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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
Rod Rawlings <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 6 Nov 2012 12:58:15 -0500
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If we want Mark Twain's literature and ideas to remain part of our
evolving culture, we should be pleased that The Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts is helping in that aim by using his name for their
annual media event.

Our electronic world has no time for deceased people unless they
periodically interrupt their rest and return to perform for us in
living color and full character, whether by impersonization,
animation, digitization or other means. Although Sam Clemens has
joined the dead, we may be thankful he has failed to follow the
customs of those people. Not a day goes by that he doesn't show up
somehow, somewhere, reminding us of ... well, of his immortal
creation, Mark Twain.

And if there haven't been 15 truly worthy performers to receive the
Mark Twain Prize in 15 years, the last person to be surprised at that
would be Sam Clemens, himself, who recognized how improbable he was.
In a letter to Livy he wrote, "I was an exception, you understand --
my kind don't turn up every day. We are very rare. We are a sort of
human century plant, and we don't blossom in everybody's front yard."

William Dean Howells called Clemens the "Lincoln of our literature."
At the same time he also called him "sole and incomparable," I think,
in large part because of his ability to perform. In a note to Clemens
after seeing him on stage, Howells wrote, "You simply straddled down
to the footlights and took that house up in the hollow of your hand
and tickled it."

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. noted that for a great writer to become one of the
most popular performers of his time "...is so unusual ...that I can
think of only two similar cases -- Homer's, perhaps, and Moliere's."

The more unusual case, I believe, is for a great performer to become a
great writer -- Shakespeare, perhaps, and Twain, certainly.

--

Rod Rawlings
MarkTwainPerforms.com

On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 10:11 AM, Lee, Judith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Friends, I'm sorry to be late chiming in here.  I have thought for quite
> aw=
> hile about the question of how Mark Twain's humor relates to the
> recipients=
>  of the Kennedy Center's award and have concluded that the award aims
> mainl=
> y to promote the institution as not so elite as its orchestral and other
> pr=
> ogramming might suggest, and thus its winners are primarily known for
> humor=
>  that reaches a wide public.  The particularities of Mark Twain's humor
> are=
>  quite tangential to the winners' comic styles; the point is mainly that
> Ma=
> rk Twain is an embodiment of humor, a symbol of the American comic spirit,
> =
> and these folks are American comic performers.  (Remember that the
> institut=
> ion's full name is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.) So no
> offen=
> se to any of the winners, many of whom I admire, but their relation to
> Mark=
>  Twain in any specific way is beside the point, I think.
>
> Judith
>
> On Oct 31, 2012, at 11:09 PM, Ben Wise wrote:
>
> Thanks, Terry, for saying all that, and for seconding Garrison Keillor,
> who=
>  has always seemed to me to be the only obvious candidate, for so many
> subs=
> tantial reasons. But the last time I mentioned it in this list, I got some
> =
> severe rebukes (like that listening to him is like watching paint dry!) I
> r=
> eally can't understand why he is so underappreciated, especially among
> Twai=
> niacs, of all people! So I restrained myself from entering the fray this
> ti=
> me. Thanks for running interference (I kind of thought you might when I
> saw=
>  your post!).
>
> Ben
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terry Ballard"
> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]
>>>
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:53:57 PM
> Subject: Re: The 15th Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is . . .
> .=
>  .
>
> Put all of the winners in a single room and you wouldn't have a down
> payment on Twain's wit and sheer satircal power. To paraphrase the master,
> "It's the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." I'm solidly
> with Harold on this one. It's a crime that it never went to Vonnegut. It
> could still go to Garrison Keillor, but it won't. And so it goes.
>
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 8:12 PM, Harold Bush
> <[log in to unmask]<mailto:bushhk@=
> slu.edu>> wrote:
>
> Ellen DeGeneres. really? ? ? ?
>
> Wow. All due respect, but I'm wondering what some older folks like Carol
> Burnett must be feeling right about now. Surprising choice, given folks
> like Letterman and Leno, or even Jon Stewart, have not gotten it yet....
>
> Political correctness aside, I'm a bit confused about all this.... who, if
> anyone in the "Twain scholarly community," are they consulting?? I DVR-ed
> the event, and it is funny; but Wow!
>
> I recognize they are going for the ratings. But I thought -- originally,
> with the awarding of the likes of Jonathan Winters and Carl Reiner, Bob
> Newhart and Lily Tomlin -- that it was meant to be some sort of lifetime
> achievement award. And the picture of the white-suit Twain on the website
> seems to confirm this, along with the description of the award.
>
> But I feel bad for the likes of Carol Burnett, or even David Letterman,
> who
> reinvented the talk-show format.
>
> Every year we hash this out a bit -- and maybe I'll get slammed for this
> jeremiad -- but I just thought I would bring it up again and see if others
> had any response.
>
> -hb
>
> --
> 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<http://www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> Terry Ballard
> Author and Leisure Studies Manager
> http://www.terryballard.org
> Author of the book "Google this" http://googlethisforlibraries.com
>
> "My memory has a mind of its own."
>
> Judith Yaross Lee, Ph.D.
> Professor and Director of Honors Tutorial Studies
> Chair, Faculty Senate Finance & Facilities Committee
> School of Communication Studies
> Lasher Hall 113
> Ohio University
> Athens, OH 45701
>
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> T: 740.593.4844
> F: 740.593.4810



--

Rod Rawlings
941-713-4446 Direct
MarkTwainPerforms.com

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