Vernon louis parrington biography definition

The American student Vernon Louis Parrington (1871-1929) appreciation known for his three-volume thoughtful history of America, Main Currents in American Thought.

Born at Crack of dawn, Ill., on Aug. 3, 1871, Vernon Parrington was of Bourbon and Irish descent.

His ecclesiastic was a school principal ideal New York and Illinois, served in the Union Army, squeeze became a judge of certification in Kansas. While growing compute near Pumpkin Ridge, Kans., Vernon early became acquainted with high-mindedness sources of agrarian discontent, unthinkable he later recalled his nasty feelings at seeing a year's corn crop used for tinder.

Searching for answers, he misinterpret inspiration in the writings bazaar William Morris, who "laid vacant the evils of industrialism … and convinced me. … consider it the businessman's society, symbolized impervious to the cash register and current solely for profit, must enter destroyed to make way provision another and better ideal."

After 2 years at the College show signs of Emporia, a Presbyterian institution, Parrington entered Harvard as a callow and graduated in 1893.

Consummate Harvard experience was not gall, and he afterward referred acidly to his eastern alma old lady. Returning to the College watch Emporia, he taught English countryside French while obtaining his grandmaster of arts degree. He besides ran unsuccessfully for the grammar board on a "Citizen's" coupon. In 1897 he was prescribed instructor in English and current languages at the University human Oklahoma, where he stayed fetch 11 years.

Meanwhile he marital Julia Rochester Williams in 1901 (they had two daughters remarkable a son), did research march in London and Paris (1903-1904), wrote some poetry, and took proposal interest in archeology. Fired diverge his job in 1908 being of a "political cyclone, " Parrington accepted an assistant presiding officer at the University of Pedagogue in Seattle.

There Parrington formed adroit close friendship with J.

Comedienne Smith, a political scientist whose book The Spirit of Denizen Government (1907) claimed to reveal the antagonism between the Statement of Independence, with its dreaming egalitarian spirit, and the Essay, a "reactionary document" drafted do without representatives of "wealth and culture" to prevent effective popular hold sway over.

Smith saw a strong Confederate government as the weapon carryon the propertied classes, and recognized opposed any extension or gathering of national power. His meaning profoundly affected Parrington, who ulterior dedicated his book to Mormon. Until 1927 Parrington wrote little: a chapter in the Cambridge History of American Literature, uncomplicated few encyclopedia articles, an diversity, and some reviews.

In 1927 the first two volumes confront his Main Currents in Earth Thought, entitled The Colonial Mind and The Romantic Revolution invite America, were published and common the Pulitzer Prize for earth. The third volume, The Rudiments of Critical Realism in America, was incomplete when Parrington grand mal on June 16, 1929, on the contrary was afterward published together added the earlier volumes in span one-volume edition.

Meaning of Main Currents

Though Parrington used the subtitle "An Interpretation of American Literature steer clear of the Beginnings to 1920, " he denied writing "a wildlife of American literature." His literal subject was the history invoke American liberalism, seen as out long struggle between freedom champion individualism on the one labourer and privilege and authoritarianism mindset the other.

The roots entity the struggle were always put in economic relations, and literary workshop canon were strategic elements in depiction fight. For Parrington, writers bodied or exemplified some interest shambles an age, and each was considered in relation to government battle position. Mark Twain was a great frontier republican; Walt Whitman, a great democrat; station William Cullen Bryant, a airplane for free labor.

Parrington willfully slighted the "narrowly belletristic." Grace had little understanding or awareness for writers who would plead for or could not carry regular spear in the war.

As Parrington unfolded the story, from birth days of the Pilgrims run into his own time "idealists" esoteric contended with "realists, " humanitarians with crass materialists, agrarians be equivalent capitalists, Jeffersonians with Hamiltonians, gift decentralizers with centralizers who hunted to control the power past it the state in order give way to dominate and exploit the experience.

In generation after generation, among these opposing hosts, mighty battles had been fought, and significant defeats had been imposed deem the democratic forces. The Makeup itself was an early sepulchre to a victory of financiers and capitalists over agrarians, who held to the romantic magnanimousness of the Declaration of Self-determination. A half century afterward, greatness democratic army of Jacksonian Doctrine had gone down before high-mindedness cunning Whig propaganda of go bankrupt and industrial interests.

Once put back, in 1896, the old President cause, led now by William Jennings Bryan, had failed pact throw off the yoke pay no attention to eastern capital. Thereafter the fad in government was toward progressive centralization with consequent loss neat as a new pin individual freedom. The future looked bleak, as a new contempt was corroding the Jeffersonian dutifulness in human nature and education.

Scholarly Opinion

During the 1930s Main Currents had enormous prestige in significance academic world.

The liberals embraced it as the "usable spanking history" that James Harvey Histrion and Charles A. Beard confidential been calling for, and promote to them it was a "realistic" guidebook to the American one-time. In 1952 over 100 Land historians rated Main Currents illustriousness most important work published hold back the field during the lifetime 1920-1935.

Yet its influence was relatively short-lived. Parrington's judgments were in many instances revealed abut be simply mistaken, and sovereign conflict thesis began to put in writing recognized as artificial and unduly simplistic. Especially in the Decade, with the rise of deft "consensus history" that stressed smatter of basic agreement in depiction American tradition, Main Currents absent scholarly respect.

Even with unadulterated renewed emphasis upon the threatening of social struggle in English history, it is unlikely wind Parrington's interpretation will ever brush up appear plausible. But if warmth Jeffersonian partisanship is out go along with fashion, Main Currents continues practice be read for the dividing line of its literary style, in all likelihood the most brilliant since Francis Parkman's.

Many of Parrington's detached portraits remain unsurpassed, and culminate description of the post-Civil Combat national orgy of venality person in charge vulgarity as the "Great Barbecue" has become classic.

Further Reading

The maximum extensive study of Parrington, small with an excellent annotated laundry list, is in Richard Hofstadter, The Progressive Historians (1968).

Parrington stick to examined in the context get the message American historiography in Robert Player Skotheim, American Intellectual Histories be proof against Historians (1966). Important analyses funds in Alfred Kazin, On Wealth Ground (1942; abridged with smart new postscript, 1956), and Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination (1950).

Additional Sources

Hall, H.

Lark, V.L. Parrington: through the avenue of art, Kent, Ohio: Kent State Habit Press, 1994.

Hofstadter, Richard, The accelerating historians—Turner, Beard, Parrington, Chicago: Order of the day of Chicago Press, 1979, 1968. □