Thanks, Carol, for sharing your Brazilian adventures. I hope to find
that film you described. Here in Finland the gypsy myths are still
alive as there is a fairly large Roma community across most of Europe.
Many Roma here in Finland are quite visible, the women still wear
traditional colorful hoop dresses, and as a group they suffer from
some enduring negative stereotypes about gypsies. I am told that some
shopkeepers are particularly wary of them due to a prevailing
assumption that they are thieves. But this same stereotype is often
employed concerning other non-Finnish groups as well. Even today
dictionary.com describes the Roma as "traditionally living by seasonal
work and fortunetelling." Of course these stereotypes are not
factually representative of this group's reality here in Scandinavia,
and the Roma remain mysterious to many Finns due unfortunately to what
I perceive to be a lack of personal contact between ethnic Finns
(Finno-Ugrian) and Roma peoples. I do not personally know much about
the life of the Roma peoples south of Helsinki.

As I understand it, many of Twain's texts were sold through traveling
salesmen operating under the subscription method of sales and
distribution. So perhaps we could argue that Twain realized that his
products had to function much like many other contemporary forms of
entertainment. In other words, much like the traveling bands of circus
and dramatic performers who, unlike many of today's entertainers,
simply had to bring themselves to their audience in rural communities
and play to small audiences. From this perspective I sometimes wonder
whether Twain viewed himself as an entertainer or whether he viewed
himself as a bona fide literary figure. As a self-educated person he
may have felt some nervousness and uncertainty about comparisons of
himself with other literary forces of his day.

Due to the subscription sales method he employed in which his
"productions" would arrive periodically in town, could we make the
case that Twain was a traveling circus act himself? Or would that
somehow diminish his stature? I wonder if he ever made a conscious
connection between some of his characters and his own book
distribution methods? Of course he eventually received honorary
degrees and much recognition for his intellectual and social
enlightenment, but really it seems to me reading his texts that he
viewed himself primarily as a provider of entertainment to the masses.
Yes, I know there were social messages embedded in most all of his
texts but I am simply wondering whether Twain viewed his role
primarily as that of an entertainer. Only later does it seem that he
accepted a role as a serious social commentator outside of his
literary products. But I do not have the encyclopedic knowledge of
Twain that other scholars on this list possess, and no doubt some
other scholars have developed this perspective already.

I also wonder, in view of today's extremely crowded, electronic and
fast-paced mass media world, what Twain would be doing now if he were
born in 1955, or 1985. Someone has probably already speculated about
that as well.

Steve Crawford

Kulttuuriala, School of Cultural Studies
Jyväskylän ammattikorkeakoulu
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences
Pitkäkatu 18-22, FI-40700 Jyväskylä
FINLAND