I've been re-reading my thesis written in 1963 and thinking about what I
discovered since at the Mark Twain Papers in 1978.  (Life tends to
intervene).  If it is not inappropriate to ask, could anyone tell me who,
if anyone, did the best most thorough job on the relationship between Twain
and his brother Henry since then?  As far as I know, nobody.  I see Henry
as the source of Twain's interest in and identification with twins.

Back in 1963, right after handing in the paper to the  University of Texas
at El Paso for my MA, I left for Peace Corps service in Cameroons, West
Africa.  When I came back I went for my Phd at University of California in
Berkeley.  Had to leave after only three months when my mother had a
stroke.  I was there because of the Mark Twain Papers and asked to see the
first scrapbook which, I think, was delivered to me by Fredrick Anderson,
who in 1978 eventually became my mentor.  When I came back to Berkeley
after an interval at home in Sacramento, I learned he had died which broke
my heart.  Nevertheless, it was back then that I met Robert Hirst who read
something I'd written about another issue I'd stumbled upon in Twain's
first scrabbook.  He never read the original thesis which brougt me there
in the first place, though.

I wrote the thesis, went to the Peace Corps, and entered  UC Berkeley as
Jeanne Adamson.  When I returned to the Mark Twain Papers in 1978, I was
Arianne Laidlaw.  The ladies will understand.  Passports confirm all my
name changes.


Looking forward to any views


-- 
Arianne Laidlaw