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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Many Princeton men have been in the vanguard of the quest for principles that would govern both critical and popular writing in the twentieth century. Two particularly influential essayists were Henry van Dyke
(1852-1933) and Paul Elmer More (1864-1936). Van Dyke typified
the accomplished man of letters in his roles as essayist, minor poet, short-story writer, lecturer, and religious author. More's several volumes of
Shelburne Essays gave him rank as one of America's foremost critics, and
made him the lawgiver and spokesman of the Humanists. His insistence
upon a grounding in the classics and a classical approach to literature,
however, more deeply affected critical than creative writers.
The political influence of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) has over-shadowed his very real contribution to literature. During his Princeton
period, first as professor and later as president, he wrote six books on
literary, historical and political subjects, including the five-volume History
of the American People. While Governor of New Jersey, Wilson wrote
the highly significant The New Freedom. This most explicit statement of his
theories of government, intended to foreshadow his own administration, became the bible of pre-war liberals and is yet an important source for
progressive thought; its tenets were incorporated in the platform of the
Nonpartisan League. The clarity and deliberateness of Wilson's writing
profoundly affected subsequent political literature.
The Princeton Stories of Jesse Lynch Williams (1871-1929) represent
a high-water mark in collegiate fiction. Published in 1895, they marked
the first public appearance of a talented young author who had been active
in the university's literary and dramatic life. In 1900 he returned to his
alma mater to edit for three years the Princeton Alumni Weekly. His later
works -- plays and stories -- were written chiefly in New York.
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