Proto-Simon
12 January 2009
Editor, Washington Post Book World
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
In his superb review of Duncan Wu's new biography of William Hazlitt, Michael Dirda writes that "the essayist's signature theme must be the gloomy one of a disappointed life" (January 11). Indeed, in contrast to H.L. Mencken - a writer like him in so many ways - Hazlitt seems never to have experienced joie de vivre.
Hazlitt's personal gloominess, however, ought not be mistaken for incorrigible pessimism. Perhaps more presciently than anyone of his era, he challenged Malthus's dreary prediction that population growth will cause mass starvation. Here's Hazlitt: "A grain of corn will multiply and propagate itself much faster even than the human species. A bushel of wheat will sow a field; that field will furnish seed for 20 others." Hazlitt even predicted "green revolutions."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
* William Hazlitt, The Spirit of the Age (1824), p. 276.
Editor, Washington Post Book World
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
In his superb review of Duncan Wu's new biography of William Hazlitt, Michael Dirda writes that "the essayist's signature theme must be the gloomy one of a disappointed life" (January 11). Indeed, in contrast to H.L. Mencken - a writer like him in so many ways - Hazlitt seems never to have experienced joie de vivre.
Hazlitt's personal gloominess, however, ought not be mistaken for incorrigible pessimism. Perhaps more presciently than anyone of his era, he challenged Malthus's dreary prediction that population growth will cause mass starvation. Here's Hazlitt: "A grain of corn will multiply and propagate itself much faster even than the human species. A bushel of wheat will sow a field; that field will furnish seed for 20 others." Hazlitt even predicted "green revolutions."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
* William Hazlitt, The Spirit of the Age (1824), p. 276.
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday June 2, 2009 at 9:09am