Irving Babbitt

Irving Babbitt (August 2, 1865 – July 15, 1933) was an American academic and literary critic, noted for his founding role in a movement that became known as the New Humanism, a significant influence on literary discussion and conservative thought in the period 1910 to 1930. He was a cultural critic in the tradition of Matthew Arnold, and a consistent opponent of romanticism, as represented by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Politically he can without serious distortion be called a follower of Plato and Edmund Burke. His humanism implied a broad knowledge of various religious traditions.

Works

• Literature and the American College (1908)
• The New Laokoön (1910)
• The Masters of Modern French Criticism (1912)
• Rousseau and Romanticism (1919)
• Democracy and Leadership (1924)
• On Being Creative (1932)
• The Dhammapada (1936) translator, with essay
• Spanish Character, and other essays (1940) reprinted as Character & Culture: Essays on East and West
• Representative Writings (ed. George A. Panichas, 1981),