DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/4P1G-QB88
Defense Date
1979
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Maurice Duke
Abstract
A major critic of H. L. Mencken and a co-worker of his on the Baltimore Sun have both theorized that Mencken was influenced by a little-remembered Texas iconoclast who was assassinated in 1898, William Cowper Brann. Investigation revealed that Brann and Mencken agreed on many topics such as Prohibition, politics and religion among others. Mencken's early style compares well with Brann's, and they shared many techniques and preferences for particular words standard in the debunker's vocabulary. Research revealed that Mencken even published an article in 1900, at the age of twenty, in the magazine that had formerly been published by Brann, Brann's Iconoclast. As Mencken matured, he moved away from some of the more obvious elements of the style which he shared with Brann. Included is a Brann bibliography.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
7-7-2016