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
- More Light, Less HeatMay 28, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- National ReligionJune 11, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- A Neglected PrincipleMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- New Pictorial Edition of Wells' OutlineDecember 7, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Not A Single SnickerSeptember 12, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Not Judge O'Grady's Boy!June 11, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Old-Fashioned SatireMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- One of Our Best Minds1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Philosophy of Our TimesMarch 28, 1916Minneapolis Journal
- The Philosophy of Radio-ActivityFebruary 2, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- A Plea for Universal BrotherhoodFebruary 14, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- Poetical TherapeuticsMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Private SecretaryJuly 17, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Psychic PhenomenonJanuary 18, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Religion and MathematicsMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Remarkable PoemApril 11, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Should There Be Meaning?1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Significant DirectionAugust 25, 1935St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Slaughter of Wild GameFebruary 16, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- Smothered in LegendDecember 29, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Social PsychologyJuly 26, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Something to DiscoverMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Space Felt as Time1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Spengler on DemocracyMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Spiritualistic DoctrineDecember 12, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Stendhal Boom?April 22, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Sterling on JeffersJanuary 22, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Strangeness and ForgetfulnessDecember 16, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Study of GeniusJanuary 6, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- A Suggestive Fantasia1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Swapping Illusions1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Swinburne's LettersAugust 7, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- The Time-GhostMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Total PerspectiveMay 27, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Trifle BelatedMarch 21, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Universal GuiltAugust 21, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Untitled [Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences]January 22, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Wanted — A New EthicsApril 19, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- War and SocietyFebruary 28, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- What Darwin Did Not SeeNovember 23, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- What Somebody KnowsMay 21, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The White RadianceOctober 30, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Wholesome SuspicionJuly 3, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Wisdom of MachinesMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- World-ViewsJune 9, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch