B8
B
KLMNO
Jonathan Yardley
Wit, with a knockout punch
T
MENCKEN ON MENCKEN A New Collection of Autobiographical Writings
Edited by S.T. Joshi Louisiana State Univ. 263 pp. Paperback, $24.95
hree decades ago I experienced an epiphany. In 1980 I was book editor of the Washington Star but living in Baltimore, which made me acutely aware of the impending centennial of that city’s famous native son, Henry Louis Mencken, to be celebrated that September. I was 40 years old but had never read Mencken; I don’t remember why, but it was a serious omission. I thought I should take note of the centennial in my regular Sunday column in the Star, so I made plans to read and review “A Choice of Days,” a selection of Mencken’s autobiographical essays being published to mark the
occasion.
I was completely blown away. I’d never read prose — at least journalistic prose — as rich, original and forceful as Mencken’s. I roared with laughter at his reminiscences of a boyhood in late 19th-century Baltimore and of his newspaper apprenticeship on the long-departed Baltimore Herald. In an instant I went from someone who’d never read Mencken to one who couldn’t stop reading him, and I have been thus ever since. Late in 1980 I contracted to write his biography. That project had to be set aside when various professional complications arose, but in 1992 Knopf did me the honor of asking me to edit his posthumous memoir, “My Life As Author and Editor,” which it published the following year.
At the time I assumed that this memoir, along with the “Days” books — “Happy Days,” “Newspaper Days” and “Heathen Days” — and “Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work” (1994), constituted the sum of Mencken’s autobiographical writing, but now it is my pleasure to report that I was wrong. S.T. Joshi, an independent scholar who has written or edited four previous books on Mencken, has now blessed us with “Mencken on Mencken,” which, he says, “seeks humbly to be the fourth of Mencken’s ‘Days’ books, including writings written over a period of nearly fifty years and focusing on numerous facets of his life and thought that the three earlier books address only glancingly or not at all.” Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far. The “Days” books are sui generis. Even though they originally were written as discrete pieces for the New Yorker in the late 1930s and early ’40s, they have the feel of carefully structured narratives. Despite Joshi’s heroic effort to give similar shape to the many miscellaneous newspaper and magazine pieces collected here, “Mencken on Mencken” may be a welcome footnote to the
UPI
H. L. Mencken
“Days” books, but it is not their equivalent. Divided into four sections — “Memories of a Long Life,” “Author and Journalist,” “Thinker” and “World Traveler”— the book is uneven. The reminiscences about youth and journalism are wonderful, the rest somewhat less so. But it’s all Mencken, and if you’re even half as addicted to him as I am, you’ll be thrilled to have yet more of him to read. The more than 50 pieces reprinted here were originally published between 1900 (when, at not quite 20, Mencken was already a three-year newspaper veteran) and 1948 (the year he suffered the stroke that left him debilitated until his death in 1956) and appeared in a number of places: the Sun and the evening Sun of Baltimore, the New Yorker, the Smart Set, Vanity Fair and others. For the most part the best pieces show Mencken in a reflective, reminiscent mood — though there are more than a few flashes of his wit and his ability to deliver a knockout punch — and thus provide yet another reminder that the Sage of Baltimore had a sentimental, nostalgic side as well as an acerbic one. Mencken was born in Baltimore in 1880 and lived almost his entire life in the house on Hollins Street where he grew up. “The Baltimore of the 80’s had a flavor that has long since vanished,” he wrote in a 1925 Evening Sun piece reprinted here. “The town is at least twice as big now as it was then, and twice as showy and glittering, but it is certainly not twice as pleasant, nor, indeed, half as pleasant. The more the boomers pump it up, the more it comes to resemble such dreadful places as Buffalo and Cleveland. I am not arguing here, of course, against the genuine improvements that the years have brought.... I am simply arguing against the doctrine that mere size is something —that bringing in scores of new and stinking factories and thousands of new morons has done us any good. The boomers seem to take a great delight in their own handiwork; they are forever giving one another banquets. Personally, I’d prefer to see them hanged.” Mencken believed, as he wrote in 1930, that
the great fire of 1904 was what killed the old Baltimore that he knew so intimately and loved so deeply: “The new Baltimore that emerged from the ashes was simply a virtuoso piece of Babbitts. It put in all the modern improvements, especially the bad ones. It acquired civic consciousness. Its cobs climbed out of the alleys behind the old gin-mills and began harassing decent people on the main streets.” Mencken never lost his love for Baltimore — after all, he refused to move to New York while editing the Smart Set and then the American Mercury, preferring to commute weekly by train from Baltimore — but what he most loved was Baltimore before the fire:
“I am glad I was born long enough ago to remember, now, the days when the town had genuine color, and life here was worth living. I remember Guy’s Hotel. I remember the Concordia Opera House. I remember the old Courthouse. Better still, I remember Mike Sheehan’s old saloon on Light street — then a mediaeval and lovely alley; now a horror borrowed from the boom towns of the Middle West. Was there ever a better saloon in this world? Don’t argue: I refuse to listen! The decay of Baltimore, I believe, may be very accurately measured by the distance separating Mike’s incomparable bar from the soda-fountains which now pollute the neighborhood — above all, by the distance separating its noble customers (with their gold watch-chains and their elegant boiled shirts) from the poor fish who now lap up Coca-Cola.” All of these quotations are from the “Monday Column” that Mencken wrote steadily for the Evening Sun from 1920 until 1941, when he stepped aside because of differences with its management over the coming war. These pieces remind us that he was uncommonly skilled at what the best of his biographers, Terry Teachout, calls “meticulous serial revision”: writing a column for the Evening Sun, revising and expanding it for the Smart Set or the American Mercury, then doing so once more before adding it to one of the many books in which his work was collected. Thanks to Joshi, we can see now that Mencken, probably completely unconsciously, was laying the groundwork in these newspaper columns of the 1920s and ’30s for the “Days” books that he began to write (in New Yorker installments) in 1936. As noted, these pieces about old Baltimore are the highlights of “Mencken on Mencken,” and anyone who dotes on the master’s prose will be delighted to find them rescued from the copious if dusty files of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. There are other bright moments elsewhere: an appreciation of Theodore Dreiser, foreshadowing the more extensive one written for “My Life As Author and Editor”; various exuberant recollections of his journalistic apprenticeship, when “the romance of journalism — and to a youngster, in that era, it surely was romantic — had me by the ear”; and mature reminiscences about his days as a magazine editor. In one of these last, Mencken bemoans the disappearance of “amour” from magazine offices and then allows himself a classic Menckenism: “I can recall but one lady during my last two years in service who indicated that I might make havoc with her amiability, and she turned out, on investigation, to be insane.” For my money that one phrase — “make havoc with her amiability” — is reason enough to buy, and treasure, this book.
yardleyj@washpost.com
SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS
PAPERBACK
FICTION
1 THE LAST SONG (Grand Central, $14.99; $7.99)
2 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
9
By Nicholas Sparks. A teen matures while spending the summer with her divorced father.
2
(Vintage, $15.95). By Stieg Larsson. Sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe is exposed.
3 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 4 HERO AT LARGE (Harper, $7.99)
41
(Vintage, $14.95). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy”; basis of new film.
1
By Janet Evanovich. A zany romance from Evanovich, the first of 12 such out-of-print books to be re-released.
5 JUST TAKE MY HEART (Pocket, $7.99)
2
By Mary Higgins Clark. Do organ transplant patients get more than a new life from their donors?
6 GONE TOMORROW (Dell, $9.99). By Lee Child. 7 LITTLE BEE (Simon & Schuster, $14)
8 FIRST FAMILY (Vision, $9.99)
2
Jack Reacher confronts a suspected suicide bomber on the N.Y.C. subway, with dangerous consequences.
7
By Chris Cleave. This wry second novel from a British journalist explores the state of war and refugees.
7
By David Baldacci. A children’s birthday party at Camp David morphs from frolic to kidnapping.
9 A RELIABLE WIFE (Algonquin, $14.95)
13
By Robert Goolrick. This erotic tale of suspense, featuring a mail-order bride, is set in 1907 Wisconsin.
10 DEAR JOHN (Grand Central, $13.99; $7.99)
16
By Nicholas Sparks. 9/11 upends a budding romance between a soldier and a college student; movie tie-in.
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1 CONSERVATIVE VICTORY: DEFEATING OBAMA’S
FOR A NEW GENERATION (Voice, $14.99)
By Andrea Wong and Rosario Dawson
1
RADICAL AGENDA (Harper, $14.99)
By Sean Hannity. The pundit takes on the White House.
2 SECRETS OF POWERFUL WOMEN: LEADING CHANGE 3 HUNGRY GIRL 1-2-3: THE EASIEST, MOST DELICIOUS,
GUILT-FREE RECIPES ON THE PLANET
(Griffin, $19.99). By Lisa Lillien. Crockpots and more.
4 THE BLIND SIDE: EVOLUTION OF A GAME
(Simon Spotlight, $16) By Chelsea Handler. Irreverent essays.
22
(Norton, $13.95). By Michael Lewis. The story of star left tackle Michael Oher; basis of the feature film.
5 ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA 6 NOW EAT THIS! 150 OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE COMFORT
FOODS, ALL UNDER 350 CALORIES (Ballantine, $22)
By Rocco DiSpirito. The celebrity chef’s healthy picks.
7 COOK THIS, NOT THAT! KITCHEN SURVIVAL GUIDE 8 FOOD RULES: AN EATER’S MANUAL
13
(Rodale, $19.99). By David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding. Saving money and calories by eating at home.
13
(Penguin, $11). By Michael Pollan. A portable guide for making tough choices in the store or on the go.
9 EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR
122
EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA
(Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert
10 A PATRIOT’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
5
(Sentinel, $25). By Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. “Dead white men” gain ground in this revised history.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended April 4, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)
6
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LITERARY CALENDAR
APRIL 12-17, 2010
12 MONDAY | 7:30 P.M. PEN/Faulkner
presents a reading of new fiction by the founding co-editors of the Believer magazine, Heidi Julavits, author of the novel “The Uses of Enchantment,” and Vendela Vida, author of “Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name” as well as the screenplay (with husband Dave Eggers) for the feature film “Away We Go,” at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE. A reception and book signing follow. Tickets are $15; call 202-544-7077 or visit www.penfaulkner.org to RSVP.
13 TUESDAY | 6 P.M. Activist and
educator Malaak Compton-Rock, the
founder of the Angelrock Project (an online site that promotes volunteerism, social responsibility and sustainable change, www.angelrockproject.com), discusses her new book, “If It Takes a Village, Build One: How I Found Meaning Through a Life of Service and 100+ Ways You Can Too,” at Busboys and Poets (14th & V), 2021 14th St. NW, 202-387-7638.
14 WEDNESDAY | 6:30 P.M. Lloyd
Constantine discusses and signs “Journal of the Plague Year: An Insider’s Chronicle of Eliot Spitzer’s Short and Tragic Reign” at Borders Books-Downtown, 18th & L Sts. NW, 202-466-4999. 6:30 P.M. Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet and novelist Alice Walker reads from and discusses her latest book, “Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel,” at Busboys and Poets (14th & V), 202-387-7638. 7P.M. Scholar and environmental activist Bill McKibben discusses and signs his new book, “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919. On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., he will join Mike Tidwell, author of “Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast,” for a
discussion of their books in a program sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s series “Artists for the Climate” at Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St. NW. Tickets are $15, $10 for students; visit www.chesapeakeclimate.org/- artists4climate for details and to RSVP. 7P.M. Yann Martel, author of the best-selling novel “Life of Pi,” reads from and discusses his latest work of fiction, “Beatrice and Virgil,” at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 “Eye” St. NW, in an event co-sponsored by Politics and Prose Bookstore. Two tickets come with purchase of the book at P&P; otherwise, tickets are $12 each. For details, call 202-364-1919 or visit www.sixthandi.org.
16 FRIDAY | 7 P.M. Garth Stein reads
from and discusses his best-selling novel, “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” at Borders Books-Fairfax, 11054 Lee Hwy., Fairfax, Va., 703-359-8420. He will also be reading on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Books & Crannies, 19 E. Washington St., Middleburg, Va., 540-687-6677, and again at 7:30 p.m. at the Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda, Md., 301-654-8664 or www.writer.org. The latter event is part of the Bethesda Literary Festival, which runs April 16 to 18; for details, visit www.bethesda.org.
17 SATURDAY | 11 A.M. The Beatley
Central Library in Alexandria, designed by renowned architect Michael Graves, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a reading by Kristen Downey, a former staff writer at The Washington Post and the author of “The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.” The library is located at 5005 Duke St.; call 703-519-5900 for details.
For more literary events, go to washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.”
Hardback Bestsellers @ voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
9 3 1 1
IN STYLE: ANNA QUINDLEN
MARIA KROVATIN
BOOK WORLD
THIS WEEK
COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY A job as a “conversationalist” to an old woman sounds too good to be true in The Executor, Jesse Kellerman’s new thriller.
TUESDAY House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival, by Deborah Ball.
WEDNESDAY Yann Martel, author of “Life of Pi,” is back
with a new novel, Beatrice and Virgil. Every Last One,
the new novel by Anna Quindlen, packs an emotional wallop.
And world leaders confront the undead.
THURSDAY Poetry in Person: Twenty-Five Years of Conversation with America’s Poets, edited by Alexander
Neubauer.
FRIDAY Norris Church Mailer, who describes herself as Norman’s “last wife,” tells her own fascinating story in A
Ticket to the Circus.
SATURDAY In Joanna Trollope’s The Other Family, the
death of a famous pianist reveals his divided allegiance.
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
Read our blog, Political Bookworm, which focuses on books that stir our national political conversation. Come join us as we debate the issues and authors making the news today.
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