I haven't finished The Singular Mark Twain yet, but the book and its Twain
certainly breathe fire... would that THIS Twain were around today!
Hitchens' facts re what is argued in the book are simply wrong.  Maybe
pressure to print his review weeks before publication of the book didn't
give him time to read it or to disguise his personal crusade or his hope to
score attention as the Amis review flap did.  He was wistful in a Q&A in
NYMagazine that his anti-Kaplan attempt wasn't getting that kind of
attention.  Reading  reviews, one must  consider the source... . Fortunately
most readers recognize ulterior motives, made the more apparent by
indiscriminate and overthetop fury.   Meanwhile I found Carl Rollyson's
review (tho sofar I haven't been able to download it)-- he's someone who
knows what writing biography entails -- interesting in its ideas.

L. Ackerson


----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Carlton Blake" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS ON FRED KAPLAN'S BIOGRAPHY


> In _The Perfect Wagnerite_, Bernard Shaw made fun of the biographies of
> Richard Wagner (prior to that of Ashton Ellis) for their shutting out of
> facts about Wagner's participation in the 1848 revolutions.  The idea
seems
> to have been that people don't want their heroes to be, or to associate
> with, "revolutionary" figures, and will reject factual biographical
> statements if those don't conform to the readers' preconceptions.
>
> My vote doesn't count, but I agree with Hitchens that a Clemens biography
> should breathe some fire!
>
> tcb
>
> >
> > Christopher Hitchens offered quite a different
> > appraisal of the book in the November 2003 ATLANTIC
> > MONTHLY:
> >