I prefer the Emily Dickinson conference where everyone stays home. 

Ben 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Mac Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2013 5:36:37 PM 
Subject: Re: Elmira Twain Conference 2013 

Well, it's no wonder we have good attendance at the Mark Twain Conference. 
At the end we all sing and smoke cigars (but we don't inhale) and then we 
light out for the territories for four years. 

At the Melville Conference they all get tangled in the ropes during the 
harpoon-throwing contest (and unless you know some pretty fancy moves you 
don't want to be the fattest white guy there). At the Virginia Woolf 
Conference they all wade out into a river, and they don't all come back. 
It's much worse if you're an attendee at the Hart Crane Conference --they 
take a cruise but the ship returns to port empty. At the Frank Norris 
Conference they head off into the desert with handcuffs, which sounds like 
fun, but isn't. I've heard the Salinger Conferences can get edgy; what a 
bunch of fakes! And after that last bar fight I flat out stopped going to 
the Christopher Marlowe Conferences. 

Twainians are such a friendly bunch. 

Kevin 
@ 
Mac Donnell Rare Books 
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Austin TX 78730 
512-345-4139 
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Bird" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: <[log in to unmask]> 
Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2013 2:52 PM 
Subject: Re: Elmira Twain Conference 2013 


>I am late chiming in on the success of the Seventh Quadrennial = 
> International Conference on Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College a few = 
> weeks ago. I have now been to all seven, and it does seem that it just = 
> gets better and better. When I introduced the Hal Holbrook documentary, = 
> I asked how many people were there for the first time, and over half the = 
> people raised their hands. I was really happy to see so many new folks, = 
> as well as to renew old friendships. The Cigar Ritual at the end was = 
> lively and moving, with raucous but heartfelt group singing, heavy on = 
> spirituals and camp songs. Fitting for what Tracy Wuster calls = 
> =E2=80=9CMark Twain Summer Camp.=E2=80=9D I look forward to the next = 
> one. Hats off to Barb Snedecor and her crew! As Bruce Michelson said = 
> when he won the Louis J. Budd Certificate of Merit from the Mark Twain = 
> Circle of America, we certainly must have the most congenial author = 
> group on the planet! 
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
> John Bird 
> [log in to unmask] 
> 
> 
> 
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