Essays & Reviews
This archive contains examples of the myriad essays and reviews that Neihardt wrote over his long career as a literary book review editor, cultural critic and social observer. Through the “short forms” of the essay and review, Neihardt directly and seriously engaged an amazing array of cultural, historical, social, political, philosophical, aesthetic, spiritual and scientific ideas and debates. Regularly reading and reviewing at the rate of one book per day (occasionally more!), he took on subjects that ranged from ancient civilizations to atomic theory and emergent astrophysics (Einstein, Eddington, Jeans), human nature and psychology (Freud, behaviorism) to evolutionary theories and social Darwinism (Darwin, Wallace, Spencer, Malthus), as well as new technological developments and possibilities (from telegraphs to rocketry).
Collectively, these materials provide new interpretative frameworks and insights into the sophistication and scope of Neihardt’s intellectual interests, aesthetic philosophy, literary work, professional and personal relationships and life itself, the medium in which he most sought to create a grand synthesis of thought and action, the ideal and the real.
By making readily available as many examples of Neihardt’s correspondence, critical essays and reviews as possible, we hope that this archive will provide fresh content and new contexts for past and current scholarly analyses of Neihardt’s life and work. Through these materials, both new readers and those long-devoted to Neihardt’s creative literary works should discover much information previously unknown to them and many surprising interconnections that will enrich their understanding of his many “voices and visions.”
As these collections of letters and essays clearly evidence, whether reading and writing in small-town Nebraska or Missouri, the burgeoning cities of Minneapolis or St. Louis, Neihardt traveled far afield, physically, intellectually and philosophically.
95 documents
- The Book of a SeerNovember 24, 1912Minneapolis Journal Sun
- The Slaughter of Wild GameFebruary 16, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- Lodge Writes His MemoirsOctober 5, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- What Darwin Did Not SeeNovember 23, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- Getting into the Intellectual GameDecember 7, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- The Good Ship EarthDecember 14, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- A Study of GeniusJanuary 6, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- A Plea for Universal BrotherhoodFebruary 14, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- The Ancient WisdomMarch 10, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- Is Bergson a Charlatan?March 22, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- The Philosophy of Radio-ActivityFebruary 2, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- Gerald Northrop: A NovelApril 13, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- Brian Hooker's VerseNovember 2, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- The Church and Its TaskDecember 21, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- The Philosophy of Our TimesMarch 28, 1916Minneapolis Journal
- Bergson and HeraclitusJune 4, 1916Minneapolis Journal
- A Psychic PhenomenonJanuary 18, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Untitled [Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences]January 22, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- War and SocietyFebruary 28, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Another Muir BookMarch 1, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- A Neglected PrincipleMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Time-GhostMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- More LightMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Poetical TherapeuticsMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Something to DiscoverMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Wisdom of MachinesMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Conventional FablesMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Doesn't Stand to ReasonMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Religion and MathematicsMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Spengler on DemocracyMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Old-Fashioned SatireMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Canute and the TideApril 3, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Alas!April 17, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- A Barbaric IdealJune 5, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- National ReligionJune 11, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Social PsychologyJuly 26, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Jules Verne Out-StrippedJuly 31, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- A Great News ItemApril 3, 1918Minneapolis Journal
- The Book of SeerMarch 22, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- A Remarkable PoemApril 11, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Not Judge O'Grady's Boy!June 11, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Swinburne's LettersAugust 7, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Adolescent CaterwaulingFebruary 24, 1920Minneapolis Journal
- Illumination?October 21, 1924St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Einstein and the Average ManOctober 30, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The White RadianceOctober 30, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- New Pictorial Edition of Wells' OutlineDecember 7, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Suggestive Fantasia1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Light on Our GenerationJanuary 4, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Collected Poems of Ezra PoundJanuary 11, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch