Writers on Writing: H. L. Mencken

In Chapter 13 of his autobiography, Black Boy, novelist Richard Wright recalls his first encounter with H. L. Mencken's powerful prose:

I opened A Book of Prejudices and began to read. I was jarred and shocked by the style, the clear, clean, sweeping sentences. Why did he write like that? And how did one write like that? I pictured the man as a raging demon, slashing with his pen. I read on and what amazed me was not what he said, but how on earth anybody had the courage to say it. . . . I identified myself with that book.

Editor, social critic, and longtime journalist with The Baltimore Sun, Mencken inspired many young writers in the 1920s. And though he died ("deoxidized," he would say) half a century ago, his rip-roaring style--witty, combative, yet graceful--continues to "stir up the animals" and attract fresh admirers.

A serious student of language (see his ground-breaking work, The American Language), Mencken was keenly aware of its limitations. "Words are veils," he wrote in a letter to critic Fanny Butcher. "It is hard enough to put into them what one thinks; it is a sheer impossibility to put into them what one feels." Such skepticism, however, never kept him from trying.

For a taste of Mencken's prose, read "The Hills of Zion," included in our Essay Sampler: Models of Good Writing (Part 2). The starting point of the piece is the notorious Scopes "Monkey" Trial of 1925--but frankly the topic itself hardly matters. As Mencken famously observed, "There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers."

For some invigorating lessons on how not to be a dull writer, consider spending an evening or two with the Sage of Baltimore. The Vintage Mencken, an anthology compiled by Alistair Cooke, is the place to begin. Follow that with a more extensive collection, The Mencken Chrestomathy, assembled by Mencken himself.

RELATED:

• Advice from One Writer to Another
• Essay Sampler: Models of Good Writing (Part 2)
• The Mencken Society