The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

Oliver Wendell Holmes

nën 2019 · Good Press

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Oliver Wendell Holmes' 'The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table' is a collection of essays that offer a unique blend of wit, wisdom, and observations on everyday life that resonates with readers of all ages. Published in 1858, the book presents a series of conversations that take place around a breakfast table, where the Autocrat holds court and discusses a wide range of topics such as art, literature, medicine, and human nature. Holmes' writing style is marked by his keen insight, humor, and ability to seamlessly blend serious reflections with lighthearted banter, making the book both entertaining and thought-provoking. The literary context of the book reflects the emerging genre of the personal essay and the growing interest in exploring the complexities of modern life through literature. As a respected physician, poet, and essayist, Holmes drew on his diverse experiences to create a work that continues to captivate readers with its timeless wisdom and charm. 'The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table' is a must-read for anyone who enjoys thought-provoking essays that offer a unique perspective on the human experience.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 - October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author based in Boston. A member of the Fireside Poets, his peers acclaimed him as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. Holmes was a professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard College for 35 years. His literary fame came relatively early when in 1830 he published a few lines of verse in a Boston newspaper in which he objected to the dismantling of the frigate Constitution, which had served its nation victoriously in the Tripolitan War and the War of 1812. The poem, "Old Ironside," was a great success, both for Holmes as a poet and in saving the frigate. However, his medical studies left Holmes little leisure for literature for the next 25 years. That changed, however, with the publication of an animated series of essays in the newly founded Atlantic Monthly in 1857 and 1858, and afterwards published in book form as The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). Not only did these essays help secure the magazine's success, but also brought Holmes widespread popularity. Holmes as an essayist has been compared with all of the great writers in that genre, from Michel de Montaigne to Charles Lamb, but his compositions are closer to conversational than to formal prose. Later volumes---The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860), The Poet at the Breakfast-Table (1872), and Over the Teacups (1891)---extend the autocrat's delightfully egotistical talks, mainly of Boston and New England, in which Holmes was, by turns, brilliantly witty and extremely serious. During these same years, he also wrote three so-called medicated novels: Elsie Venner (1861), The Guardian Angel (1867), and A Mortal Antipathy (1885). Though undistinguished as literary documents, they are important early studies of that "mysterious borderland which lies between physiology and psychology," and they demonstrate that Holmes was advanced in his conception of the causes and progress of neuroses and mental disease. Holmes died quietly after falling asleep in the afternoon of Sunday, October 7, 1894. As his son, the U. S. Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote, "His death was as peaceful as one could wish for those one loves. He simply ceased to breathe." Holmes's memorial service was held at King's Chapel and overseen by Edward Everett Hale. Holmes was buried alongside his wife in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.