First, two notes about my posted book: the works cited is now
complete (until y'all point out what I've missed), and a copy has
been sent to Taylor to be added to the website. For those of you
still having problems accessing that site, I can send the bib to
you directly.
Secondly, I have made one small addition that belongs at the end of
my disscussion of Macfarlane in Chap. IV, just before the section
on Thomas Paine. It reads:
(Note: In 1993, Paul Baender published "Alias Macfarlane:
Who in L was `L'?" [Resources for American Literary Study
19.1, pages 23-34], a response to my case, restated above,
supporting Macfarlane's existence published in the Mark
Twain Journal [27, Spring 1989, pages 14-17.]. In this
essay, Baender asserts the author of the "Boarding House
sketch" was not Twain and was possibly a humorist with the
surname of Larkin. Leaving the case open, Baender concludes
"nobody should know whether there was a Macfarlane
prototype" or should care as it would be unimportant
imformation. While attribution of the sketch will always be
in question, Baender still has not made a convincing case
that Twain's autobiographical dictations were fiction rather
than reminiscence. His dismissal of Macfarlane as
unimportant is, of course, an opinion and therefore
debatable.)
And as the point is debatable, this is precisely the Forum
to offer up the subject.
Just saw on the news the new Baltimore football team will be
named the Ravans after Poe's poem. If Hannibal was ever to
grow large enuff to have its own team, I wonder what Twain
collective noun would be appropriate.
For those of you interested in Mark Twain's critical
reception in Germany, I point you to _Mark Twain's German
Critical Reception: An Annotated Bibliography_ compiled by
J. C. B. Kinch. (New York: Greenwood P, 1989). It's a
lengthy tome in English, kinda the German answer to Tom
Tenney's reference guide. I haven't looked for references
to picaros or trends in German scholarship there, but
suspect this book would be of valuable service.
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