His Masterly Pen: A Biography of Jefferson the Writer

Biographer Kaplan (Lincoln and the Abolitionists) focuses on Thomas Jefferson’s “growth and development as a writer” in this intriguing if uneven study. Among the works analyzed are the Declaration of Independence (“Jefferson’s most remembered and celebrated accomplishment”); the one book he published in his lifetime, Notes on the State of Virginia (which “provides Jefferson’s fullest comments on race and slavery”); and Notes of a Tour into the Southern Parts of France. Kaplan also delves into more private writings, including a series of “personally expressive and revealing” letters Jefferson wrote to Maria Cosway, a painter and musician with whom he shared a “few months of romantic attachment” in 1786. Kaplan draws out some revealing themes in Jefferson’s writing, including his hypocritical use of the “slavery trope” to describe the plight of American colonists under the British crown; the tension between his support for “small independent farmers” and his membership among the elite class of landowners who accumulated most of the country’s wealth; and his paternalistic tone when addressing Native American tribal leaders. But the balance between biography and literary analysis feels out of proportion, and the lack of a narrative through line sometimes makes for disjointed reading. The result is a tantalizing yet frustrating portrait. (Nov.)