Thanks to Barb for an excellent review of _A Summer of Hummingbirds_, By
Christopher Benfey, on the Twain-LIST.  As Barb says, the subtitle is
misleading and the material on Twain in the book is very thin, to say the
least.  I also find some of the claims rather reckless, such as Stowe
fantasizing about her brother Henry, or the importance of Twin's brief stop
in Central America.

That said, I did enjoy the book very much, and hope that folks will read it,
especially if you have interest in the period and especially Emily
Dickinson. As it turns out, I just finished the book Sunday, so it is fresh
in my mind.  It is rather impressionistic and this stylistic aspect may be a
bit of a turn-off for some scholarly readers.

But it is jumping with big ideas.  Despite the sub-title, it is really a
book about her.  His readings of many of her most challenging poems is
excellent, and I found many of Benfey's ideas quite stimulating.  Plus, the
topic is loosely connected with American Impressionism (Heade, though in
some ways he resisted the French movement), so that may be part of the
plan.  Benfey is good at bridging art and literary criticism.  He is
provocative on Dickinson's artistic and even religious sensibility, though I
am no Dickinson scholar and cannot guess which of those ideas sound like
nonsense to those much more dedicated to Dickinson biography/criticism. He
is also quite good on Henry Ward Beecher, Mabel Loomis Todd, and a few
others;  and the material on Lord Byron and the Chillon poem is wonderful.

Benfey's previous book on Japan, The Great Wave, is really terrific, btw.

I guess this is just a plug for the work of Benfey and the rather
unconventional nature of his method.  As an old southerner once said to me,
when you eat fried chicken, swallow the meat and spit out the bones!


--

Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO