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<i>That Ambitious Mr. Legaré: The Life of James M. Legaré of South Carolina, Including a Collected Edition of His Verse</i> (review)

1972; Kent State University Press; Volume: 18; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/cwh.1972.0022

1533-6271

William Henry Longton,

Archaeology and Natural History

BOOK REVIEWS3T3 that the colorfully expressive style of expression of the protagonist might have carried over into the writing style of his biographer. David Lindsey California State University at Los Angeles That Ambitious Mr. Legaré: The Life of James M. Legaré of South Carolina, Including a Collected Edition of His Verse. By Curtis Carroll Davis. (Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press, 1971. Pp. xx, 338. $9.95.) James Mathewes Legaré was a poet, writer, painter, and inventor whose name and literary works have been blanketed in obscurity since his death in 1859 at the age of thirty-five. But some thirty years ago, Curtis Carroll Davis, partly attracted by "the challenge of obscurity" (p. xiv), began to resurrect Legaré's life and works and so to add to "the annals of Southern cultural history." (p. xv). The present volume is the result of Davis' long and meticulous labors. Although it is disappointingly slim—less than 150 pages of text—it is thoroughly done so far as the subject is concerned and very likely represents all we shall ever know of Legaré. Davis has very properly avoided a "life and times" approach of an older and less critical fashion, and a cultural survey method as well, both of which would presumably have eclipsed his subject. Instead, he has written, in the main, a straightforward biography of Legaré from the primary sources he has discovered. However, the pitfalls of relying too closely on this method—given the paucity of materials relating to Legaré—are painfully apparent throughout the book, though in two quite different ways. In the first place, the narrative is too heavily laden with what "probably" happened, what "perhaps" happened, and what "may have" or "must have" occurred. Perhaps this is an inevitable generic failing of biographies of obscure individuals. But did "swains" really "nuzzle their damozels among the rare editions in a murky corner " (p. 133) of Russell and Jones' bookshop in those famous literary soirees of the late 1850's Paul Hamilton Hayne described after the war? This is, at least, disconcerting. But more important is the sketchy treatment given to the content of Legaré's artistic work, especially his poetry, which is treated in chapter five. Legaré's poetry contains such themes as the harmony of nature, romantic love, romantic suffering, virginal purity, and the woman as goddess—which last brought to Legaré's mind images of knights, heralds, lances, and such. All of these were deeply meaningful in antebellum South Carolina, but Davis handles them briefly and superficially if at all. He should have developed them fully, both to suggest the kinds of meanings they had for Legaré and to place Legaré in some sort of context with his cultural milieu. In short, Legaré has not been put in any adequate perspective with regard to his contemporaries in South Carolina, and the result is 364CIVIL WAR HISTORY that Davis, by sticking too closely to Legaré, has obscured the significance of much of Legaré's work. These strictures do no damage to the real value of the work, which is the collection and edition of Legaré's poetry and the useful bibliography of works by and about Legaré. Future writers on southern cultural history will benefit from the compilation of this source material and owe Davis a debt of gratitude for it as well as for rescuing Legaré from obscurity as far as he has. William H. Loncton University of Toledo Lewis Cass. By Willis Frederick Dunbar. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970. Pp. 96. $1.95.) What does one make of a legendary Michiganian whose public career at the federal level continues to this day to elicit a "ho hum" reaction? Yet Lewis Cass was a military hero, successful governor of the Michigan Territory, cabinet officer, minister to France, United States Senator , and candidate for President (though unsuccessful). In this thoughtful overview of Cass's career. Willis Dunbar candidly discusses the controversies that engulfed the man. While Dunbar is to be almost always found on the side of Cass—after all, the Great Men of Michigan series (of which this is the fifth book to appear) is not designed for debunking...