I, too,  am very sorry to hear of Vic Doyno's death. I am so glad that Taylor Roberts had the good judgment to post those important passages from Vic's wonderful book, Mark Twain: Selected Writings of An American Skeptic. It was so prescient of Vic back in 1983 to warn us about ascribing Twain's "scathing skepticism and acid pessimism" primarily  to "the many personal tragedies of his life." That reductive view of Twain that Vic -- and later Jim Zwick --  worked so hard to dispel still needs dispelling all too often. Vic's insistence on Twain's complexity was always bracingly refreshing, compelling, and apt. 

In addition to being a meticulous scholar who was never satisfied with anything less than doing full justice to an incredibly complicated and elusive artist, Vic was a mensh.  He was a kind and generous scholar who nurtured the work of younger scholars with encouragement and enthusiasm that knew no bounds.  Although I never had the privilege of sitting in his classroom, and interacted with him only at conferences and through sharing our work with each other by mail, he was a role model for me of what a scholar could and should be.  He had a vast store of knowledge and wisdom that he shared unstintingly with anyone whom he thought would find it useful. He shared his time with me, he shared his insights, and he shared his conviction that the work I was doing mattered. He insisted that anyone working on Twain get things right -- but he took no pleasure from engaging in mean-spirited detours, detractions and distractions that can sap   time and humanity from people in our line of work.  His work was invaluable.  The kind of informal mentoring that he embraced brought out the best in everyone around him. That generosity of spirit is all too rare. He will be missed. 

On Dec 4, 2016, at 7:40 PM, Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I'm sorry to hear that Vic Doyno has died.  He was an incredibly genial man, and a truly generous Twain scholar.  I first met him when I was a graduate student at Berkeley.  He happened to overhear me talking with a librarian when I was paging some material from the Twain collection.  So he came over and introduced himself and asked what I was working on.  I was flabber-gasted and flattered to think that someone of his stature in Twain scholarship would want to know what a green grad student was doing. 
> 
> Later we went out for coffee and he held me in rapt attention as he talked about his work on the _HF_ ms.  This was before the lost portion had been found.  I can still recall his enthusiasm as explained the challenge of solving triple cancellations.  We crossed paths at conferences for a number of years, always with his usual warmth.  His curiosity about the work of others never flagged. 
> 
> I knew that he'd suffered some serious health issues a few years ago, and his absence at Elmira and other events where Twain scholars congregate was often noted by those with fond memories of him.  Although we've been missing him for a while now, this news strikes with somber finality.   
> 
> He characterized many of the qualities that drew me to the Twain community.
> 
> Larry Howe
> Professor of English & Film Studies
> Department of Literature and Languages
> Roosevelt University
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, December 4, 2016 9:15 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Victor A. Doyno, 1937-2016
> 
> I am sorry to report that Vic Doyno died on November 16, according to
> an obituary at http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/04/1165405/
> 
> His wonderful edition of MT=E2=80=99s skeptical writings strongly attracted=
> me
> to MT many years ago (_Mark Twain: Selected Writings of an American
> Skeptic_ [Prometheus Books, 1983]). A couple of memorable sections
> from Doyno=E2=80=99s introduction to that book are below:
> 
> "One current widespread view of Mark Twain holds that his scathing
> skepticism and acid pessimism were caused by the many personal
> tragedies of his life.... But another, more thorough view of the man
> and his work would transcend this simple biographical explanation. As
> this book demonstrates, Mark Twain=E2=80=99s skepticism is found throughout
> his published works, early to late. It is an oversimplification--and
> finally disrespectful to the man and his mind--simply to say that
> personal difficulties caused his skepticism. A wider perspective
> reveals that his background, his experience, his journalistic ability
> to be objective and to see only what is there, his reading, and, most
> of all his intellectual acuity contributed to the shape of his
> thought." (2)
> 
> "His overall life experience led Sam Clemens/Mark Twain to know that
> this life, this earth, is all we know of heaven--and all we need to
> know of hell." (12)
> 
> I had the pleasure to meet Vic at some conferences and he was such a
> pleasant gentleman, as one would hope of one=E2=80=99s heroes. I send my
> condolences to his family and friends, and also my gratitude for his
> many other contributions to MT studies and to the Forum.
> 
> Feel free to post your own memories so we can "give him a good
> send-off and waltz him through handsome" (RI ch. 47).
> 
> Taylor Roberts