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
- [?f?]December 26, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- [?r] and ScientistJanuary 27, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Adolescent CaterwaulingFebruary 24, 1920Minneapolis Journal
- Alas!April 17, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- An American KingFebruary 13, 1931St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Ancient TeachingMarch 2, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Ancient WisdomMarch 10, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- Another Muir BookMarch 1, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- August and ExquisiteApril 18, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Barbaric IdealJune 5, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- Beautiful TimeApril 9, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Bergson and HeraclitusJune 4, 1916Minneapolis Journal
- A Book by a SeerJanuary 15, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- The Book of a SeerNovember 24, 1912Minneapolis Journal Sun
- The Book of SeerMarch 22, 1919Minneapolis Journal
- Brian Hooker's VerseNovember 2, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- By the Author of "Daedalus"May 1, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Canute and the TideApril 3, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- The Church and Its TaskDecember 21, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- The Collected Poems of Ezra PoundJanuary 11, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Continuous RevelationDecember 27, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Conventional FablesMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Doesn't Stand to ReasonMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Einstein and the Average ManOctober 30, 1926St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Epileptic RomanceJanuary 18, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Gerald Northrop: A NovelApril 13, 1915Minneapolis Journal
- Getting into the Intellectual GameDecember 7, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- The Good Ship EarthDecember 14, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- Got to be Stopped1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Great News ItemApril 3, 1918Minneapolis Journal
- A Great Religious ConferenceApril 27, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Henry Ford's PhilosophyJanuary 15, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Hindu Fables for Little ChildrenApril 30, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- How "They" May Be ResistedNovember 8, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Illumination?October 21, 1924St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Interesting and ValuableJuly 6, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Is Bergson a Charlatan?March 22, 1914Minneapolis Journal
- It's All Settled NowAugust 29, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Jules Verne Out-StrippedJuly 31, 1917Minneapolis Journal
- The Lesser HarmoniesFebruary 17, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Light on Our GenerationJanuary 4, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Literary RefrigerationMarch 1, 1927St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Literature as EnvironmentAugust 15, 1927St. Louis Post Dispatch
- A Living Version of DanteOctober 15, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Lodge Writes His MemoirsOctober 5, 1913Minneapolis Journal
- Men and InsectsMarch 8, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Mob-Flattery1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- A Modern MaladyJune 19, 1929St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Morbid ReligiosityFebruary 3, 1928St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- More LightMarch 13, 1917St. Louis Post-Dispatch