author
Stuart Pratt Sherman
1881–1926
A leading American literary critic of the early 20th century, he taught generations of students before moving into newspaper journalism. He is still remembered for his sharp public debate with H. L. Mencken and for bringing serious literary discussion to a wider audience.
1 Audiobook
My dear Cornelia
by Stuart Pratt Sherman
About the author
Born in Anita, Iowa, in 1881, Stuart Pratt Sherman became an influential American critic, teacher, and journalist. He studied at Williams College, earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, and built much of his academic career at the University of Illinois, where he taught English and helped shape the department into a major program.
Sherman wrote widely on literature and culture, publishing books such as Matthew Arnold: How to Know Him, On Contemporary Literature, and The Genius of America. In the 1920s he left university life to become literary editor of the New York Herald Tribune, bringing his ideas about books and public life to a broad readership.
He was one of the best-known literary voices of his day, associated with the New Humanist movement and especially noted for his long-running intellectual clash with H. L. Mencken. Sherman died in 1926, but his work still offers a clear picture of how seriously literature was argued over in American public life.