Benjamin De Casseres

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Benjamin De Casseres (1873–1945) was an American journalist, critic, essayist and poet. He was born in Philadelphia but spent most of his professional career in New York city where he worked for various newspapers writing columns and editorials. He also wrote poetry, fiction, essays, and critical reviews. His iconoclastic works were frequently reminiscent of the fin de siecle style.[1] He was a distant cousin of Spinoza and of Sephardic extraction.[2] He was married to author Adele Bio Terrill De Casseres, and corresponded with prominent literary figures of his time including Clark Ashton Smith and Charles Fort.

A three volume retrospective of his work was printed by Blackstone in 1935 and reprinted in 1976 by Gordon Press.

(some of this may be incorrect)

Quotes

"It is the sense of the Irrational as principle of existence. It is the divination of Chance. It is the apotheosis of the Intuitive. The Irrational is the groundwork of all existence"

"I never read women writers...because I think in the arts women 'do not belong.' Sex is their art; let them stick to it." ("A Self-Interview" Contempo I.9 Sept. 15, 1931. p. 1)

"When Sinclair (Lewis) is dead he's dead; when I die I'm immortal." ("To the Editors" Contempo I. 12. Nov. 15, 1931 p. 2).

Bibliography

Articles

  • The Caste of the Newly Educated, (ar) People’s Favorite Magazine Nov 1920
  • The Hamlet-Like Nature of Charlie Chaplin, New York Times Book Review, 12 Dec 1920
  • The Babbitts of Radicalism, Haldeman-Julius Monthly, IV:6, Nov 1926
  • A Conversation between George Bernard Shaw and the Dictionary, (ms) The Smart Set Dec 1914; burlesque.
  • Five Portraits On Galvanized Iron, American Mercury Dec 1926
  • Four One-Reel Movies, (ms) The Smart Set Apr 1920; sketch.
  • Little Scenarios, (ms) The Smart Set Mar 1920; sketch.
  • The Lost Satire of a Famous Titan, (ms) The Smart Set Jun 1920; sketch.
  • The New Girl—I Hate Her, (ar) Metropolitan Magazine Feb-Mar 1923
  • The Nietzschean Follies (IX), (ar) The Smart Set Oct 1922
  • The Nietzschean Follies (VIII), (ar) The Smart Set Sep 1922
  • The Psychology of the Avenue, (ms) The Smart Set May 1918; sketch.
  • Queer Antics of Old Madame Ouija, (ss) People’s Favorite Magazine Aug 1920
  • The Resignation of New York, (ms) The Smart Set Oct 1917; sketch.
  • Sub Specie Eternitatus, (ms) The Smart Set Jun 1922; sketch.
  • Variation on an Old Theme, (ms) The Smart Set Sep 1917; sketch.
  • A Woman for President!, (ar) Gay Book Magazine Jan 1933

Books

  • The Shadow-Eater (1915)
  • Chameleon, Being A Book Of My Selves (1922)
  • Forty Immortals (1925)
  • James Gibbons Huneker (1925)
  • Mirrors of New York (1925)
  • 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, 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)

Booklets/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 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)

Further Resources

Benjamin De Casseres collection at the New York Public Library

Website dedicated to cataloging his work

References

  1. ↑ Hart, James (1995). The Oxford Companion to American Literature - 6th Edition. Oxford University Press. p. 165. 
  2. ↑ Slaughter, Kevin (February 2013). "Benjamin DeCasseres: The Imp of Fifth Avenue". Old Nick Magazine 2 (4): 7. 


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