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
>
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