JOSEPH DENNIE: A CAVALIER AT WORK IN AMERICAN LITERATURE.
Abstract
Joseph Dennie was an American critic and essayist who founded the 'Port Folio', America's first successful literary journal, thereby setting the standards of literary taste for the first decade of the 19th century. Dennie's Stuart Cavalier conservatism caused him to attack Jefferson and Franklin. Jefferson he attacked for championing democracy, a form of government that he claimed awarded the unlearned masses an equal place with gentlemen scholars in the determination of literary standards. Franklin he held responsible for a sordid economy in government that denied lucrative offices and outright grants to deserving artists. Dennie described America as 'a land where genius sickens and where fancy dies.' Dennie's neglect as a critic is said to be just: he failed to adjust to America's change to a democracy because he was certain that a democracy could not support polite letters and because his love for classic literature was genuine.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1957
- Accession Number
- AD0620605
Entities
People
- Edward A. Linn
Organizations
- Columbia University