Hello,

Although I would never categorize Mark Twain as a "mere humorist," I would
also
caution against dubbing stand-up comedy "mere humor," or appending the
modifier
"mere" to humor as a genre.  Humor as a general category has been deemed
somehow
less important than so-called serious work for centuries, if not millenia.
See,
for instance, the discussions of the value of Mark Twain's work carried on
in
the Atlantic Monthly and other "quality magazines" in that late-nineteenth
century.  Howells and others were forced to perform rhetorical gymnastics to
show how Twain was great despite his humor.

I would argue that Twain is great, largely and crucially, because of his
humor.
Stand-up comedy has played an important role in American culture for decades
and
deserves "serious" scholarly attention. Although none of the recepients of
the
Mark Twain prize reach the status of Twain (who does?), I would argue that,
for
example, the challenging social observations of Richard Pryor and the absurd
humor and humane writing of Steve Martin are worthy of recognition.

Sincerely,

Tracy Wuster
American Studies, UT Austin