Representative Men and the Masses

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), considered by many the Father of American Letters is rather ambiguous in his essay Representative Men (1850) about the relationship of the man of genius and the public (or "the common people" or "waste stock", as he says in p.52 of the essay reproduced in the anthology).

On the one hand, he starts out by contesting that "great genial power" consists in being original; rather, it lies "in being altogether receptive, in letting the world do all, and suffering the spirit of the hour to pass unobstructed through the mind" (51), which seems to tie in with his defense of "a ground of popular tradition on which he may work", holdng him to the people (52). On the other hand, as he is talking about Shakespeare, he seems to assume an elitist position by stating "To secure possession, by the stage, of the public mind, is of the first-importance to the poet who works for it." (idem)

One of the interesting aspect of the essay is the suggestion that the stage was for Shakespeare what newspapers are for the writers of Emerson's day. He also says "There was no literature for the million. The universal reading, the cheap press, was unknown." The same could not be said of Emerson's United States. Here are some of the milestones of the progress of the dime novel and the penny press:

- 1817 - foundation of Blackwood's Magazine (Edinburgh)

- 1833 - foundation of The New York Sun by Benjamin Day, with the objective of giving "all the news of the day, and at the same time afford an advantageous mean for advertising." Other similar press followed fast (tabloids)
at the end of August 1835, the Sun broke its most incredible story – that the eminent scientist Sir John Herschel had discovered life on the Moon – it sold 19,360 copies.
Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman and Herman Melville all worked and/or published in this newspaper.

- 1839 - two "story papers" founded by Park Benjamin and Rufus Griswold (serialized stories, including life stories, brief sermons, humour, arcane knowledged, etc.)

- 1842 - Park Benjamin issues a "pamphlet novel" (the forerunner of the dime novel) for the readeres of the newspaper New World.

- 1851-52 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was serialized in the newspaper The National Era.

- 1860 - Beadle's Dime Novels series inaugurated in New York (millions distributed to US soldiers in the Civil War)
emphasis was on early Westerns, portraying the struggles, exploits, trials, dangers, feats, hardships and the early life of the American pioneer (characteristically for boys and men)
Later, there was a shift toward outlaw tales, urban life and detective stories (pulp fiction), somewhat perceived as a degeneration of the spirit of the dime novel.