The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Book of Burlesques, by H. L. Mencken

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Title: A Book of Burlesques

Author: H. L. Mencken

Release Date: July 25, 2007 [eBook #22145]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF BURLESQUES***

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A BOOK OF BURLESQUES

by

H. L. MENCKEN

[Illustration]

Published at the Borzoi . New York . by
Alfred . A . Knopf

Copyright, 1916, 1920, by
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. DEATH: A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION 11
II. FROM THE PROGRAMME OF A CONCERT 27
III. THE WEDDING: A STAGE DIRECTION 51
IV. THE VISIONARY 71
V. THE ARTIST: A DRAMA WITHOUT WORDS 83
VI. SEEING THE WORLD 105
VII. FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE DEVIL 135
VIII. LITANIES FOR THE OVERLOOKED 149
IX. ASEPSIS: A DEDUCTION IN _SCHERZO_ FORM 159
X. TALES OF THE MORAL AND PATHOLOGICAL 183
XI. THE JAZZ WEBSTER 201
XII. THE OLD SUBJECT 213
XIII. PANORAMAS OF PEOPLE 223
XIV. HOMEOPATHICS 231
XV. VERS LIBRE 237

The present edition includes some epigrams from "A Little Book in C
Major," now out of print. To make room for them several of the smaller
sketches in the first edition have been omitted. Nearly the whole
contents of the book appeared originally in _The Smart Set_. The
references to a Europe not yet devastated by war and an America not