The Mark Twain Forum needs a reviewer for the following book:

   Emerson, Everett.  _Mark Twain, A Literary Life_.  Philadelphia:
   University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.  Pp. 344.  Cloth, 6-1/2" x
   9-1/2".  $34.95.  ISBN 0-8122-3516-9.

The AAUP web site describes the book thus:

   In _Mark Twain, A Literary Life_, Everett Emerson revisits one of
   America's greatest and most popular writers.  Building upon that
   earlier work, he explores the relationship between the life of the
   writer and his writings.  The assumption throughout is that to see
   Mark Twain's writings in focus, one must give proper attention to
   their biographical context.

   Mark Twain's literary career is fascinating in its strangeness.  How
   could this genius have had so little sense of what he should next do?
   A contemporary observer could never have imagined where his career
   would subsequently take him and what he would write next.  As a young
   man, Samuel Clemens' first vocation, that of journeyman printer, took
   him far from home to the sights of New York, Philadelphia, and
   Washington, while his next vocation would give him the identity by
   which we most frequently know him.  His choice of "Mark Twain" as a
   pen name cemented his bond with the river, as did such books as Life
   on the Mississippi and Huckleberry Finn.  Then following an
   unsuccessful try at silver mining, Clemens worked as a newspaperman,
   humorist, lecturer, but also cultivated an interest in playwriting,
   politics, and philosophizing.

   In reporting the author's life, Emerson has endeavored to permit Mark
   Twain to tell his own story as much as possible, through the use of
   letters and autobiographical writings, some unpublished.  These
   fascinating glimpses into the life of the writer will be of interest
   to all who have an abiding affection for Samuel Clemens and his
   extraordinary legacy.

   Everett Emerson is Alumni Distinguished Professor of English,
   Emeritus, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is
   the author of _The Authentic Mark Twain: A Literary Biography of
   Samuel L. Clemens_, along with numerous other works on Mark Twain, and
   is the founder of the Mark Twain Circle of America.

As usual, the review must be of publishable quality, and it would be
due within two months of your receipt of the book (i.e., due
late-March 2000).  The deadline is particularly important, as we are
making every effort for Forum reviews to appear before print reviews.
If you are inclined to procrastinate, please don't offer to review
this book.

If you would like to see the general content and style of Forum
reviews, please browse the reviews page at TwainWeb:

     http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/forum/reviews/

A link to the style sheet is at the bottom of the reviews page.

If you're interested in writing a review, please send me both your
home and institutional mailing addresses and phone numbers.  If I
don't know you already, it would be helpful for you to explain in what
respect you're qualified to write the review.  (If we haven't
exchanged e-mail recently, it might be a good idea for you to remind
me of this info.)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Book review editor, Mark Twain Forum