In Memoriam: William Hazlitt
Died September 18, 1830, London, England
Today, the Best American Essays newsletter celebrates the British essayist William Hazlitt (born April 10, 1778, Maidstone, England) on the 194th anniversary of his death.
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In The Best American Essays 1994, founding series editor Robert Atwan wrote:
“‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way,’ an excited William Hazlitt says to himself as he hurries down Chancery Lane ‘about halfpast six o'clock, on Monday the 10th of December, to inquire at Jack Randall's where the fight the next day was to be.’ The year is 1821, the city is London, and Hazlitt is pursuing his way to an out-of-town boxing match, his first fight ever. He's eager to see big Bill Neate, the raging Bristol ‘Bull,’ take on the ‘Gas-Man,’ Tom Hickman, the bravest and cruelest fighter in all of England. ‘I was determined to see this fight, come what would, and see it I did, in great style.’
You can consult all the handbooks on literary nonfiction for all the elements of style, structure, and composition, but you'll rarely find mention of what Hazlitt just noted—determination. Yet its literary value is inestimable.
[…] You can see the fight in great style. You can narrate it with equally great style. But as Hazlitt reminds us, you’ll first have to get there. No sitting in your study with a boxing encyclopedia, no telephone interviews with experts, no electronic highway; and the travel involved takes you beyond your local library.”
