*Call for Papers*



*SPECIAL ISSUE:  Mark Twain and the Natural World*



*The Mark Twain Annual *is seeking article-length submissions that examine
aspects of Twain’s work that comment on the relation between human beings
and the natural world. This broad scope allows for critical examinations of
Twain’s writing about the natural world in any number of ways:  as nature
writing; as a form of environmentalism; as commentary on animal welfare,
technology and science, and travel; and as a forerunner to mid-20th to
early 21st century writers (Krutch, Abbey, Kingsolver, Quammen, and
Gessner) who offer comic responses to nature as well as recognize the comic
in the natural world and in our relationship to that world. Anthologies of
nature writing may feature short passages from *Life on the Mississippi*
(and sometimes from *Roughing It*), but most of Twain’s writing about the
natural world is left out. More importantly, it is left underexamined. This
special issue seeks to explore that unexamined territory in Twain’s fictive
and nonfictive writings.



In addition to being published in the *Annual*, authors will have the
opportunity to be part of the Quarry Farm Weekend Symposium program
sponsored by the Center for Mark Twain Studies in Elmira, New York. The
symposium will be held sometime in the beginning of October 2019, one month
prior to the publication of the *Annual.  *The gathering will begin with a
dinner on the Elmira College campus, followed by a keynote address. The
symposium will continue throughout the next day with presentations and
discussions in the tranquil atmosphere of Quarry Farm, a writing retreat
reserved for scholars and writers working in the field of Mark Twain
Studies, where breakfast, lunch, and dinner will also be served.
Registrants will be invited back to Quarry Farm on Sunday morning to enjoy
an autumnal breakfast and casual discussions.  For more information about
the Quarry Farm Weekend Symposium, visit
http://marktwainstudies.com/2018-quarry-farm-symposium/



Those interested should submit a 150-word proposal to Ben Click at
[log in to unmask] by August 31, 2018.  Final manuscripts must be submitted
by December 15, 2018.  Selected essays should be 4,000-8,000 words in
length, but longer essays of more than 8,000 words will also be considered.




-- 
Ben Click
Professor, English
Director, Writing & Speaking Center
Associate Editor, *The Mark Twain Annual*
Director, Twain Lecture Series on
American Humor and Culture
(240) 895-4253
St. Mary's College of Maryland