Cornelius Mathews
Encyclopedia
Cornelius Mathews was an American writer, best known for his crucial role in the formation of a literary group known as Young America
in the late 1830s, with editor Evert Duyckinck
and author William Gilmore Simms
.
to Abijah Mathews and Catherine Van Cott. He attended Columbia College
, graduated New York University
in 1834. He then attended law school and passed the New York bar in 1837.
At the time, American literature was generally regarded as necessarily inferior to the British, and American authors were encouraged to follow English models closely. This at least was the view espoused by the literary elite of New York, who tended to orbit the influential and conservative editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine
, Lewis Gaylord Clark
. Mathews vehemently disagreed, and called for a new literary style that would express a distinctly American identity, although this style was not to be a populist or demotic one. Their politics was limited to a call for international copyright law, to curb the wholesale piracy of American literature in England. Stylistically, Mathews favored an approach that emphasized the cosmopolitan sweep and diversity of American society, bolder and more philosophical than the sort of cozy humor associated with the Knickerbocker Magazine (although Mathews did not refuse to appear in its pages), but not as abstruse and Germanic as the Transcendentalist literature of Boston. Mathews’ panacea was the emulation of Rabelais, whose Gargantua and Pantagruel, he believed, managed to advance philosophical penetration without etherializing its subject matter. For two years (1840–1842), Mathews and Duyckinck wrote for and co-edited Young America’s uneven journal, Arcturus, publishing also Nathaniel Hawthorne
, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
, and James Russell Lowell
.
Mathews coined the name for the Young America movement in an 1845 speech. As he described the movement, "Here, in New York, is the seat and strong-hold of this young power: but, all over the land, day by day, new men are emerging into activity, who partake of these desires, who scorn and espise the past pettiness of the country, and who are ready to sustain any movement toward a better and nobler condition".
Throughout the period of his principle literary activity, the 1840s and 1850s, Mathews contributed to and/or helped to edit all manner of American periodicals, including the New-Yorker, the Comic World, the New York Dramatic Mirror, the American Monthly Magazine, the New York Review, the New York Reveille, and a would-be rival to the Knickerbocker Magazine, the rapidly-moribund Yankee Doodle. In 1853, he published A Pen-and-Ink Panorama of New York City, a collection of essays, character sketches, and sketches on the scenery of New York. Although he wrote several satirical
plays, his most successful play was Witchcraft, or the Martyrs of Salem (1846), which was more serious in tone and written in blank verse.
Cornelius Mathews died in New York City in 1889.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote that it had "no merit whatever; while its faults... are of that rampant class which if any schoolboy could be found so uninformed as to commit them, any schoolboy should remorselessly be flogged for committing." Of Mathews's novel Puffer Hopkins, Poe called it "one of the most trashy novels that ever emanated from an American press".
Mathews was such a strong proponent of copyright law, he was considered a joke by some in the literary scene. Critic and anthologist Rufus Wilmot Griswold
included Mathews in his Prose Writers of America (1847) but criticized his vehement push for nationalist literature. "Mr. Mathews", Griswold said, "wrote very good English and very good sense until he was infected with the disease of building up a national literature." Charles Frederick Briggs
satirized Mathews in the novel Trippings of Tom Pepper, depicting him as a lawyer named Mr. Ferocious who frequently interrupts others to advocate literature which is "fresh, home-born" and free of foreign influence. Margaret Fuller
, however, supported his advocacy for a national literature and said that Mathew's play Witchcraft was an example of "a true, genuine, invincible Americanism."
American literary historian Perry Miller
, writing in The Raven and the Whale, suggested that Herman Melville
was influenced by Mathew's Behemoth when writing Moby-Dick
. Melville invited Mathews to his home in 1850.
Poetry
Plays
Young America
-Geography:United States*Young America, Indiana*Young America, Wisconsin*Norwood Young America, Minnesota*Young America Township, Carver County, Minnesota*Young America Township, Edgar County, Illinois*Young America Lake, a lake in Minnesota- Films :...
in the late 1830s, with editor Evert Duyckinck
Evert Augustus Duyckinck
Evert Augustus Duyckinck was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York.-Life and work:...
and author William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced...
.
Biography
Mathews was born on October 28, 1817, in Port Chester, New YorkPort Chester, New York
Port Chester is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is part of the town of Rye. As of the 2010 census, Port Chester had a population of 28,967...
to Abijah Mathews and Catherine Van Cott. He attended Columbia College
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
, graduated New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in 1834. He then attended law school and passed the New York bar in 1837.
At the time, American literature was generally regarded as necessarily inferior to the British, and American authors were encouraged to follow English models closely. This at least was the view espoused by the literary elite of New York, who tended to orbit the influential and conservative editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine
The Knickerbocker
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865 under various titles, including:...
, Lewis Gaylord Clark
Lewis Gaylord Clark
Lewis Gaylord Clark was an American editor and the brother of Willis Gaylord Clark.-Biography:Clark was born in Otisco, New York in 1808. He succeeded Charles Fenno Hoffman as editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, a role he held for over 25 years...
. Mathews vehemently disagreed, and called for a new literary style that would express a distinctly American identity, although this style was not to be a populist or demotic one. Their politics was limited to a call for international copyright law, to curb the wholesale piracy of American literature in England. Stylistically, Mathews favored an approach that emphasized the cosmopolitan sweep and diversity of American society, bolder and more philosophical than the sort of cozy humor associated with the Knickerbocker Magazine (although Mathews did not refuse to appear in its pages), but not as abstruse and Germanic as the Transcendentalist literature of Boston. Mathews’ panacea was the emulation of Rabelais, whose Gargantua and Pantagruel, he believed, managed to advance philosophical penetration without etherializing its subject matter. For two years (1840–1842), Mathews and Duyckinck wrote for and co-edited Young America’s uneven journal, Arcturus, publishing also Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
, and James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets...
.
Mathews coined the name for the Young America movement in an 1845 speech. As he described the movement, "Here, in New York, is the seat and strong-hold of this young power: but, all over the land, day by day, new men are emerging into activity, who partake of these desires, who scorn and espise the past pettiness of the country, and who are ready to sustain any movement toward a better and nobler condition".
Throughout the period of his principle literary activity, the 1840s and 1850s, Mathews contributed to and/or helped to edit all manner of American periodicals, including the New-Yorker, the Comic World, the New York Dramatic Mirror, the American Monthly Magazine, the New York Review, the New York Reveille, and a would-be rival to the Knickerbocker Magazine, the rapidly-moribund Yankee Doodle. In 1853, he published A Pen-and-Ink Panorama of New York City, a collection of essays, character sketches, and sketches on the scenery of New York. Although he wrote several satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
plays, his most successful play was Witchcraft, or the Martyrs of Salem (1846), which was more serious in tone and written in blank verse.
Cornelius Mathews died in New York City in 1889.
Critical response and influence
Reviewing Mathews's Wakondah in Graham's MagazineGraham's Magazine
Graham's Magazine was a nineteenth century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham. It was alternatively referred to as Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine , Graham's Magazine of Literature and Art , Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art Graham's...
Edgar Allan Poe wrote that it had "no merit whatever; while its faults... are of that rampant class which if any schoolboy could be found so uninformed as to commit them, any schoolboy should remorselessly be flogged for committing." Of Mathews's novel Puffer Hopkins, Poe called it "one of the most trashy novels that ever emanated from an American press".
Mathews was such a strong proponent of copyright law, he was considered a joke by some in the literary scene. Critic and anthologist Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...
included Mathews in his Prose Writers of America (1847) but criticized his vehement push for nationalist literature. "Mr. Mathews", Griswold said, "wrote very good English and very good sense until he was infected with the disease of building up a national literature." Charles Frederick Briggs
Charles Frederick Briggs
Charles Frederick Briggs , also called C. F. Briggs, was an American journalist, author and editor, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts...
satirized Mathews in the novel Trippings of Tom Pepper, depicting him as a lawyer named Mr. Ferocious who frequently interrupts others to advocate literature which is "fresh, home-born" and free of foreign influence. Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller
Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, commonly known as Margaret Fuller, was an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism...
, however, supported his advocacy for a national literature and said that Mathew's play Witchcraft was an example of "a true, genuine, invincible Americanism."
American literary historian Perry Miller
Perry Miller
Perry G. Miller was an American intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. He was an authority on American Puritanism, and a founder of the field of American Studies. Alfred Kazin referred to him as "the master of American intellectual history"...
, writing in The Raven and the Whale, suggested that Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
was influenced by Mathew's Behemoth when writing Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
. Melville invited Mathews to his home in 1850.
Selected list of works
Novels- The Motley Book (1838)
- Behemoth: A Legend of the Mound-Builders (1839)
- The Career of Puffer Hopkins (1842)
- Big Abel and the Little Manhattan (1845)
- Moneypenny: or, The Heart of the World (1849)
- Chanticleer: A Thanksgiving Story of the Peabody Family (1850)
Poetry
- Wakondah: The Master of Life (1841)
- Poems on Man in His Various Aspects Under the American Republic (1843)
- The Indian Fairy Book (1855), reprinted in 1877 under the title The Enchanted Moccasins
Plays
- The Politician (1840, never produced)
- Witchcraft, or the Martyrs of Salem (1846)
- Jacob Leisler (1848)
- False Pretences; or, Both Sides of Good Society (1855)