Benjamin De Casseres
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Benjamin De Casseres (April 3, 1873 – December 7, 1945) (often DeCasseres) was an American
Writing career
At the age of sixteen, De Casseres started working as an assistant to
In 1899, De Casseres moved from Philadelphia to New York, he worked as a proofreader first for
De Casseres' first notable work was an article on "
In 1906, De Casseres moved to Mexico City, where he worked on the newspaper El Diario along with his friend, the cartoonist Carlo de Fornaro.[20]
In 1915, De Casseres published his first book, a collection of poetry titled The Shadow-Eater,[21] to mixed reviews. Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff called the volume "a welcome tribute to individualism and defiance" and the poems themselves "metaphysical meteors, searching, cataclysmic and rich in satire."[22] A review in The New York Times favorably compared De Casseres to Walt Whitman, claiming "if his alien, highly individual genius remains unrecognized, criticism will lie upon the public, not upon him."[23] Others, however, received it less favorably. Clement Wood, writing in the New York Call, mocked both De Casseres' book and Wagstaff's review, writing, "It must be admitted that Mr. De Casseres often uses good rhythms; what they are about is another thing. They are mainly about Nothing, as far as we can gather."[24] By 1923, when the book was reissued by the American Library Service, a reviewer for Poetry wrote that De Casseres had lost "the simple sincerity of utterance which is the birthright of the true prophet."[25]
Starting in 1918, De Casseres reviewed books for
Politics
De Casseres was interested in politics from an early age. His first signed editorial, published in 1890 when De Casseres was 17, praised the administrative changes Thomas Brackett Reed had recently made as Speaker of the House.[12]
De Casseres described himself as a defender of American liberty and
De Casseres was also a staunch opponent of Prohibition. He used his position as a well-known editorialist to criticize, often satirically, prohibition policies.[44][45] In particular, he wrote about the effect of Prohibition on New York City, especially its ineffectiveness of actually preventing drinking.[46][47] De Casseres was widely reported as the first person to take a legal drink after the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, he having previously arranged to receive a "flash" telegram from Utah, the last state to ratify the amendment.[48][49]
At various times De Casseres defended free speech. In 1909, he signed onto a petition calling out the police departments of New York City, Brooklyn, Yonkers and East Orange for their respective activities in preventing anarchist Emma Goldman from speaking in those cities.[50]
Personal life
De Casseres met
In 1931, De Casseres published a collection of letters the couple sent each other during their courtship, titled The Love Letters of a Living Poet, which highlights the unusual nature of their relationship. In one of the letters, De Casseres describes a dream in which "after thirty years together we were both cremated and our ashes mixed inextricably" and "cast into the depths of the sea" where eventually they are "returned to the ecstatic hermaphroditic union of a great biological-mystical fable."[53]
De Casseres died at his home on Manhattan's Riverside Drive at the age of 72.[54] After his death, Bio De Casseres published his final collection of essays, titled Finis, for which she wrote a brief preface. She also authored several works of her own.
Social influence
De Casseres held "an aggressively individualist form of anarchist politics derived primarily from a discomfiting reading of
According to Marie Saltus, writer and philosopher Edgar Saltus would read the newspaper immediately each morning only if it contained a book review or an article by De Casseres, although the two never met.[58]
Artistically, De Casseres has been described as adopting proto-Dada rhetoric as early as 1910.[59]
Bibliography
De Casseres wrote a variety of articles, essays and books on a wide-ranging topics including criticism, international relations and philosophy, as well as drama, fiction and poetry, often adopting a
The poem "Moth-Terror" is perhaps De Casseres' most famous work. It was originally collected in the
In 1935, De Casseres self-published a three-volume collection of his work through Blackstone Publishers. Gordon Press reprinted the set in 1976.
Short works
- "A Conversation between George Bernard Shaw and the Dictionary," The Smart Set, December 1914
- "Variation on an Old Theme," The Smart Set, September 1917
- "The Resignation of New York," The Smart Set, October 1917
- "The Psychology of the Avenue," The Smart Set, May 1918
- '"Little Scenarios," The Smart Set, March 1920
- "Four One-Reel Movies," The Smart Set, April 1920
- "The Lost Satire of a Famous Titan," The Smart Set, June 1920
- "Queer Antics of Old Madame Ouija," People's Favorite Magazine, August 1920
- "The Caste of the Newly Educated," People's Favorite Magazine, November 1920
- "The Hamlet-Like Nature of Charlie Chaplin," The New York Times Book Review, 12 December 1920
- "Sub Specie Eternitatus," The Smart Set, June 1922
- "The Nietzschean Follies", The Smart Set, September–October 1922
- "The New Girl—I Hate Her," Metropolitan Magazine, February–March 1923
- "The Babbitts of Radicalism," Haldeman-Julius Monthly, November 1926
- "Five Portraits on Galvanized Iron," American Mercury, December 1926
- "A Woman for President!," Gay Book Magazine, January 1933
Books
- The Shadow-Eater (1915) - poetry
- Chameleon: Being a Book of My Selves (1922)[63]
- James Gibbons Huneker (1925)
- Mirrors of New York (1925)
- Forty Immortals (1926)
- The Shadow-Eater (New edition, 1927)
- Anathema! Litanies of Negation (1928)
- The Superman in America (1929)
- Mencken and Shaw (1930)
- The Love Letters of a Living Poet (1931)
- Spinoza, Liberator of God and Man (1932)
- When Huck Finn Went Highbrow (1934)
- The Muse of Lies (1936)
- The Works of Benjamin DeCasseres (3 Volumes, Blackstone Publishers, 1939)
- The Works of Benjamin DeCasseres (3 volumes, Gordon Press, 1976)
- Anathema! Litanies of Negation (New edition, 2013)
- IMP: The Poetry of Benjamin DeCasseres (2013)
- Fantasia Impromptu & Finis (2016)
- New York is Hell: Thinking and Drinking in the Beautiful Beast (2016)
Pamphlets
- Sex in Inhibitia (?, ?)
- Clark Ashton Smith (?, 2 pages)
- I am Private Enterprise (?, ?)
- What Is a Doodle-Goof? (1926, 4 pages)
- Robinson Jeffers, Tragic Terror (1928, Privately printed by John S. Mayfield)
- The Holy Wesleyan Empire (4 pages, 1928)
- The Hit and Run Thinker (1931, seven 10″x5″ strips of paper, staple at the top)
- Prelude to DeCasseres' Magazine (?, 1932)
- From Olympus to Independence Hall (1935, 4 pages)
- The Individual against Moloch (1936, 48 pages, Blackstone Publishers)
- The Communist-Parasite State (1936, 10 pages)
- Germans, Jews and France by Nietzsche (1935, 31 pages, Rose Publishers)
- To Hell with DeCasseres! (play, 1937, 16 pages)
- Don Marquis (1938)
- Finis (1945, 20 pages)
See also
- Dada
- Friederich Nietzsche
- H. L. Mencken
- Individualist anarchism
- New York City
- Sephardi Jews
References
- ^ "De Casseres Dies; Author, Poet", The New York Times, 7 December 1945, archived from the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
- ^ a b c Stratton, Matthew (2014). The Politics of Irony in American Modernism. Fordham University Press.
- ^ BENJAMIN DE CESSARES. Papers. (PDF) (Rare Books and Manuscripts Division Accession Sheet), Accessioned by Robert Sink, New York Public Library, March 1982, 47 M 52; 63 M 41A; 73 M 47, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Halmann, Ulrich, ed. (1987), Eugene O'Neill: Comments on the Drama and the Theater, Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen, pp. 71–2, 181–2, 187
- ISBN 9780806311517
- ^ Kunitz, Stanley J.; Haycraft, Howard, eds. (1967). Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature. The H. W. Wilson Company. pp. 360–361.
- from the original on 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- ^ "Benjamin De Casseres, Editorial Writer, Dies". Milwaukee Sentinel. Milwaukee, WI. December 7, 1945. pp. 2–6. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
De Casseres, an authority on national and international affairs, rose from a proofreader with the Philadelphia Press in 1892, to an estimable position in the literary and newspaper world.
- ISBN 9780823255450.
A prolific writer over four decades, De Casseres's career spanned a wide range of places and positions: he began as a copy boy on a Philadelphia newspaper and, after almost a year in Mexico City starting a newspaper entitled El Diario, he ended as a nationally syndicated Hearst columnist
- ^ "DeCasseres Tells How the Movies Get Men to Play City Editor". The Fourth Estate. New York City: Ernest F. Birmingham. November 4, 1922. p. 29. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
DeCasseres was a reporter most of his newspaper career being a city editor for about a minute years ago on the old Philadelphia Press.
- ^ a b Bergman, Bernard A. (December 12, 1924). "The American Bernard Shaw". The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. Milwaukee, WI. p. 2. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
De Casseres was born in Philadelphia, in 1873. When he was 13 he started to work as a cigar salesman. Three years later he graduated to the Philadelphia Press, where he entered upon the exalted duties of office boy. For ten years he was on the Press, as editorial paragrapher, dramatic critic, and finally as proof-reader. In 1899 he came to New York as a proof-reader on the Sun, and in 1903 went over to the Herald in the same capacity.
- ^ a b De Casseres, Benjamin (October 1890). "Hon. Thomas B. Reed". Belford's Magazine. Vol. V, no. 29. pp. 775–777. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- ^ a b "De Casseres Dies; Author and Poet" (PDF). The New York Sun. New York. December 7, 1945. p. 23. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (October 1902). "Thomas Hardy's Women". The Bookman. pp. 131–133.
- ISBN 9780198126201.
- ^ "A Week's Dramatic Output". The Sun. New York. 10 April 1904. p. 4, sec. 3. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (July 1904). "Hawthorne: Emperor of Shadows". The Critic. pp. 37–44.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (July 9, 1904). "One Idea of Hawthorne". The New York Times. New York. p. 472, sec. Book Review.
- ^ Cathcart, Wallace Hugh (1905). A Bibliography of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Cleveland: The Rowfant Club. p. 112. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
- , p. 119
- ^ "The Shadow-Eater". Project Gutenberg. May 2, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
- ^ Wagstaff, Blanche Shoemaker (November 1915). "Benjamin De Casseres". The Poetry Journal. Vol. IV, no. 3. pp. 103–106. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ "The Shadow-Eater". The New York Times Book Review. pp. 111–112. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ Wood, Clement (February 7, 1916). "At Large—One Great Anarch" (PDF). The New York Call. Sec. 2, p. 15. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- JSTOR 20574186.
- ^ "Book "Reviewing"". Books and the Book World. The Sun. New York. December 15, 1918. p. 8. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ Overton, Grant M. (1919). Why Authors Go Wrong and Other Explanations. New York: Moffat, Yard & Company. p. 52.
- ^ "The Gossip Shop". The Bookman. Vol. L, no. 6. George H. Doran Company. January 1920. p. 523. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
- ^ "In Which a Thankless Tooth Is Extracted". Books and the Book World. The Sun. New York. January 18, 1920. p. 5. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (December 28, 1919). "Mr. Holliday Is Deified". Books and the Book World. The Sun. New York. p. 12. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ McIntyre, O. O. (February 3, 1920). "New York City". The Washington Herald. Washington, D.C. p. 4. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
Ben De Casseres, an erudite ex-printer and poet, is writing funny articles for the [New York] Herald and Times.
- ^ "I Am Private Enterprise". Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
- ^ "De Casseres Plans U.S. Liberty Fight". Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (1909-10-27). "The Dream of Socialism". The Sun. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ Passage, W. W. (1909-11-03). "Socialism Not a Dream". The Sun. p. 6. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ Ghent, W. J. (1909-10-29). "Socialists Agree on Essential Things". The Sun. p. 6. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ Lloyd, W. Llewellyn (December 1909). "Socialism, the Reality". The Dental Scrap Book. Vol. 3, no. 2. p. 14. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ "Absorption: A Universal Law". Mind. Vol. XII, no. 5. August 1903. pp. 369–374.
This is the dream of Socialism. It is founded on the incontrovertible proposition that all things tend toward a common center, no matter how great may appear to be their surface diversity and differentiation from a common standard.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (1921-01-29). "Dumplings from the Great Word Potpie". Judge. Vol. 80, no. 2048. p. 30.
I may be a lost soul among the literati, but the more I study socialism the harder I find it to keep down my capitalistic suppressed desires.
- ^ Petersen, Arnold (1943). Karl Marx and Marxian Science. New York: New York Labor News Company. pp. 70–71, 74. Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
There lie before me two outstanding examples of this type of anti-Marxist gutter criticism. One is from one of the ill-smelling Hearst papers (Milwaukee Sentinel, March 27, 1938), and the other from the foul Coughlin periodical, Social Justice (March 14, 1938). In the former that characteristic representative of bourgeois decadence, Benjamin De Casseres, wields his poison pen, if not artistically, at least effectively and with almost complete disregard of the facts and the truth.
- ^ "The Individualist Versus the Collectivist". Santa Ana Register. 1939-09-02. p. 14. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ISBN 9780823255467. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
Sinclair's version of Socialism was simply not as hostile to basic notions of the individual as is commonly understood but took a more systemic and economic view of the situation than rhetorical bomb-throwers like De Casseres.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (1936-01-05). "Candidate Roosevelt Interviews President Roosevelt" (PDF). Albany Times-Union. A-1–A-2. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ Kirsch, Adam (2004-03-17). "Always an Advertisement for Itself". The New York Sun. Arts & Letters, p. 20.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin. "Opinions on Prohibition". The Washington Times. p. 8. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (1920-07-31). "Intermezzo, Robin, Lulu and William". Judge. Vol. 79, no. 2022. p. 23. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
The original idea of my progressive boss in starting "Between Covers" was to give me a job. Prohibition had made terrible inroads into my income, as my ten elixirs a day now cost $7.50 instead of the old $1.50.
- ^ De Casseres, Benjamin (1922-04-22). "Fancy Dress Revels: New York's All-Night Balls—How Prohibition Doesn't Prohibit—The Flapper in All Her Pertness and Disguises". The New York Times. Sec. 7, p. 2. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ McClain, John (1933-12-06). "On the Sun Deck: Dawn of a New Era at Ship News—Other Repeal Notes" (PDF). The New York Sun. p. 37. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ "Author Just Escapes Violating Dry Law" (PDF). Syracuse Journal. 1933-12-06. p. 8. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ^ The Suppression of Free Speech in New York and in New Jersey. East Orange Record Print. 1909. p. 28. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
- ^ "Love bridged 3,000 miles and 16 years' separation". The Daily Courier. Connellsville, Pennsylvania. 17 April 1931. p. 6.
- ^ Slaughter, Kevin I. (15 January 2014), Short biography of DeC's love 'Bio', archived from the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
- ^ Skinner, Doug (9 July 2012), "Ben Loves Bio", The Ullage Group, archived from the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
- ^ Slaughter, Kevin I. (January 20, 2020) Benjamin De Casseres — includes newspaper obituaries)
- ^ Törnqvist, Egil, "Nietzsche and O'Neill: A Study in Affinity", Orbis Litterarum, 23 (2): 99
- ^ Harpham, Geoffrey (1975), "Jack London and the Tradition of Superman Socialism", American Studies: 24, archived from the original on 2014-05-05, retrieved 2014-05-05
- S2CID 145361207
- ^ Saltus, Marie (1925), Edgar Saltus: The Man, P. Covici, p. 302
- ^ Moffitt, John F., Alchemist of the Avant-Garde: The Case of Marcel Duchamp, Albany: SUNY Press, pp. 179–80
- ^ Hart, James (1995). "De Casseres, Benjamin". The Oxford Companion to American Literature (6th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 165.
- Milwaukee Sentinel, 7 December 1945, archivedfrom the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
- ^ "Impromptu Fantasias: Inside the world of Benjamin De Casseres", Tablet, 26 August 2009, archived from the original on 4 May 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014
- ^ Chameleon, being the book of my selves. New York. Retrieved May 21, 2021 – via Hathi Trust.