Elmira Aug. 12-14
Thurs. Afternoon there was an interesting group of papers presented on Mark
Twain's Home Circle which included an intersting biographical presentation
concerning his mother, sister, and neice; an assessment of Katy Leary's
evidence on Twain;& "MT's Mother Of Invention." In the evening Lou J. Budd
evidence on Twain;& "MT's Mother Of Invention." In the evening Lou J. Budd
gave the keynote address on "MT and the Ecstasy of Humor." That morning
there was an interesting presentation on stereoscopic views of Twain, his
time and his contemporaries by Brandt Rowles, and a global view of
collecting
Twain memorabilia by Nick Karanovich, who is one of the top private
collectors.

        On Friday, the most interesting paers were delivered by John Cooley,
who wrote the book on Twain's Aquarium and collected the letters of MT's
Angel fish. Wesley Britton gave an engaging talk on MT & John Kennedy
Toole's
_Confederacy of Dunces__. That afternoon there were seminars conducted by
various Twain scholars including Jim Wilson, Stanley Brodwin, Vic Doyno.
In the evening, they had dessert at Quarry Farm and Vic Doyno read two
episodes twain expunged from the original ms. recently discovered in a crate
in Calif.

        On Sat. Jie Tao from Peking U. presented a paper on the popularity
and
publishing history of China. Suzi Naiburg presented a paper on Dream
analysis
and AH dropped his bomb. I would say it was not received favorably by those
in attendance, but it did create a stir. Ham Hill was the only one I heard
give Andy any positive support, and I think he was more approving of someone
rattling the cages of the old guard than he was giving credence to the
notion
AH postulates.
        Hope these highlights give you some idea of the flavor of the
conference. Too bad you weren't there.

Alan C. Reese