It could be said that the Prince and the Pauper were twins, in a sense, too (they looked like each other when dressed in each other's duds). - B. Clay Shannon
From: Martin Zehr <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2017 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: Sam and Henry
Arianne: Two "twin" associations come to mind. The first is Twain's
fascination with Chang & Eng, the Siamese twins, the subject of "Personal
Habits of the Siamese Twins," published in 1869, and also the basis of the
hilarious, and politically incorrect portrayal of the Siamese Twins by
Twain and a collaborator, at a costume party, circa 1906(?), described in
Michael Shelden's biography "Mark Twain: Man in White......" Surely Twain
would have known about the Siamese twins long before his 1869 piece. Now,
if memory serves, there are also the Levin brothers, from his Hannibal
childhood, although I can't swear that they were twins, only that they were
referred to by Sam and his friends as "Twenty-two."
In the category of "advice worth the price."
Martin Zehr
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On Sun, Aug 27, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Arianne . <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I've been re-reading my thesis written in 1963 and thinking about what I
> discovered since at the Mark Twain Papers in 1978. (Life tends to
> intervene). If it is not inappropriate to ask, could anyone tell me who,
> if anyone, did the best most thorough job on the relationship between Twain
> and his brother Henry since then? As far as I know, nobody. I see Henry
> as the source of Twain's interest in and identification with twins.
>
> Back in 1963, right after handing in the paper to the University of Texas
> at El Paso for my MA, I left for Peace Corps service in Cameroons, West
> Africa. When I came back I went for my Phd at University of California in
> Berkeley. Had to leave after only three months when my mother had a
> stroke. I was there because of the Mark Twain Papers and asked to see the
> first scrapbook which, I think, was delivered to me by Fredrick Anderson,
> who in 1978 eventually became my mentor. When I came back to Berkeley
> after an interval at home in Sacramento, I learned he had died which broke
> my heart. Nevertheless, it was back then that I met Robert Hirst who read
> something I'd written about another issue I'd stumbled upon in Twain's
> first scrabbook. He never read the original thesis which brougt me there
> in the first place, though.
>
> I wrote the thesis, went to the Peace Corps, and entered UC Berkeley as
> Jeanne Adamson. When I returned to the Mark Twain Papers in 1978, I was
> Arianne Laidlaw. The ladies will understand. Passports confirm all my
> name changes.
>
>
> Looking forward to any views
>
>
> --
> Arianne Laidlaw
>
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