Return to Bibliography of Willa Cather's Readings
Bibliography: The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Holmes, Oliver Wendell
- Title
- The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
- Author
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell
- Date
- Genre
- nonfiction
- Note Source
- Journal 10/14/1894
- Note Relating to Cather
- "His humor was entirely un-American. Mark Twain's broad humor is the characteristic American humor. But Dr. Holmes' wit was delicate and classic as that of Horace or Charles Lamb, while his scholarship was as profound and feeling and free from pedantry as that of Mr. Andrew Lang.... No, Dr. Holmes could not write a novel, it is only because of the Autocrat [1858] that we can forgive Elsie Venner [1861] and The Guardian Angel [1867]. But through all his work there is the charm of a truly human personality."
