Crumbling Idols

by Hamlin Garland

Crumbling Idols is a collection of 12 essays written and completed by Hamlin Garland in 1894. Garland was one of the most prominent American authors of the early 20th century, and contributed heavily to the literary movement known as American Realism. His work, Crumbling Idols, expresses his views and manifesto as a veritist (realist) artist. In it, he repeatedly emphasizes the importance of a uniquely American literature, one that breaks away from tradition and the past and focuses on the present in order to depict reality through the artists own eyes. Crumbling Idols was decreed a controversial work by the general population and critics during the time of its publication as it attacked many of the features and ideas of nineteenth century literature. Three of his essays, "Provincialism," "Literary Centres," and "Literary Masters," were especially controversial and criticized as they heavily attacked the "imitated" literature of the east coast as well as the lack of innovation in American literature as a whole. Most of his other essays worked to promote realist ideals and values, such as local color and distinction and originality in art. Crumbling Idols was especially supported by fellow Realist authors, such as William Dean Howells and Stephen Crane....Garland defines provincialism as the "dependence upon a mother country for models of art production."[1] Garland criticizes American writers of the early-mid 19th century for imitating the artistic styles of other nations, and called for a new and purely American art, especially in literature. He especially goes after the mid-western states, schools, and the middle class for refusing to accept new and evolving art forms. Garland says of the mid-western states, of where he was born, "Its literary clubs valiantly discuss dead issues in English literature, and vote in majority against the indigenous."[2] It disappoints him that the mid-west continues to settle for old, romantic literature rather than producing and supporting new forms of a distinctly mid-western art. Garland places much of the blame on American schools he charges with indoctrinating pupils in worshipping the past while turning a blind eye to new and upcoming literary movements. If students are to study authors such as Whitman, Howells, and Ibsen, they must do it on their own. The most provincial of us all, Garland asserts, is the middle class, as they are the product of the schools that teach conservatism in literature. Garland was a strong opponent of American provincialism and worked hard to advocate a strong, national literature that would be completely independent from other nations. The style doesn't necessarily need to be better, just different. He assures us, however, that there is hope. The fact that we study the past through such writers as Shakespeare is better than not engaging in literature at all. It is, as Garland says a, "sign of life, and not of death...".

120 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Stories and novels of American writer Hannibal Hamlin Garland include the autobiographical A Son of the Middle Border and depict the hardships that Midwestern farmers endured.

People best know this American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer for his fiction, involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.

Hannibal Hamlin Garland was born on a farm near West Salem, Wisconsin, on September 14, 1860, the second of four children of Richard Garlin of Maine and Charlotte Isabelle McClintock. The boy was named after Hannibal Hamlin, then candidate for vice-president under Abraham Lincoln. He lived on various Midwestern farms throughout his young life, but settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1884 to pursue a career in writing. He read diligently in the public library there. His first success came in 1891 with Main-Traveled Roads, a collection of short stories inspired by his days on the farm. He serialized a biography of Ulysses S. Grant in McClure's Magazine before publishing it as a book in 1898. The same year, Garland traveled to the Yukon to witness the Klondike Gold Rush, which inspired The Trail of the Gold Seekers (1899). He lived on a farm between Osage, and St. Ansgar, Iowa for quite some time. Many of his writings are based on this era of his life.

A prolific writer, Garland continued to publish novels, short fiction, and essays. In 1917, he published his autobiography, A Son of the Middle Border. The book's success prompted a sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, for which Garland won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. After two more volumes, Garland began a second series of memoirs based on his diary. Garland naturally became quite well known during his lifetime and had many friends in literary circles. He was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1918.

After moving to Hollywood, California, in 1929, he devoted his remaining years to investigating psychic phenomena, an enthusiasm he first undertook in 1891. In his final book, The Mystery of the Buried Crosses (1939), he tried to defend such phenomena and prove the legitimacy of psychic mediums.

A friend, Lee Shippey, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, recalled Garland's regular system of writing:
. . . he got up at half past five, brewed a pot of coffee and made toast on an electric gadget in his study and was at work by six. At nine o'clock he was through with work for the day. Then he breakfasted, read the morning paper and attended to his personal mail. . . . After luncheon he and Mrs. Garland would take a long drive . . . . Sometimes they would drop in on Will Rogers, Will Durant, Robert Benchley or even on me, for their range of friends was very wide. . . . After dinner they would go to a show if an exceptionally good one were in town, otherwise one of their daughters would read aloud.

Garland died at age 79, at his home in Hollywood on March 4, 1940. A memorial service was held three days later near his home in Glendale, California. His ashes were buried in Neshonoc Cemetery in West Salem, Wisconsin on March 14; his poem "The Cry of the Age" was read by Reverend John B. Fritz.

The Hamlin Garland House in West Salem is a historical site.

Reviews

[Lenora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book puts into perspective how artists, writers, and musicians sometimes live in the past and just follow well-known creative types. He writes in his essays how a person should create the truth of the time they are living in.
Since we all have our experiences from the "now"
i.e.
Don't try to write a Shakespeare play...it's been done!

[Humphrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great frustration with this work, of course, is that Garland could not be more true to the program laid out here. All the same, it's a sincere and insightful statement of intent that really epitomizes a generation of now-overlooked fin de siecle American writers.