The girl was undoubtedly Livy; their first date was to hear Dickens read (in company with with her parents and, I think, Alice Hooker, to whom Clemens was initially more attracted than to Livy).  Clemens's analysis of Dickens' style as always struck me as betraying the anxiety of the novitiate in the presence of the master--he's studying him intensely, trying to figure out what makes his magic.

As for the "white" reference, yes, it's a joke, but one with a heavy underpinning of American racism and sexism that gives us a glimpse into American culture of the time.  Impacted in that one word is a whole host of issues: questions about the respectability of theater, for starters--what kinds of women went to theaters?  Did women in Twain's home town--or in Nevada or S.F. for that matter--go to theaters or was it still a largely male domain?  Second, Twain's own history with women--he rarely mentions his own relationships--romantic or sexual, but when he does, I think it's often along the lines of that crack he makes (in Nevada?) about sleeping with chambermaids.  Third, the need to specify that this woman is white, that whiteness connotes respectability, with the assumption that blackness does not.  So this is all about Sam Clemens at this time of his life, but it's also all about American race and gender relations.  --susan harris

Susan K. Harris

Hall Professor of American Literature

University of Kansas

Author of God's Arbiters: Americans and the Philippines, 1898-1902

________________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Davis [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 10:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: MT & Dickens (& Christmas)

If I recall correctly, his first "date" with Livy was attendance at a
Dickens lecture.  I'm sure she is the "white" woman to whom he refers, and
I also agree that that designation of her is intended as a joke.

On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 10:17 AM, westbook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I think the "white woman" thing was just Twain's way of making a joke.
> Tim Champlin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ben Wise" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 7:22 PM
> Subject: Re: MT & Dickens (& Christmas)
>
>
> >I figure "white" just goes along with "highly respectable" in the
> >convention=
> > al rhetorical litany of attributes accorded a woman one is proud to have
> > in o=
> > ne's company, at that declarative time  But...who WAS that white woman?
> >
> > Ben
> >
> >
> >
> > On Nov 30, 2011, at 6:02 PM, Harold Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> folks, deep into the Christmas tales of Dickens this week and next;
> >> though=
> > t
> >> I'd treat myself to another look and see how the students like (or
> >> dislike=
> > )
> >> them.
> >> Here's just a few rambling questions, in case any of you are in a
> holiday
> >> mood and feel like chatting:
> >>=20
> >> I wonder how MT thought of Dickens as a novelist?  I don't have a copy
> of
> >> Alan's book handy (sure wish the new edition of MT'sL would appear, are
> >> yo=
> > u
> >> listening Prof. Gribben?).
> >>=20
> >> I wonder what he might have thought of those old Christmas tales -- and
> >> also, when or if MT ever really wrote much about Christmas, or used it
> >> muc=
> > h
> >> as a setting?
> >>=20
> >> I also was interested in this little review MT wrote of his visit to
> hear
> >> CD read, in NYC, 1868:
> >>=20
> >> "He read David Copperfield. He is a bad reader, in one sense -- because
> >> he=
> >
> >> does not enunciate his words sharply and distinctly -- he does not cut
> >> the=
> >
> >> syllables cleanly, and therefore many and many of them fell dead before
> >> they reached our part of the house. [I say "our" because I am proud to
> >> observe that there was a beautiful young lady with me -- a highly
> >> respectable young white woman.]"
> >>=20
> >> (from a nice website:  charlesdickenspage.com/twain_on_dickens.html;
>  is
> >> this published in a recent edition somewhere?  not really sure about
> that
> >> .=
> >
> >> . . .)
> >>=20
> >> For most of the 60s, evidently, CD read those Christmas tales in public
> >> readings.  But the thing that really caught my eye:  why did he call her
> >> a=
> >
> >> "white" woman?  I don't really get the reason for emphasizing that -- as
> >> i=
> > f
> >> he would be with an African American?  or am I just missing something
> >> with=
> >
> >> that?
> >>=20
> >> Anyway;  if anyone has something to say about MT and Christmas, or CD,
> >> I'm=
> >
> >> interested!
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> thanks, --Hal B.
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> --=20
> >> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> >> Professor of English
> >> Saint Louis University
> >> St. Louis, MO  63108
> >> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> >> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>
>



--
John H. Davis, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of Language and Literature
Chowan University
Murfreesboro, North Carolina 27855