BOOK REVIEW

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Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
Barbara Schmidt

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Fanning, Philip.  _Mark Twain and Orion Clemens: Brothers, Partners,
Strangers_.  University of Alabama Press, 2003.  Pp. 288.  Hardcover, 6 x
9.  $29.95. ISBN 0-8173-1310-9.

Philip Fanning's _Mark Twain and Orion Clemens_ is one of the first studies
to focus closely on the troubled fraternal relationship between Samuel
Clemens and his older brother Orion.  Although not a complete biography of
the life of Orion Clemens, it is an extensive study of how the brothers
reacted to each another, their similarities and differences, and their
influences upon each other's work.  In the foreword Alan Gribben states,
"Twain's wretchedly twisted relationship with his older brother will likely
endow his complex personality with dark but engaging shadows" (p. xi).

The book is well written in a style that will appeal both to the general
and academic audiences.  Each chapter is accompanied by extensive reference
notes.  A comprehensive bibliography and an index are also provided.
Fanning has drawn from contemporary newspaper accounts, family letters --
both previously published and unpublished, scrapbooks from the archives at
the Mark Twain Papers, biographies written by Albert Bigelow Paine and
Dixon Wecter, and journal articles written by Effie Mona Mack and Fred
Lorch.  Drawing from early Nevada government documents, Fanning
reconstructs the role Orion played in guiding the territory to statehood.
Some events and major theories have been reconstructed "on the basis of
incomplete evidence (p. xvi)," something which Twain scholars and
researchers may find controversial.  Fanning, however, is quick to point
out where evidence is lacking and sometimes plays devil's advocate with his
own theories.

Fanning's book follows the rise and fall of the family fortunes which were
significantly affected by the death of patriarch John Marshall Clemens.
Fanning documents the struggles of Orion and Sam to support the family
through journalism and newspaper publishing.  Orion was ten years older
than Sam and more of a domineering father figure than a brother.  Sam's
piloting career on the Mississippi provided his escape from Orion's shadow.
The outbreak of the Civil War abruptly took his piloting profession away.
Fanning discusses the brothers' diverging political loyalties and attitudes
toward slavery. Orion's marriage and his political appointment as secretary
for the Nevada territory, stemming from his support of President Abraham
Lincoln, restored his position as primary financial supporter for the
Clemens family. Sam accompanied Orion to Nevada and labored in failed
mining ventures financed by his older brother. Sam once again turned to
journalism for his living.  Frequently acting in his capacity as a
temporary governor, Orion avoided a "Sagebrush War" with California over
disputed state boundary lines and enjoyed political popularity.

Fanning pinpoints the death of Orion's only child, Jennie, in early 1864 as
a turning point in Orion's life.  As Sam rose to national prominence as a
writer, Orion spiraled downward from politics to failed journalistic
endeavors. He finally became dependent on this younger brother for
financial support. Orion's last years ended in excommunication from his
church and a mental deterioration that was recognized by his family.

Throughout this "painful domestic drama stretching from the 1850s to the
1890s" (p. x), much of the brothers' story is drawn from the letters
exchanged between family members.  One poignant letter from Jane Clemens in
1881 to her son Sam summarizes her concern, "...my trouble is my only two
sons are not like brothers" (p. 193). Additional insight is gleaned from
the newspaper articles, penned by both brothers, in which they apparently
take verbal shots at each other.  Sam's "Miscegenation Society" letter to
the Virginia City _Territorial Enterprise_ on May 17, 1864, resulted in
embarrassment to both Orion and his wife and may have hindered their social
standing.  The article caused much controversy and ultimately Sam's leaving
Nevada for California.  Fanning theorizes the story may have been the
result of Sam's ambivalent attitude to the Union that Orion had sworn to
support as well as his attitude toward Orion himself.  Fanning brings to
light a number of writings that Orion contributed to various newspapers.
In one piece, Orion's jabs at Sam seem evident. Writing for the _San
Francisco Times_ in 1867, he referred to "the wretched reptiles who slunk
through the war, trailing their slimy tracks in crooked lines through the
edges of both parties--at first giving hearty assistance to the rebel side,
then deserting it to render lukewarm aid to the Government..." (p. 117).

For the historical record, Fanning corrects instances where Sam may have
purposely muddied the water regarding Orion.  One example regards Orion's
possible election as secretary of the state of Nevada in September, 1864.
Sam had written of the list of nominees, "His name was not in it.  He had
not received a vote" (p. 99).  Fanning finds, "Of the total of sixty-one
ballots cast, Orion received thirteen, second only to [Chauncey] Noteware's
forty-four" (p. 99).

In attempting to clarify the reasons behind the dysfunctional fraternal
relationship, Fanning presents a number of theories that lack strong
evidence. Some are controversial.  Early in the book Fanning discusses his
research to identify the drug John Marshall Clemens was using at the time
of his death and speculates that an autopsy was performed on him in order
for Jane Clemens to determine whether or not he had syphilis.  The results
of the autopsy are unknown, but Fanning contends that Orion witnessed the
procedure and the experience was a psychological burden that Orion related
in his autobiography, portions of which Sam destroyed.

One of Fanning's most controversial theories was one he presented at the
State of Mark Twain Studies International Conference in Elmira, New York in
1997.  Fanning posited that at one time Sam Clemens had bought a gun and
intended to murder his brother Orion.  This theory is based on a 1901
letter that Sam wrote to his friend and pastor Joseph Twichell, "I bought a
revolver once and travelled twelve hundred miles to kill a man" (p. 37).
Fanning theorizes that Sam harbored an urge to kill his brother due to the
abuse he received from him while working as his apprentice in the Hannibal
newspaper office and Orion's refusal to let him purchase a gun.  The
resentment caused Sam to leave Hannibal in 1853 and the newspaper failed in
his absence. The family relocated from slave state Missouri to Muscatine,
Iowa (a free state) without contacting Sam.  Harboring resentment against
his brother, Fanning believes Sam traveled with a gun from New York to
confront his family.  Fanning also maintains that the situation was
apparently diffused by their mother Jane Clemens and later incorporated
into Twain's story, "Simon Wheeler, Detective" in which one cousin has
traveled a long distance to confront and kill another cousin.

A third theory that examines the lingering rift between the brothers is
traced to the family's "Tennessee Land."  Fanning contends that a now lost
telegram from land speculator Herman Camp sent on approximately January 12,
1866, contained an offer to buy the property. Sam was desperate for funds
and when Orion apparently refused the offer, because he was concerned the
land would be used for wine production, Sam ultimately considered suicide.
Although Clemens's consideration of suicide is well known to researchers,
Fanning is one of the first to attempt to tie it directly to a decision
made by Orion.  A second attempt by Sam to sell the land was foiled when
Orion refused to consider selling to Sam's father-in-law Jervis Langdon.
The continuing struggle to realize the family's monetary wealth from the
sale of the land seemed to be blocked at every opportunity by Orion who
continually took the moral high road over possible fortune.

The most compelling unsolved mystery surrounding Orion Clemens is the
whereabouts of his autobiography manuscript.  At Sam's urging, Orion
labored from March 1880 to January 1882 to write 2,523 pages of manuscript.
 At the time, he was fighting mental depression and limited finances and
hoped that writing a publishable book would help bring him additional
income.  Sam was not pleased with what he read and later wrote that he
burned portions of it.  The fact that the manuscript existed at the time
that Albert Bigelow Paine wrote _Mark Twain: A Biography_ is evident
because Paine relied on it for some of his early chapters.  Sam's personal
secretary Isabel Lyon recorded in her daily journal that Paine confessed to
losing Orion's "letters" in his briefcase in Grand Central Station.
Fanning bases his theory that Orion's "manuscript" was burned on the fact
that Lyon penned the word "letters" and not "manuscript" in her journal.
Paine, in his capacity as custodian of Mark Twain's papers, later responded
to researcher Fred Lorch in 1927 that most of the autobiography had been
burned.  It is not clear whether or not Fanning was aware of marginalia
Lyon later wrote in her copy of Paine's biography. Lyon underlined the word
"lost" beside Paine's discussion of Orion's manuscript. According to Kevin
Mac Donnell, current owner of Lyon's copy of Paine's _Mark Twain: A
Biography_, Lyon wrote on page 676, "Lost. For Paine had a quantity of it
in his suitcase, when on his way to Elmira, summer of 1907. In the Grand
Central Station he put down his suitcase to ask a question at the
Information Booth, & when he turned to pick it up it was gone, & no
advertising found it again."  It is important to note that Lyon underlined
the word "lost" both in Paine's text and in her own note in the margin.
Fanning also omits any discussion of Paine's successor Bernard DeVoto and
his attempts to locate Orion's autobiography through an appeal in the
_Twainian_ newsletter in February 1940.  For now, Mark Twain scholars can
only hope that Fanning's belief that Orion's manuscript was destroyed will
be proven incorrect.

Fanning's knowledge of both Orion's and Mark Twain's writings enables him
to recognize what he believes are numerous instances of Orion's influences
on his brother's work.  He points to Orion's story about a young slave
titled  "Jim" that appeared in _American Publisher_ in July 1871, as a seed
in Sam's imagination that was "a germ that over the next few years would
take root and grow" (p. 144).  In addition to "Simon Wheeler, Detective,"
Fanning finds Orion's influence in "Mark Twain's Kearny Street Ghost Story"
which contains a passage about dead and bloody kittens.  Fanning theorizes
that Orion's delegating the duty of killing unwanted kittens to young Sam
was another deep seated grievance.  Fanning alludes to Franklin R. Rogers's
_Satires and Burlesques_ as a work that identified a number of minor
characters built around Orion but he does not name these by name nor expand
upon Rogers's work.  Instead, he maintains that Orion's influence goes
deeper than minor characters in lesser known works and can be found in _The
Gilded Age_, _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_, _The Prince and the Pauper_,
_Those Extraordinary Twins_, _Pudd'nhead Wilson_, "Which Was It?", and "No.
44, The Mysterious Stranger."

It is a disappointment that the publisher included no photos or visual
enhancements for the book.  Photos of Orion, his wife Mollie, daughter
Jennie, the places in which he lived, maps of his travel or residences, the
seal of the territory of Nevada that Orion designed, samples of Orion's
handwriting or manuscripts are lacking.  The only photos of Orion and Sam
are a separate photo of each on the dust jacket.  If the two brothers were
ever photographed together, Fanning does not mention it.

Throughout the book, Fanning's treatment of Orion Clemens is sympathetic.
As to Sam, Fanning concedes "virtually every wrong he did Orion was matched
with a compensating act of charity" (p. 220).  Orion was portrayed by his
brother Sam in numerous letters and writings as a buffoon, fool, and
ultimate life failure whom he loved and supported financially during his
last decades. Fanning's work provides a much clearer picture of Orion
Clemens than the one his brother Mark Twain offered.