest, the metaphysical or nature of being interest,

the moral and the pollt1ctU. interest. The diversity of

interests is rooted, at least in part, in the diversity

of sources Ji:w~ich existentialism is dra"Wn. one such

source has been the subjectiVism of NietzsChe, loho

exalted J.if'e in its irrational features and macte this

exaltation the proper task of the "Supermanu who exists

beyond traditionally fabricated good and evil. Menoken's

individualism, as can be seen, has the tenets of subjecti­

Vism. This allows Nencken to depend upon the creative

role of the individual. Art is always a manifestation

of existence itself. It is an aspect of man's revolt

against the wrld. The artist tries to ranake the sketch

of the world that is before him and give the coherence

and unity-that it lacks. Art is then a reshaping the

wrld beyond its .factual .t'onns and in order that it

might show their negati.ve characteristics. SecondJ.y,

Menoken got the anti-traditional bent ot mind .fran

Nietzsche. Thirdly, he got the idea of superman. To

draw a conclusion of sexual immorality is rather baseless

for the simple reason that man's difference as an entity

is not merely sex-bound, it is rather consc:1ence-bound.

_, 77 ·-

missed the thread o~ llietzsche. Fraa 1940 on, with the

di~tusion of eXistentialiSUl through continental Europe,

its direction have developed in tems of the diversity

of the interesta to which they are subject. The religious

interest, the metaphysical or nature of being interest,

the moral and the pol1tic8l interest. The diversity of

interests is rooted, at least in part, in the diversity

ot sources ~Which existentialism is dra\\11. One such

source has been the subjectiVism o~ Nietzsche, lbo

exalted life in its irrational features and made this

exaltation the proper task of the "Superman" who exists

beyond traditionally fabricated good and evil. Mencken' s

indiVidualism, as con be seen, has the tenets of subjecti­

vism. This allows Mencken to depend upon the creative

role of the individual. Art is always a mani~estation

of existence itself. It is an aspect of man• s revolt

against the world. The artist tries to remake the sketch

o! the world that is before hiJI and g1 ve the coherence

and unity-that it laCks. Art is then a reshaping the

world beyond its factual .f'onns and in order that it

might show their negative characteristics. Secondly,

Mencken got the anti-traditional bent ot mind .from

Nietzsche. rhirdly, he got the idea of SUpEmnan. To

draw a conclusion of sexual immoral.ity is rather baseless

tor the simple reason that man's difference as an entity

is not merely sex-bound, it is rather conscience-bound.

-s 78 z-

Immorality .fomuln is absolutely unreadable if we take

human conscience into consideration rather than sexual

aspects.

Hm1ever, Issac Goldberg has kindly conceded to the

fact that f·lenclten hag contributed to the shaping of a new

generQtion of writers. Issac Goldberg says: "And all the

><Jhile, there he sits in juctgeu,mts over judging ll!llerica,

shaping a ne\t generation, carrying the intellectual fame

of his country abroad, cry!.ltalizing ideals despite himself,

breaking his l::mce in noble causes wearying his hedonistic

flesh ~>Jith tha hopeless task o! perfecting mankind. "3

lssac Goldberg seems to be mistaken in considering Hencken

as 1.1 social re.fo:tnJer. Goldberg considered these attributes

are ineVitable t'JU<llities of his marked ind1V1dualism.

rhe expression "aristocratic" however, requires a

modification as he \>I<)S •lriti.ng in an era 'Aben Nietzsche was

bein,~ br--:nded ariatocro.tic and unwanted. But if we take

<liccrininating View o.f things, both NietzsChe and i>lencken

are es.::enti<llly hU!tan in tenper and their concept of

individu<llism are universally applicable unless one 1;~

totally lost in the fomulas of tradition and society. '.;.'he

use of the word ''aristocratic" is rather misleading.

Goldberg himself is probably conscious of this. ~herefore,

he hastens to add "'rhe nnn 'lho is more than an indistin-

guish:tble unit of the flock, • • • rejects the st.mGards

-: 79 ,_

of mere quantity. I'veryone of these rejections is implicit

in his heightened conseiousnass of self. n 4

il'hut all that 1s required is probably this "heightened

consciousness of self." It is not -worth\CU.le to say that

this consciousness in the prev::Llege of the aristocrats. In

fact, r,1enclten' 3 pcrennicl. appeal is tovmrds any man and

every mdl'l who still retains in him the ca}aCity to becun.e

an ir•di.Vidual. It is 1.U1llecessary to argue that Heneken is

a mere romantic trailing in the clouds of his O\m confected

imagination.

It will not be out of ph,ce to state that l~merson' s

ir:1pact and influence on American intellectual life 1~;~ great.

liis observa.tions on Amerlcc.n government indicate that the

St-.ite is secondary, vJhile the indiVidual is prir.lary. In

decbrlng the state to be secvndary to the indiVidual, he

anticipated Neneken' s indiv::l.dualism \'hlich defies aJ.J.

traciitions <Jld institutions. cinerson• s indiv::l.dual.ism -·.;as

b3ae:~ on :.1.1 vinity o1' G1Mo ::,nn, according to Unel'son, could

ef.fect a direct relationship between his soul and God.

This relationship tr:.mscends all the traditional fol);JS of

ca:ununicfltion vrith t;od or neality. Consequently man is

said to haVe the pO\'IE!r to intuit the ultimate truth. rhis

leads to the cor.vention that every individual hw a value.

incrson u;.rear·s us the great prophet of spiritual idc<:.llsm

'l.o.t!ich insists on wn original rt::lation to the u."1ivcr'"'·

-a eo a-

This relationship sets aside history or tr;,dition. He

came to hold as central to his thought, the idea that the

soul o£ man is o£ the same substance as God. Man must not

be distinguished as being other than God. He must surrender

to the over-soul. This is the core ot J:herson' s 1nd1vi­

dualism.5

But Menoken could have gone to the extent of saying

that Emerson enslaved "self" by g1 Vlng it in bondage to the

un1verscl spirit. Menoken's individualism .ts characterised

by his insistence on the creative role of individual but it

is devoid o£ any spiritual faith in man. Since life is

devoid of any meaning and there is no cosmic order, there

is the opportunity for man to realize his potentiality.

Heaninglessness of life wa.s both shocking as well as

fascinating for flencken. It is interesting to see that the

writers llilo stirred Meneken to producE! sc:me of his best

criticism were those, llho, in his Ol«l words, depicted "the

immense indifference of tlungs-the profoundest meaningless­

ness of life. "6 In his essay on Dre:lser 1n prefaces,

l>iencken tried to unravel the philosophy behind the novel;

"\1hat else have Conrad and Hardy been telling us these

m(,U'ty yea.rrtt What else does all the new knowledge of a

century teaches us? One by one the ready answers have

been disposed oft:. !oday the one intelligible answer to

the riddle of aspiration and sacrifice is that there 1s no

answer at all." 7

-: 81 ,_

Accord1ne to Hencken, the realJ.ets and naturalists

o! the early part of the twentieth century showed indi Vi­

dualism in their reJection of tradition. In simple te.nns,

indiVidualism means .freedan of the artist. Mencken as a

critic claims this .freedom lor the novelists and critics.

Without showing any link between Mencken'a indiVidualism

with the indi viduc.lism of political and social philosophy,

it may be stated that the indiVidual 1s an end in himself

and is o:f suprQne value. Negatively it anbod1es opposition

to t1•adition and institution. On the positive side, it

comprises Qf the prinCiple of freedan. liiencken re-stated

the U11ersonian myth of courageous and seJ.f .. reliant

indi Vidua:Ust.

National LAtters

Hmcken observ<~ in "The National Letters" :

It is co:1venient to begin lik•· the gentlanen of God, with r1 glance at a text or two. The .first a short one, is !ran Halph Valda l<lnerson• s cE>lebrated oration, '1'he ArnerJ.can SCholar,' delivered before the 3h1Beta Kappa Society at Cambrioee on i\u~Rt 31, 1837. Fmerson was then th11ty-.four years Ol(l and al.J:lost unknown in his own cou!ltry, tht)llf')l he had already published 'f>ature' and established his first contact with Landor and Carlyle. .But 'The American Schola:r:·' brought hir.l into instnnt notice at home, partly as ~an of letters but oore importantly as seer and prophet, anJ. the .fame thus founded has endured 'od.thout much diminution, at all events in );e\o, l:.ngland, to this day. 8

For Mencken, l:luerson1 s indiVidualism is s1gn1f1cont

nnd 1 t g1 ves him the stature of "a seer and prophet. " He

felt it necessary to r~state Emerson's message of freedap.

In this connection Nolte observes: "'t was obviously

Finerson• s cEntral aim in life to liberate the American

mind-to set it free fran the crippling ethical obsessions

o1' Puritanism, to break dol'tl herd thirlking, to make liberty

more real on the 1nteUectwU. plane than it could ever be

on the polltic1.1J. plane. n9 America no rnore depenrls upon the

learning of Europe is echoed by Hen.cke~. It can be seen

that l'iencken not only exten<!.erl the Emersonian credo of

freedOOl, but al.so stref>sed. the importance o.f "the r:mersonian

doctrine of th~ so~ring indiVidual r:ade articulate by

freedOill and l'en.li:>.ing the respons.ibil.ity that lies upon ua,

each in the Measure of hts own gi!'t. " 10 Poe thought

accordine to !"lencken, the beginning of a solid and auto­

nomous native literature. i!ml!l.~son stressed on the emergence

of a nati.onal literature. Hencken observes: "It has replied

in a way that is manifel.¢ly to the discom!iture of Eherson

as a prophet, to the dismay of Poe as a pessimist disanned

by transient opttmism, and to the utter collapse oi'

\;hi tman." 11 !1 encken points out that the twentieth century

writers of America have !ailed to !ulfi.ll the hope

cherished by t:merson, Whitman and Poe.

-: 83 :-

MenOken's iudi.Vidualiam is reflected in his opposition

to the Purttan1ca1 heritage of New qland. rhe effect o:i:

Puritanilllll is the nl.ack o! intell.eotual audacity and aesthetic

passion." 12 Particul.arly in literary critiCism, moral

concern becQnes pr1ma4'Y and aesthetic concern secondary.

f.1eneken' s it~terest in Ureiser and other novelists made him

a chsnpion uf the pr.inciple of i'reedan. In America, the

novel waa the !o:nn moat comruonly chosen by the realists and

naturaJ.ista who Viewed the world process as object! vely

dete:nninistic. l'his objectlveiYdete:nninistic quality of

nature is sumething that directly comes into conflict with

the ever changing and never resting sel..f of man; and there

emerges a continual crisis o! inadjustment on the part of

man and his self. on introspection his o\\11 life appears

for him stale, pale and purposeless. According to the

naturalists man's etW.cal values, compulsions, and actiVi­

ties can be ael! evidently justified on the same natw·aJ.

grounds since man is an inseparabl.e part of nature itself.

Thus, the naturalists went to the extent of saying that

there is no reality beyond nature. In the novels. the

writer observes closely and reports Clearly the cbara<..-ter

and behaVioor of man's physical enVirorment. He should not

attflllpt to retol'!ll or correct natuz·e by i<leal.isLp; it. Be

should not .lopose value-judgement on nature. l:e should

describe simply what he finds around hi111. fhc fun<Lin<..tll;uls

of natural.iSill al·e explained by L:.olu in his book •'he

Exper1.mepta1 Hovel. Natw:aliam h3s been dei'incu by .• ol , as

-: 84 :•

a sCientific nethod appli~ to nature. AS may readily be

seen, it is the eA1:ens1on of the mechanistic doctrines ot

the ninateenth century school ot itealism.

According to Zol.a, the main task of the artist is to

represent reality which he obtains by making an analytical

study of character, motives and beha.viour. Nenc.Men sutfi­

cicntly <'~u·ified Dreiser• s naturalistic stanili:l in novel.

;.>ometimet~ it is uebated as to \<bather ux·eiser was a natura­

list after the manner of man11er o.r Zola, or he acquired his

rmtul'alisti::: t~lde11c1es after his ow.1 t<tann•Jr of studying

the urban soCiety. In Dreiser, there ia ll .t:ranlt acceptance

of the ugly in life \'ildch takes the .t'orm of an honest

presentation of tha llved experiences. >)reiser evidently

wrote \'bat he knew .from his personal. experiences. This has

been called 11the intellectual honesty of the artist" by

Menoken. 15 However, Nencl<en did not like to use the texm

11natural.ist" for lireiser, sir1ce th(< novelist knew little ot

the J.::uropean literary moveuent theoritically. ~he novelty

of Dreiser' s subject-matter and method needed an e;q>12lla­

tion. I<1eneken gave Dreiser• s novel a theoritical loundation

on the basis of his prinCiple of i'reedan. !'he concentrated

attention of ~1encken on Dreisez· is justifiable on ;;he gl'O\md

that the novelizt has exerCised u. more laating ih.fluence

than any other on the twentieth century realistic .fiction

in America.

-: 85 :-

In his studies ot modem fiction, l•lencken holds that

li.t'e is meaningless. and this is the c.antral tact of hunan

esistence. But 1! we pay careful attention of the manner

1n '\!hich he SW1Used the meaninglessness of Ufe, it

becomes obvious that Hencken neither holds the Darwini&n

naturalistic determinism and nor the socio-economic

realism us the determinat!Hg forces of this meaninglessness

o! Ufe. Hencken constantly tried to assert th:.;t man is

under a necessity to persue u certain course of action in

a given situation. fhere are both internal and e.x.ten1al

foi·ces tha'io determine his course o.t' action. But the manner

in which man takes Upon himself the forces o! situation is

an evidence of the fact that he cherishes a rare sort of

love to be free in his heart. Xhis 1nne1111ost tendency for

a free choice in opposition to the circ~.~~~stential compul­

sions may not be a 1"ull. t:onned conta.:lllllent of tree \ld.ll as

such. Man has a tendency to be free though there are

inevitable deterministic forces.

Thus, meaninglessness oi life is not abSolutely

meaningless as Menoken 'dOU.Ld te:nn it. It does not. however1

make Henc:ken a complacent optimist. He believes the help­

lessness o£ man depicted in the realistic ano nal#uralistic

novels to be partially true. He tries to stress on the

importance of free will. This g1 ves the protagonist a hope

that he still has a control over h.imseli ra-cher than al.lo'..­

ing the external forces to control. him. Nencl';en .fi1.d:l a

-a 86 s-

confiict between the will to be ael.t controlled and the

unfortunate fact of being controll-ed by other forces. ·rh1a

kind of confiict leads to meaninglessness. Menclten believed

1n the strength of man anrl as such he did not reduce the

protagonist to o. non-entity. It is this fnith in the ~

strength of mM ·that makes Honcketl eampare Dreiser• s novels f,_ Y-c.A-~

to the~t:cagediea. It will b'' absurd to say th::J.t l'.enelten

confonn&ti his tl·.oub)·rts to the A:ristotcl.ian co!:cept o£

t~·agc~dy. On th<J vthcl' hZ!lld, tho.re c.re definite suggestions

to al:'1o~I tlut A~·lstotle' s d~fir.itiun of trager.ly .f:.:J.ls :mort

oi l·lencken1 s arti:~tic pUl'];lo:;;e. Though (Y!oncken d.z:·e•.t par-a­

llels bctvie.~n Greek ·;;ragcdies and Dreiaer1 s ncv~ls, he did

not believe .;.n che e:c~atenc.c of a mor:ll order in the

universe. l>;e1 t:1ough r:.mclcen does not dlrectly cone into

confiict with the 1\riatotelian concept of tragedy. it can

be seen that the scheme of moral order is rejected by the

e::r.i st ent i alia~ s.

1·1 e-~.cken finds there is no moral. ol'der in the universe

as presen.tad by Dreise.c in his novels. In the absence of

such moral plan t.he strc.."lo"th of man becOIIle::> a mutter of

perenrli<.U. iuterest in "Cho ntruggle for exl.stencr; in ·~'le

novcls of Dreisez·. l·:encken deeply probed into ;;ictwehean

philosophy and as sucl1 h.is interest in .freeuon o.:. man was

signlf.l.cent. Strengi;h oi' r;;,,n ,nd ireedon ot ~Boice ~

impo~·~;ant !or an existentialis-c. Hut u naturali~t. negates

t.hesa tw elements in 'their pro!Sencation o! life. ..ancken

-: 87 :-

howeve11, in his study of the novel.:; ot Dreiser, made !reedan

und indiviwali&• the berl-rocli. on which human dignity

a."'~erts its importance. According to Mancken man possesses

€1 tendency to control the hostile universa, but it does not

me~ that ht! really controls. This desire to control end

his fu:tlure in this respect makes human life meoningless.

'ihe iutt?nsity o£ t1··agic suffering of !t.all ~okcs I1enckcn

COU!fJ.!I'e Urei.se.:·• s novels \·.ith ·t;he Groel'> dra.:ir>L• ,\lc.:ul.ir..gless­

ness of life is ap}la:t·ent in iJreiser' s novel.::.. Of -.-;r .. _,t tlan

coru.;titutes ar.d ·v.hat uan get;; cor.stituta-d in tho:: novels of

iJreiser is the chie! ::Corte.

'~o reduc0 man !roo his heroic status to u helpless

Victl.m in the manner of the na'CUJ.'al.ists following the theory

of evol.ution was not accepW..Ole ;for i:er.clton. i<.encken rather

wunted to stress on Oi.'deal of stre.'lgth and his C<J.pacity for

sul'l'~'>~'irJg. i1 encl;:cn nc.>Ver called J.Jreisel' a natur•ul.ist. The

essential distinction between na.tu.t·alism and real.iSlll ciiiiiC- ·15

that the fonner believes in the philosophy of detenainism

~Hi the lati!EI' have less cl.:Jat• philoocrmical af..:'iliution in

this regard.. 'l'he naturalists are fl'et: fn:u tt,e convc:ntional

moral values <mu ·t;he act of lli3U is justi1it!d v•l iktu ... 'd

grvunds. F1encJ.:en rejecte<.: mvrd va:.;.uas bec<.,u.S-! 11:: · .. 'c,G

beyond good and evil. r-;enck:en &l<l ·tit~ n,~~;ur;:,li.:.\.., .rejected

the moral V;~lues on di.Cieren~ g.ruun·..;..; clthc,;gh :i1oy I'cached

the same ooaclubiOI•• Anvt;IH.l' r~u.Sun ·.;.lJ i. ~nc..cu too!;

interesl; in na:turFJliSIJl is Cl\::t. it m::de a str·v;:~ cl:~ .. ; !or

-. 88 :-

social raal1sr., .'Jld showed a concerc !o•· the plight of

ordin11ry man. The naturaliutic noveli3t in Alllel"iccm Jealt

~:ith contemporary j\mericnn life. r1encken -.d,th his stands

of humani!!lll holds the vtew that a. novelist shoul.d deal

with ordinary person, here and now.

In the natu~·H.listic utlLl reali~~ic lli)Vels, the p.cotago-

nc.vt.<l. :.; r.~t~.<;;•e:n oiJnervua ~ "Cn.<l'{l(.."ter iu d''cat is ·thW'i the

tlle:;ne o.r grea··~ b11tt of supm:'iol' .Liotiru•• On•:! llas it in

Dost~evr.~y, in Ual.zac, in Hardy, in Conl"ad, in i?lnubert,

in Zolc.~ in 1lw--~<?v, in C:oethc, in :lundennann, in I>ennett

and to corae hOi:IE: in Ureiser. In nearly .ill tirst J:"ate

no·,rcls, th\) hero is de:feated. J:n

caupletel:r de.;;t~·oy0d." 13 i·:enek«• wrote in the Smat't :.>ttl;; -June, 1914, ":(lJe al.I~ o:r a genuine novel is not merely ·to

de.:;cribe a :)a.-ticular mau but to describe a typic~ wm,

and to she" him ln activo con:t:lict wi:~h a morra o;: le;;s

pti!rtJ.:.n<mt and racG;;nizable t<!NJ.ro,..me~It-1'ightiug it, tald.ng

cc,lo~' l'ror.: it, succu~bi,;g to :i.t." 14 .:his staGOOlent s~esta natur.J.J.i:;n but llen<::kan nevt:ll' applied the C>lni rw.tu.:HliSid to

novels th&:; he aamil'ed. ln iact, he was ganeral~y cr.l."Cica.l

of the school of ;:.UrOpean natuL'alists. i'he i<aturalists

-: 89 a-

were bad artists, Menoken concluded as they did not appre­

ciate beauty.

What Mencken wanted in an artist to depict was not

the naturalistic Vision of man as an 1nat:r1.111ent in the

hands of detena1n1sti c forces of the un1 verse, but man's

revolt against that universe. As a h\lllanist, Menck.en

concentrates his attention on man's strength of will as

against the forces of his fate. 1'\encken says that all

great fiction is concerned with man• s struggle against

·fate. !•lencken did not call lJrei.ser a natural.ist but a

realist. In Pre£acee, l-1encken noted: "He is really sane­

thing quite different,and in his moments, something far

more stately. His a1m is not merely to record, but to

translate and understand; the thing he expresses is not

the anpty event and act, but the endless mystery out of

\Clich it springs; his pictures have a passionate compa­

ssion 1n them that 1.t is hard to separate from poetry.n 15

Menoken did not agree with naturalist• a View that art COUld

be as objective as photography. He believed like the

realists, that art involved process of selection and a

ordering o! reality. Art cannot take the form of scien­

ti:i'ic representation. nealism involves subjectiVi.ty. There

is sane fasCination of the unknowable 1n life' s drama of

many mysteries. This cannot be presented 1n an orderly

scheme o! causes and effects, 'Virtues and rewards, and

crimes and punishment. Mencken with a bit of romanticism •

searcheo !0.1.' thtJ "end1ess myst'"Y" of lite 1n the novelists

he c<ll.ls ''reAlists. n

Heneken' s critiCism of the novellsts sholtiS that he had

a philosophical approach to novel.. In his cr.t.tic1sm, 11e

anphas1zed a characters and their enV1ror111ent al.ongw:l.th

·the style ot the w.cit~.s. hencken realizat.l the plotlessness

of modern novels anu, thei·e:£ore, he claimed that thG best

~erican novels wer-e mal'ked for their interest in characters.

i'1enCKen urgeJ the American novel.ists to depict the pal'ti­

cula.t' richness oi the American scene in sharply outlined

and racy characters. This stress on character made Heneken

close to a sociological View of the novel. It i:.> zigni:£1-

cant in the eontext o:f his a<Dirati.on .fran .tdng Lat'<.mer,

Jack London, Sinclair Lewis and Shel'\oiOOd .Anderson.

The concept o.t irony and pity became not onl.y the major

theme ot: Hencken' s cr:i.'ticism in the early 1920's, but also

an aesthetic counterbalance to the kind of sociologiCctl and

satirical fiction that he himself was helping to prunote.

f•lencken admires the novelists whose characters ai·e defeated

and destroyed. .;uccess is not always valuable. upt.il:lism

is too shallow. Nencken writes about sOille of his contem­

porary Allleriean novelists ..no are rel.egated to the rank of

"thirQ-rate novelists" by him. ln the ..ords oi h enckcn, "lt

habituall.y exists, not a man o.f delicate organisation 1n

revolt against the inexplicable tragedy o! existence, but

-: 91 :-

a man of low sensibilities ro.d mental desires yielding

himself gladly to his environment, ~md so achievir.g ..nat, 16

under a third-rate ciVilization, passes tor success."

To the majority, v.ho are i~erior to "the intellectual

aristocracy" that constitutes minority, \!IOrldly success and

wealth a,.o;·"' the :1urposes of life. I! the hero is abl<.! to

m<1rry the ctaugilter of the o"Wner of th~ !a~o~·y, as l'iencken

puts 1t in "National Letters" • it is a Ver'J thrilling story

of' succe51'1. Hut thare are a !ew supm.i.or novelists like

Pr8!lk Norris ,trl'l dtephEn Cl'<AHt, \l.t;o, according to F.encken,

rise above the level of. their cont~urary ru.nrelists.

!n trds context, r-:enchen pinpoints the cultural aridity

and the lack of :an "intellectual ari.stocracy." 1-~encken. is

of the opinion: "It is a cultul'e that roughly corresponds to

~.,lt the cultur<J oi' England WOL!ld be if there were no univer

sities over there. • • • Aci •>~e 3hall see, the United ;Jtates

has not yet produced anything properly desCribable as an

aristocracy • :md so there is no imp(.>diment to the domi.Hation

of the inferior orders." 17

I~o\t, it is r.ccessary to point out !..hat i;encken got

the 1d~a o! i:1tellectual elite £1'0111 r;ietzsche' s ihus .:ipake

ZaYqthustra. 3e;:;1<.les Nietzsche' ::. idea o! super-.u.an, the

other influence is "i'he American Scl.olal''' oi ..-uerson.

}iencL:ln, ,dth his unti-da:~ocrdt.ic l;tJu1>er, believl:!S tnn.t

ilr.'lerica is dominated by the mob \ltliCI• constitv.tes tne

-: 9~ ;-

majority. 'rhe 1<1ea of supenn~m has been significantly

utilized by ;.1encken in the context o! American literature.

Nietzsche spoke or an artstocrGcy of tree and e!ticient

minds. He prer!Ched the philosophy o! the intellectual

elite or supennnn. As opposed to the sUperman, the 'mob'

is an entity without any indiVidual identity. lhe

• aristocr-.-'!.t • is not J:E:>censal•ily the economicully well-to-do

cln11s. 'ehe i!ltel., ectua1. ru:tntocrocy ::trikeJ oif COHV('n­

tional c'1r.1stirm herd r":or:tlity to crente his oHn vsluc.s.

\iatur:1lly he in often r:•isuw:erstood by the majority. lt

is fact t:h·:t n r,rs:r~: .,,.rite:r lf: often the Victim of popular

misunderstandir:g. In this conr.ection, l<'fencken mentions the

name of .four "'r0-ct nin:!tecntL centul"J ;;merican writers-

••• no ;·lith :•'h:lt:1.:<l'• ,,nc! Pcle-both hobgoblins far .fron more

than artlsts." 1'1 -~t!;~cl<e!t \tM'tG to say tswt Dreisex· and sane

t ' eJ 1 t " J t · t;:_. category of the ruiSWl :et•;;tood o 11P.r nov . :c: ,, uo o•1:. ,.

nnd ''hitm·.~n •·:~~s dr.or~ 'lrcci::ely like ti':.e current Vi~vl of

d C b 1.. "1':) ereiser ~IL :J.. e J.. ...

''m1cken 5!: 1·.~~; lcng t;;.•ecltise 'llation Lettm·s' gave a

CO::'ientnry o:• /.::,,~"iC·Jn l.i;;,;r::tur·e and helped 'tO c.~;•eate all

enViro"Yvmt in · ~~icl: ';11•~ r.ode:.'Il:l.st tanpel:' oi' the twent:.il:!th

J. .. cssed.

-: 93 ,_

to discover a Viable trad1t1•·n o! individualism. According

to r-;encken, nineteenth cP.ntury American writers auch as

.:alt \'Jli tman, Edgar Jl.l.:~en Poe, Emerson and Mark Twain, were

indiVidualists standing apart and above the general. stream

of Auerican Literutm·e. :~encken learnt .tram Nietzsche to

stand apart ond to stand above. Here l<leneken anticipated

the c:d:::t~rr~:tall::::t:s o.:: 19/-1() 1 "• J'io •loulJt tht! J\raar1ca."ln

l'u.iucd tl:cir C'].:brv·.f..; .:•r>•l ~··:c•.>il•.!d ill t~er ;.hon they ·;~ere

·;;oJ.J "t~1at t:·,:::i.c lcl!J CiL)l~_;_ ·;h•!J value:3 lole.t'S hollo'' and out-

accepG~.i.;l;: f;.JL' ;~ .::;Gciuty :1,.;::.inst \'lhic!· l·:encken t•e·•ol'Ced.

:lie ind!itilc: ... .l,;_.su of't•c!%1 e:nou~h oau.sed violm::t reaction

because of the cou;.:age of c,:nV1ction and novelty oi' ideas

·u· s ~··l.· ,,;.l.• '"" 'n 1 <'''" I'O"t ·" a .Cree indiVidual but vlle O! l .... ~ .~..-..~ ·-a .Lo.J V.,.#~""-1 ... """''-'

a ;_,v.,ki.leJ ;;,c._s.; .;,,;: i!••.U.vidu-.J.:; •••• .. e does not stand for

sooctllillg, lw bel()r.gs 100 SOiJt<thing. 1120

; .ei.c:ku.':., i .·.;!cJ. _.,, t;ii:.:~ "' w.citer or ;_; Clitic is not a

-: 94 :-

as a proces.> \·ile;reby meani:tg comes into being. '£o quote

·.rrue enough, man needs matter or body to exist, but human existf?nce consists pr<!Ci.sely in ·the creation of meaning. ileing 1n the world is the first and forro10st n creative intentionality, a turning to the things that are in order to express end r;rtlcuJ <•te ~:1em. Without. t.uman 1 ca1·a•, without the exercise of human treedan as the 'l•t>i•· ., ••.. , ""4 ' ... t· ., ·tic· "ei~. rl''';c· ...

• * ·~ ''~~- .~,.,,, ..... .:. •• ,. ., •• ,.!t ...... ~.;. ,\;.1 w .at.,t lo! .... u.tl\:;'.L self nor wox·ld would exist.,

.1

According to h<mcken, a writer

creates hi~ nnms actl w~lue;.;~. They are not avail.:t'ole in

iian' s essence is to m:cate

or ~cl..C.

Cl"l t::. d~:. 't;y :: .:;; .d ~ uf :..i;us <.nu ob.jccti ves i& a problQ.~

,.#' ··i ; ·lc'- '" .'Ld"f· Ol'E: ~:>c.~c loll.10 t;,ink it a \O:a.,te: oi ....... ~·· .... -~· -~.)• tL.c, if r._ t .:.isL _.Jr.g, ~o ~ry skl:(~ch sucL a chart tl.ough

t~1 ;:;: L;1:.. :·a\':.1" • ... .JJ b .. S}'-.3c:...:;.,>t;ivt:, they are uscfu:t. lt

-~ 95 a-

may not be necessary to consider the sChools ot philosophy

realism, nntul'olism, idealiam, pregmatiam and the like. But

ther~ is an att001pt at the exposition ot ex1atential1am

\'Alich COOte to ~lenCken through NietzsChe and intlumced his

major concepts.

Fran this view point that a discussion of existentia­

lisN is taken ;,•:re in ~:.his chapter. The emphasis is on the

ir.d1V1dual.*"'·~'ial.:i!a&t. As might be su:naised, the

ultimate conc-::rn of existentialists is with the meaning ot

exintence. :i.'hey are hal'dly alone in thos concern as 1n

case of individualism. Idealists and romantic naturalists

also shared it. Indeed so ''lholehearted was their concern

.for the ultinute, that they had no doubt the ultimate was

equal.ly conc,,med ,,'ith them. Existentialists, on the

contrary, have not; been so sure that the concern is so

mutual. t<'eariag that it is nott they see man• s situation

in the \rorld as one of loneliness and anxiety. Unsure of

his oeaniug and destiny, man !aces the future and ultima­

tely death vr.l.th feelings of disquietude. 'llhat he dreads

most, perho.ps, is \:he annihilation ot his o-wn existence.

rr:1cltiondl philosophers took refuge fran this fear in

fL:ding the essence o! existence in rational principles of

oetaphysl cs. IJy contrast existentialists find the essence

of existence in i.hc> very tensions and contradiction ...nich

condition the lor.eliness, anxiety and meaninglessness of

life. 'l'i1ese poin-cs have been brought out by l"iP.ncken in his

criticism of modem Aoerican novelists o! the twenties.

-a 96 a-

Meneken has no priori syat• to be iaposed on litera­

ture. This is central to the understanding M-.cken' s

criticism. In this context tbe notion that existence

precedes essence is relevnnt. Exper1-.oe comes ~1rst and

conceptualization comes later. 1'he conventional approach

to 1-.nowleCI.ge permits sene separation between the kno'll!t' and

knoVKt. rhe existentialist ap-proach overc<'ll\es this separa­

tion. In this Vi&\>! kno'<Iledge is not about existence, it

is existence. Just as one intuits knowledge, so he intuits

values. :Oxpertcnce h critieiSII'l tor I~encken. It is

subject! ve and the problem of caamunication o! this unique

experience is another question. Since traditional schools

ho.ve put E>ssenc~,; h M.P.ad of existence-coocept comes ahead

of expez'i ence. i'' encken' s concepts are then the result of

cr:itici11 study of his critiCism. Iru3tead of retc.ining

Vicarious or r,enerclized u:..:;)erience, Menoken insists on

unmedinted re<'l.ctions. c•n this account the critic's unique

indiViduality r<?cei ves pri:::c consideration. '!'he rebellious

spirit o£ f:imcken' s criticism is so s·triking as it sharpens

personal a\vtJ.rP.Iless :llld existence. Fran this canes the .tdea

of freedom.

M t:·'r us th<? critical r.lilieu o:r Mencken is concerned,

the idea of cl~:m;';C is th!! most important 'th::.:~<;. !i'or long.

history ·12s thoug!lt to be cyclic. and there.t:oi·c, instJite

of ~2n.~c-, tLere •:.oas ncthi:;,g rGally now under the sun. But

Ll;~.rwin' s th rxJI"'j ,)_: evolution led to the discartlence or

-: 97 ,_

this theory. For more than a century no\t, man has inter­

preted history in terms o:C a theory of progress. But true

cll.rection of progress in the future is anything but clear

in the moVing present. As a matter of fact it might take

anyone of the cll.rections. It 1110uld sean, therefore, the

more informed we are about the various possibilities, the

more lil:ely the cllance of cur progress. At this point it

iu necessa:ry to h;:;.ve scepticcl otri;look in literatw:.a •md

criticisn. Inn-~;dble V.i.G\tpOints in a nc>d.ble \•IOrlu is

unr·~ruisi;ic. I11 ::: cm:tineent universe, th<Jre mus·t. be room

fo~· .freedom f.or criticcl \'(('..ighing of altel"llati·"e possibi­

lities. This is significant in the context o:t ltlOdernistic

temper in literary criticism.

1 Issue Goldberg, lb.£ tl,m Men9kep 1 A Biographical

~ £.r1ticp.l ~1urvey (New York: Silllon and Schubter, 1925),

P• 3.

2 Ibid., P• .3

3 Ibid., P• 5

4 2:7. Ibid., P•

5 a. lv. :Everson, 11'.i'ha American ::icholar" I Alllertoap

Literature g.!~ t~ineteenth Century : A!l Anthology, ed.

\iilliam J. ~·ischer at 31. (New lJelhi.: .b.Urasia Publlt~hing

House, 1965), p. 45.

6 u. L r1 •· ' B l " p "' (N Y -'· !J· f ,_ • '· enc,en, ;;. ..E.QJ. ~. re ... aces ew ou ... : "nop ,

1917), Tl• 11.

7 Ibid., P• 13.

8 H. L. Hencken, "Nationa..\ Letters" 1n Pre;l\.t~~!l

~.,2!!9 ~r!,.Et~ (New Yorit: Knopf, 1920), P• 9.

9 H. L. ::.ar,cken• ::.mart ~Criticism, ed. william

n. Nolte (t<aw York: Cornell University Press, 1';10bJ,

p. 334.

( 9A )

-z 99 :-

10 H. L. Mencken1 "National L.tten" in Pr!!AUdiC!B

Second Series (New York: Knop.t, 1920), p. 14.

11 Ibirl. 1

12 Ibid., P• 20.

13 Ibid., p. 1•1·

14 H. L. t'lencken, .smart §.!t Cr1t1ci81111 ed. Willian

H. Nolte (hew York: Cornell University Press, 1968) 1

P• 114.

15 ll. L. 1-lcnciken, b. ~ ~ Pref§.q~ (Ntnot York: Knop!,

1917), p. 1.36.

16 H. L. Hencken, "National Letters" in P.re;)udices

s ecoHd ger1es (New York: Knop.t, 1920), PP• YJ-40.

17 ! bid. , p. lq.

18 Ibid., P• 53.

19 I bi<l. 1 P• 57.

20 Ibid., P• 85.

21 Veron ' ..• GrCJ.sc, r·:uropec!! !J.:!:ez;arx !b..£or.y r!ll!

:':r -cticc : ~ \.~d.~:tcnt:i cl lheY~tctmolor,,: !:.2 :::J:.J}!E.i"raliSI:l

( ..... ~ el" ., bli h1 . "7""' ? i~ev; Yo~c.: u ,. ;.-u s t~b Co., 1:~~r'-'~ ~· '·•

22 H. L. l'iencken Letters, selected und anno'ted by

Guy J. Forgue (New Yorkz Knopf, 1961J 1 p. x1v •

• • •