Book #21: My Life as Author and Editor by H. L. Mencken

         

After reading Mencken’s Chrestomathy, I already had some solid opinions about him. He did not exactly blow me away in either his writing or his opinions. If you recall, I felt like Mencken liked to be contrary for the sake of being contrary and had a little comment about everybody. My feelings did not change after reading his memoir. I don’t understand why Rory and Richard were so enthused by the man. I can only assume it is because his books are so hard to track down nowadays and finding a first edition of anything is always a treat.

            Mencken’s memoir, My Life as Author and Editor, was not published until thirty-five years after his death; a stipulation by Mencken himself. When the manuscript was found among his writings, his editor cut down the writings by half and yet the finished product was still quite large. Personally, I think the editor could have cut out more. Most of the memoir read as “I did this, I did that…” Mencken really enjoyed talking about himself and his accomplishments yet he did not really reflect on them. Memoirs are supposed to be a reflection of one’s life and hold some sort of deeper meaning. Mencken avoids anything relating to his personal life or feelings in his memoir and just focuses on aspects of his professional life. Even then, he doesn’t show much emotion. He spends too much time talking about the number of copies his magazine sold each month and the sales per year. At times, it seemed like he was just listing off numbers.

            The only time we learn anything personal about Mencken is when he discusses other people,

other authors in particular. He name drops a lot of famous authors, but rarely has a good word to say about them. When he does pay someone a compliment, he will turn back around and criticize them a few chapters later. F. Scott Fitzgerald is an example of this. Mencken looooves Fitzgerald’s early work, but dislikes the widely acclaimed novel The Great Gatsby. It is almost as if he makes a point to dislike what has earned popular acclaim. Mencken boasts of all the authors he has discovered, but very few of them are ones we know today. He also rarely praises women authors and doesn’t give women much credit in general. Whereas he discusses his male friends’ personalities and accomplishments, Mencken only describes women by their physical appearance. Every time. He never talks about how a man looks, but every woman is described as “not quite attractive.” Either Mencken has really high standards for beauty or is just a misogynistic creep.

            Maybe I am being too harsh on Mencken. Perhaps it is because I read this book while I was sick and in the midst of a fever. But I do not think so. I did not enjoy reading about someone who only liked to talk about themselves  (the most boring parts of himself in particular). If you are going to write about yourself or write a memoir, at least make it interesting! Make sure you have interesting events to write about or stimulating ideas! Be likable! This is why I always tell my students that they need to have a strong authorial voice. Because when it comes down to it, you can write well, but if you have no voice, your writing will get you nowhere. 

**This is the last book for episode 3! We will be moving on to some Shakespeare next so be ready for my extra nerdy side to come!!

Pictures

- Book Cover 1:https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YZr024IHL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

- Book Cover 2:http://static.wixstatic.com/media/7e4cbd_af6c5fd84d6441f999a8db1eca67d81f.jpg/v1/fill/w_167,h_241,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/7e4cbd_af6c5fd84d6441f999a8db1eca67d81f.webp

- Rory and Richard:https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gilmoregirls/images/6/68/1x03_Rory_Richard.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/310?cb=20160213220043