February 3: On
this day in 1931, the Arkansas state legislature stood to pray for the soul of
H. L. Mencken. One of Mencken's Laws was "Nature abhors a moron," and
one of his favorite pastimes was to attack the South for being especially ruled
by the "booboisie." Upon finding itself elevated to "the apex of
moronia," Arkansas had complained, to which atheist Mencken responded,
"I didn't make Arkansas the butt
of ridicule—God did." Trying a different tactic, the Arkansas legislature
tried their group prayer, to predictable effect: "I felt a great uplift,
shooting sensations in my nerves and the sound of many things in my ears,"
Mencken confirmed to the press, "and I knew the House of Representatives
of Arkansas was praying for me again."
Mencken's single most famous and influential assault on the
South was the 1920 essay, "The Sahara of the Bozart" (i.e. beaux
art). Upon his earlier claim that the once vibrant and civilized South was
"culturally, about as dead as the Yucatan," Mencken's new essay
kicked so much sand that the South was now "almost as sterile,
artistically, intellectually, culturally, as the Sahara Desert." As
Mencken's preference for blondes over brunettes inspired Anita Loos to write
her 1925 bestseller, Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes, so Mencken's essay inspired Loos to have her Dumb Blonde come from
Arkansas:
The name of my heroine Lorelei Lee was invented although her
birthplace was not and Mencken himself had a hand in that. For I wanted Lorelei
to be symbol of our nation's lowest possible mentality and remembered Mencken's
essay on American culture in which he branded the state of Arkansas as
"the Sahara of the Bozarts." I therefore chose Little Rock for
Lorelei's early years; Little Rock, which even today lives up to Mencken's
choice as a nadir in shortsighted human stupidity.
Although Lorelei was "just a little girl from Little
Rock when I first left Little Rock," she "came from a very very good
family because papa was very intelectual, and he was a very very prominent Elk,
and everybody always said that he was a very intelectual Elk." With an Elk
of this ilk in her genes, she learns all about Gentlemen, and how to turn her
sand to the diamonds that are a girl's best friend.
Daybook is contributed by Steve King, who teaches in the English Department of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. His literary daybook began as a radio series syndicated nationally in Canada. He can be found online at todayinliterature.com.
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