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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
James Caron <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:27:41 -1000
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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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I would say that the general answer to the question of why a pseudonym is
convention: lots of folks had been doing it for some time, and a really
good one is catchy.

The personal answer is that Sam liked having one, given all the other ones
he used.  If he had thought of Rufus T. Firefly first, he might have used
it too.

On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 2:59 AM, Carl J. Chimi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I think the more interesting question is why Sam Clemens thought he had to
> use a pseudonym.  The question of why he chose "Mark Twain" has a fairly
> obvious answer: he heard it on the river, and it could be used as a man's
> name.  And, possibly, many people of that time might have been familiar
> with
> its use in the riverboat trade and might have chuckled at its appropriation
> as the pen name for a humorous writer.  That seems (to me) obvious.
> Whether
> he saw the name in Vanity Fair (which seems likely) doesn't seem (to me) as
> having any more probable effect than to maybe jog his memory of the term,
> which he already knew and had heard in common use.
>
> But why did he think he needed the pen name?  I've read several authors'
> takes on this question, but none seems absolutely convincing.  For example,
> he needed to shield himself from any repercussions of his writing.  Well,
> anyone who was offended by Mark Twain could easily find out who he was, and
> Clemens was already pretty well known in what seems to have been an
> extended
> community with the attributes of a small town.  Or, "everyone had a pen
> name".  Dan DeQuille.  Artemus Ward.  Maybe.  But Sam Clemens seems to have
> had a fairly hefty ego and a desire for being the center of attention.  So,
> why shift that attention to another name?
>
> Did Clemens himself ever seriously write about why he took the pen name?
>
> Carl
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac
> Donnell
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 7:29 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: That bar tab story
>
> That's great. Thanks.
>
> So, for the bar tab story we have two named sources and an anonymous source
> who told it as a true story, but there is no evidence that any of those
> three ever knew Twain or met him. We have one fellow who recalls that he
> told the story as a prank (and he's named by one of the three
> aforementioned). And none of the people who actually knew Twain in Nevada
> (and there were many of them and they left behind a pile of books, letters,
> and interviews) ever told the story.
>
> 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: James Caron
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 11:33 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: That bar tab story
>
> That quote is from
>
> SF Examiner, 22 April 1910, p.2, under the heading "Recollections of His
> Life Here."
>
> Page 2 features a boxed space (amid columns full of stories about SLC) that
> recounts anecdotes told by "veteran newspaper men...yesterday."
> Page 3 has a reminiscence by Joe Goodman.
>
> Apparently, there was a yarning session as the paper prepared for its
> tribute to Sam in which someone recalled Alf Doten telling the original
> yarn.
> How's that for an oral tradition?
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 6:56 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > That's very good evidence if reliable. Have you a source for it? Doten
> > himself?
> >
> > The account by George Cassidy names Wright, Doten, Lowery, and Parker as
> > Sam's drinking buddies, and takes it seriously. I tracked down all of
> > their
> > writings I could find but turned up none that mention the bar tab story.
> > So,
> > two people (plus one unnamed person) claim the story was true, and none
> of
> > the many people who knew Sam in Nevada mention it in their many books,
> > articles, letters, journals, or interviews.
> >
> > Certainly if Doten was having fun pranking his new acquaintances, then
> > it's
> > clear how his absurd prank grew legs among those who did not know Sam.
> >
> > 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: James Caron
> > Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 9:59 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: That bar tab story
> >
> > In a recent post about his article on the origin of the pseudonym "Mark
> > Twain," Kevin MacDonnell writes:
> >
> > "The bar tab story (with an entirely different meaning) is based on
> > patently false newspaper accounts by people who did not know or ever meet
> > Twain."
> >
> > While researching for my book, I ran across a report that the bar tab
> > story
> > was a deliberate yarn told by Alf Doten, who did know SLC, as a joke on
> > Sam:
> >
> > "Doten delighted in pretending to their new acquaintances that it [nom de
> > plume] originated from Clemens using the expression in the booming days
> of
> > Virginia City on such occasions as he found it convenient to 'stand off"
> a
> > friendly bartender for drinks for Doten and himself."
> >
> > So that "origin" story is clearly not to be believed, but no doubt was
> > circulated.
> >
>

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