I'm forwarding this request to the group in hopes that a few of you might
give him some pointers. I think it's a good topic, if not entirely new, but
his approach looks interesting. I'd add duality and point-of-view to his
list, and maybe study the use of violence in his early works (The Dandy
Fighting the Squatter comes to mind) to his late works (Horse's Tale, an
obvious choice), but I presume some of you could help him more...

Kevin Mac
Austin TX

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ashraf Quota" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 2:44 PM
Subject: Mark Twain


> Hello,
>
> I am an Egyptian Ph.D student. I intend to write my dissertation on Mark
Twain. I'd like to develop a topic on the  mentality of violence in his
fiction. Some of the sources of violence in his  works are  religion,
politics, technology, race prejudice, poverty and sentimentalism.
>
> What do you think of this topic? Is it somehow new? Would you please
suggest some ideas to be used in this topic? Could you suggest another
topic, if possible?
>
> Also, do you think Twain's pessimistic vision has exclusively discussed by
critics and graduate students, or still need some development?
>
> Regards
>
> Ashraf Quota