Dear Forum Members,
Any notice of Ed Branch's contributions to our field would probably seem
incomplete, but the recently published A COMPANION TO MARK TWAIN (Blackwell,
2005), p. 548 had this to say about his work: "The earliest years of
Twain's life and writings were most thoroughly charted by Edgar M. Branch in
a series of monographs and articles: THE LITERARY APPRENTICESHIP OF MARK
TWAIN (Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1950); CLEMENS OF THE CALL: MARK TWAIN IN
SAN FRANCISCO (Berkeley: U of California P, 1969); "'My Voice Is Still for
Setchell': A Background Study of 'Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog'," PMLA
82 (December 1967), 591-601; "'The Babes in the Wood': Artemus Ward's
'Double Health' to Mark Twain," PMLA 93 (October 1978), 955-972); "Mark
Twain: The Pilot and the Writer," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 23: 2 (Fall 1985),
28-43; "A Proposed Calendar of Samuel Clemens's Steamboats, 15 April 1857 to
8 May 1861, with Commentary," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 24 (Fall 1986), 2-27; and
MARK TWAIN AND THE STAR
CHY BOYS, Quarry Farm Volume Series (Elmira: Center for Mark Twain Studies,
Elmira College, 1992), a study of the Mississippi River pilots'
associations."
My own notes on Ed's publications also include "Bixby vs. Carroll: New
Light on Sam Clemens's Early River Career," MARK TWAIN JOURNAL 30 (Fall
1992): 2-22; MEN CALL ME LUCKY: MARK TWAIN AND THE "PENNSYLVANIA," Miami,
Ohio: Friends of the Library Society, 1985; "'Old Times on the
Mississippi': Biography and Crafsmanship," NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE 45
(1990): 73-87; "A New Clemens Footprint: Soleleather Steps Forward,"
AMERICAN LITERATURE 54 (1982): 497-510; and "Sam Clemens, Steersman on the
JOHN H. DICKEY," AMERICAN LITERARY REALISM 15 (1982): 195-208.
There were numerous others, I'm sure. Clearly we have lost a wonderfully
inquiring mind and (as Terrell noted) a generous and supportive colleague.
Alan Gribben
Auburn University Montgomery
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