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From:
Kent Rasmussen <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 30 Oct 2013 19:58:28 -0400
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I fell in love with this paperback book after buying a copy some years ago.
Although it isn't really relevant to Mark Twain, I felt compelled to put it
in _Critical Companion to Mark Twain_ (in the entry for _Pudd'nhead Wilson"
on page 400). I especially like the illustration at the top of the cover
because its woman--apparently meant to represent Roxy--looks a lot like a
young Elizabeth Taylor. The man threatening her with a club is presumably
the false Tom Driscoll, in the scene in which Roxy reveals she is his true
mother. Note the cover caption: "The story of a sordid scandal that rocked a
Mississippi River town." Not exactly an accurate description of the novel.

The second illustration, at the bottom of the cover, is difficult to connect
with its novel, _Connecticut Yankee_. The glamorous woman about to be burned
at the stake is probably supposed to be the woman burned as a witch in
chapter 35. However, she scarcely resembles the bedraggled person whom Hank
Morgan describes: "This poor woman had been stoned until she hardly looked
human, she was so battered and bloody. The mob wanted to burn her."

Note, too, the caption for this picture: "The magnificent adventure of a man
who went back in time in the days of witches and wenches." That statement is
sort of relevant to CY, but perhaps it overstates the role of wenches in the
story.

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