Nevertheless, I think it is wonderful that it has drawn the attention of so
many reviewers.  Whether the reviews make it clear where your work can be
found, I can't remember.  But I know I've looked on the Mark Twain Journal
site and have not figured out whether subscribing has anything to do with
getting a copy of (I think) #50.  I'm working on figuring it out.

Arianne Laidlaw
Sacramento, CA.


On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 7:49 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The story continues to mutate in odd [amusing, frustrating, unexpected,
> etc.] ways. It was on Huffington Post a couple of days ago where the writer
> seems to imply that Twain only used two pen-names before he settled on
> "Mark
> Twain." This seems to be a misreading of the piece about my article in the
> LA Times Review of Books that mentioned two or three previous pen-names.
> Another piece says Twain's only reason for not wanting to admit Vanity Fair
> was his source was because the Phunny Phellows associated with that
> magazine
> were not very funny. I happen to think some Phunny Phellow humor is very
> funny, but it did go stale, and Twain was heading in other directions. Not
> mentioned in that other piece was the fact that the "Mr Mark Twain"
> character in the VF piece was presented as merely "shallow" in the context
> of the term's meaning when used on ocean-going vessels. Also not mentioned
> was that Twain wanted to associate his name with the romance, glory, and
> mythologies of the Mississippi River (duh!). Of course, I explain all of
> this in my article but not much of what I wrote has been translated into
> these second and third and fourth generation pieces about my article.
> Martin
> Zehr's piece about my article in the Kansas City Star and Daniel
> Hernandez's
> piece in the LA Times Book Review are excellent, but some of those who have
> picked up the story since have truly unimpressive reading comprehension
> skills. Imagine evolution running in reverse, my article being human and
> the
> online blogs being the monkey offsprings. Eventually the story could
> devolve
> into something that slithers backwards into some primordial sea. Bu-bye to
> all that.
>
> All I can do is urge that those interested read the original article in the
> Mark Twain Journal.
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rick Talbot" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 8:46 PM
> Subject: Re: Should go directly to it
>
>
> > Kevin,
> > You're always going to be my hero. Your erudition is incomparable and let
> > all the others say what they might. The work stands for itself.
> Illegitimi
> > non carborundum.
> >
> > Your friend and fan in Minnesota,Rick
> > PS
> > Give Donna my best
> >
> > Richard Talbot
> > 1531 West Idaho Avenue
> > Falcon Heights, MN 55108-2118
> > (651) 646-6624
> > (651) 280 8734
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charles
> > Cogar
> > Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 1:04 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Should go directly to it
> >
> > Thanks everyone for sharing this.
> >
> > I always thought the pen name was attributed to a river depth call of
> > "...mark, twain...." meaning a depth of twelve feet?
> >
> > Kindly,
> >
> > Charles Cogar
> > Omaha, Nebraska
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac
> > Donnell
> > Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:50 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Should go directly to it
> >
> > I must thank Mr Durrett for his posting. I'd have done it myself --I have
> > no
> >
> > false modesty. And none of the genuine stuff either.
> >
> > The LA Book Review piece by David Hernandez has spread to many places. I
> > was
> >
> > informed by someone that a website that tracks and ranks media postings
> > that
> >
> > go"viral" ranked this piece 1,238 out of about 12,500 media postings that
> > appeared in that same 24 hour period. That was after it got posted at
> > salon.com. I'm not sure how viral that really is, but while "going
> viral"
> > online I was at home nursing a truly painful abdominal infection with two
> > antibiotics that had entertaining side effects (cf 1601). Too much
> > information --I know-- but I like the irony, and as I get older my
> > appreciation for irony is exceeded only by my appreciation for
> > antibiotics.
> >
> > It also got pinged as "noteworthy research" or "articles worth noting" or
> > something like that at The Chronicle of Higher Education, got a notice
> and
> > link at the New Yorker website, and even got blogged about in Italy.
> There
> > have been a bunch of Facebook "likes" attached to the LA Book Review
> piece
> > and a bunch of tweets, but I belong to neither and don't follow any of
> > that.
> >
> > Whatever Kevin Mac Donnells you may see on Facebook are not me. Comments
> > I've read in some other places lead me to conclude that the less a reader
> > "gets" what they are reading, the more likely they feel compelled to post
> > something. Of course, none of these people are reading my original
> > article;
> > they are reading and responding to a short piece about my article, and
> > some
> > of the subsequent postings about it leave out even more details which
> > begins
> >
> > to distort what I said, reminding me of the old game of "rumor." Some of
> > these subsequent postings would have you thinking some things that I
> never
> > said and wholly unaware of many things I did say in How Sam Clemens Found
> > Mark Twain.
> >
> > Anyway, it's nice to see Twain in the popular media and I hope the bottom
> > line is that it draws some new subscriptions to the Mark Twain Journal
> and
> > gets people to read his writings.
> >
> > Kevin
> > @
> > Mac Donnell Rare Books
> > 9307 Glenlake Drive
> > Austin TX 78730
> > 512-345-4139
> > Member: ABAA, ILAB
> > *************************
> > You may browse our books at
> > www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:10 AM
> > Subject: Should go directly to it
> >
> >
> >> Folks:
> >>
> >> I copied-and-pasted an intermediate step.  This
> >> will take you right to the Atlantic Newswire page.
> >>
> >> I hope.
> >>
> >> Dang, sorry for the rabbit trail.
> >>
> >>
> >
> http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/10/now-we-know-how-samuel-
> >> clemens-became-mark-twain/70161/
> >>
> >> Roger Durrett
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> -----
> >> No virus found in this message.
> >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> >> Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6716 - Release Date:
> 10/02/13
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > -----
> > No virus found in this message.
> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> > Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6734 - Release Date: 10/08/13
> >
>



-- 
Arianne Laidlaw A '58