Ignatius Donnelly: Ultimate Independent Scholar
Patrick Coleman
Saturday, March 23, 2019 - 10:00am to 11:30am
Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Ignatius Donnelly; poet, promoter, politician, orator, and author; was arguably the most interesting figure in Minnesota history. Although today he is largely dismissed as a crank, Donnelly was an indefatigable champion of the nineteenth century's underdogs. His writings were both a reflection of the times and of his moods. His 1890 Caesar's Column was the first great dystopian novel and a best seller in spite of its populist pessimism. Donnelly's non-fiction ceded no field to the experts.
As someone who has been an active writer for more than half a century, I have benefited from the prestige and authority conferred on the general culture by the invention of the printing press. Since that time books have had a short 500-year run, and a mixed success, as cultural influences. While the book’s influence seems to be in decline since the advent of the digital age, we ironically have more books being published today than at any other time in history. What roles do contemporary writers now fulfill, and how should a “serious” writer define this role? I hope to address these issues from my own pers