William Hazlitt

Hazlitt,William (1778-1830) was an English essayist, critic, and painter. Born in Maidstone, Kent, his father was a Unitarian priest who publicly supported the American War of Independence. Hazlitt attended the seminary in Hackney from 1793 to 1796, where he began writing philosophical and political works. From 1799 to 1804, he mainly created portraits. Since 1804, he has made a living by writing. He met poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, and with Coleridge's encouragement he wrote "On the Code of Human Conduct", and later wrote more prose works. Later, he broke with them because of his different views of the French Revolution. The friendship with Charles Lamb lasted until his death. In 1812, he worked as a journalist in London and wrote for the Edinburgh Review. Judging from his works, he is keen on argument and is good at writing epigrams, curses and satirical words. His most famous collections of essays are "Chat during the Dinner" and "Spirit of the Times".

Hazlitt has written a wide range of books, including history, philosophy and political commentary, such as the four-volume "The Legend of Napoleon"(1828 - 1830),"On the Code of Human Conduct"(1805), which covers various ideological trends in the 18th century and their interrelationships,"Answer to Malthus"(1807), which focuses on Malthus's population theory, etc. His main achievements lie in literary criticism and essays. Among the essays are some of his best works, such as "On the Immortality of Youth". Among literary and artistic criticism, there are "A Survey of British Drama"(1818),"Characters in Shakespeare's Plays"(1817),"Dramatic Literature in the Elizabethan Era"(1820), which discusses drama;"Lectures on English Poets"(1818), which mainly covers the 18th century and also discusses Spencer and Shakespeare;"British Comedy Writers"(1819), which discusses several genres and makes interesting comments on 18th century novelists;"The Spirit of the Times"(1825) commented on the leading figures in the intellectual world of the time. These and the extremely influential book "Chatting During the Dinner"(1821 - 1822) established his status as a critic and essayist.

Hazlitt typified an aspect of the Romantic movement by advocating individualism. All of his writings can be seen as an affirmation of individualism against authority, convention, and parochialism. His criticism was often personal, sharp, passionate, imaginative, and intelligent. He made insightful comments on the zeitgeist in which he lived.