Reading Kevin's intriguing parallels between Twain and Thoreau reminded me of another: in addition to having "lit out for the territory in their literary imaginations” (as Kevin put it) both men lit up something else: hundreds of acres of forest in areas they would later make famous in their writing. Both men were careless about sparks from campfires they had built to cook some food. Twain inadvertently burned down 200 acres of forest around Lake Tahoe eight years before he would celebrate that scenery in Innocents Abroad; Thoreau managed to inadvertently burn down 300 acres of Concord Woods the year before he built his cabin alongside the nearby pond he would immortalize in Walden.
Firefighters at Lake Tahoe have a long memory, as I’ve noted elsewhere:
http://blog.loa.org/2012/07/shelley-fisher-fishkin-on-enduring.html
Shelley
=====================
Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities
Professor of English
Director of American Studies
Co-Director, Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project
Stanford University
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
On May 7, 2018, at 6:55 AM, Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Thanks Larry. That Thoreau quote reminds me of what I wrote in an essay on Thoreau (posted in full at the Thoreau Institute website). The connections between Twain and Thoreau don't begin and end with huckleberries. I wrote:
These two names are not often linked but they are literary kinsman just the same. Both had a sly sense of humor, both lost brothers dear to them in tragic accidents, both rebelled against slavery, both rejected war, and both wrote books that transport the reader down life-changing rivers. They also share the distinction of writing books that resonate so deeply that many readers return throughout their lives to reread them . . . . Mark Twain may have traveled further afield albeit less extensively than Thoreau, quarreled more openly with God, lived larger and ambled across a wider stage, but both lit out for the territory in their literary imaginations and envisioned an America that would someday realize its promise.
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<http://www.macdonnellrarebooks.com>
-----Original Message----- From: Larry Howe
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2018 7:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: BOOK REVIEW: _Huckleberry Cookbook_ by Alex & Stephanie Hester
Kevin--=0A=
=0A=
Thanks for closing with the recommendation to pick huckleberries in the wil=
d. Thoreau reminds us that there is only one way to taste a huckleberry:=
=0A=
=0A=
The fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to =
him who raises them for the market. There is but one way to obtain it, =
yet few take that way. If you would know the flavor of huckleberries, as=
k the cowboy or the partridge. It is a vulgar error to suppose that you hav=
e tasted =0A=
huckleberries who never plucked them. A huckleberry never reaches Boston; t=
hey have not been known there since they grew on her three hills. The ambro=
sial and essential part of the fruit is lost with the bloom which is rubbed=
off in the market cart, and they become mere provender. As long as Eternal=
Justice reigns, not one innocent huckleberry can be transported thither fr=
om the country's hills. ("The Ponds," _Walden_)=0A=
=0A=
--LH=0A=
=0A=
Larry Howe=0A=
Professor of English & Film Studies=0A=
Department of Literature and Languages=0A=
Roosevelt University=0A=
Editor, Studies in American Humor=0A=
Vice-president, Mark Twain Circle of America=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
________________________________________=0A=
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Kevin Mac Donnell <i=
[log in to unmask]>=0A=
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2018 7:49 AM=0A=
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: BOOK REVIEW: _Huckleberry Cookbook_ by Alex & Stephanie Hester=
=0A=
=0A=
Dang, you're on to me.=0A=
=0A=
Truth be told, at the last few conferences at Elmira and Hannibal I was=0A=
struck by how undernourished my fellow Twainians looked, and how little the=
y=0A=
drank, so I thought bringing this book to their attention would be a kind o=
f=0A=
public service.=0A=
=0A=
Kevin=0A=
@=0A=
Mac Donnell Rare Books=0A=
9307 Glenlake Drive=0A=
Austin TX 78730=0A=
512-345-4139=0A=
Member: ABAA, ILAB=0A=
*************************=0A=
You may browse our books at:=0A=
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
-----Original Message-----=0A=
From: Peter Salwen=0A=
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2018 7:28 AM=0A=
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: BOOK REVIEW: _Huckleberry Cookbook_ by Alex & Stephanie Hester=
=0A=
=0A=
Thanks, Kevin. As usual, an entertaining & enlightening essay disguised as=
=0A=
a book review.=0A=
=0A=
On Mon, May 7, 2018, 7:01 AM Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:=
=0A=
=0A=
The following book review was written for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin=
=0A=
Mac=0A=
Donnell.=0A=
=0A=
~~~~~=0A=
=0A=
_The Huckleberry Cookbook_. By Alex & Stephanie Hester. TwoDot, 2017.=0A=
Second Edition. Pp. 158. Hardcover $19.95. ISBN 978-1-4930-2836-8. Ebook.=
=0A=
ISBN 978-1-4930-2837-5.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from=
=0A=
the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions=
=0A=
that benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.ne=
t=0A=
>=3D=0A=
.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by=0A=
Kevin Mac Donnell=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Copyright (c) 2018 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or=
=0A=
redistributed in any medium without permission.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Huck Finn's name signifies an insignificant (huckleberry) Irish child=0A=
(Finn). The stereotypical Irishman of the nineteenth century was a=0A=
drunkard=0A=
and thief, and Irish immigrants frequently were met by signs in shop=0A=
windows reading "No Irish Need Apply." Although Irish women could get job=
s=0A=
as housekeepers, Irish males were more often hired as day laborers and=0A=
rarely hired as butlers or allowed to work in a home; African-American=0A=
males were more often hired as house-servants than Irish-American males.=
=0A=
If=0A=
African-Americans occupied the bottom rung of the social ladder during an=
d=0A=
after slavery, Irish-Americans, who flooded into the country in the 1840s=
=0A=
to escape the cruelties of British rule and forced starvation (not=0A=
famine),=0A=
were only one rung up the ladder--which bred resentment and racism. Huck=
=0A=
was the son of Pap Finn, the town drunk, an Irishman who need not apply,=
=0A=
nor should his son.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
None of this is mentioned in this wonderful cookbook. In fact there is no=
=0A=
mention of Mark Twain at all even though every page glorifies=0A=
huckleberries. The introduction credits Henry David Thoreau as the first=
=0A=
American writer to seriously study the huckleberry, tracing them back to=
=0A=
1615 when explorer Samuel de Champlain noted that Native Americans=0A=
harvested them. Next comes Captain William Clark (of Lewis & Clark fame)=
=0A=
who describes them in 1806. They were used for food, for dyes, and as=0A=
medicine. They were mixed with meats, and also mashed and dried and made=
=0A=
into cakes. Early settlers took their lead from Native Americans and=0A=
likewise made good use of them. During the Great Depression "huckleberry=
=0A=
camps" attracted eager pickers, especially in the northwest, and by 1937=
=0A=
the huckleberry industry had developed enough to require regulation.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Not all huckleberries are the same; there are three dozen species of=0A=
huckleberries in North America, and they have been mistaken for=0A=
blueberries, and called by other names: hurtleberries, bilberries,=0A=
dewberries, and whortleberries. Grizzly bears love them, and no wonder:=
=0A=
the=0A=
aroma of huckleberries can permeate a plastic bag (NB: double bag them=0A=
when=0A=
freezing them for storage). In some regions huckleberry bushes grow barel=
y=0A=
two feet high, but in other climates they grow over five feet tall. They=
=0A=
tend to grow best on sloping ground, but thrive at both lower elevations=
=0A=
and at 6,500 feet. Most huckleberries are smaller than blueberries, and=
=0A=
unlike blueberries they tend to grow further apart on the bush rather tha=
n=0A=
in clumps like blueberries. Anyone who has tasted fresh huckleberries and=
=0A=
fresh blueberries knows that huckleberries will win any flavor contest=0A=
hands down. Huckleberries have a balanced (not too sweet, not too sour)=
=0A=
lingering taste and a complex texture that makes blueberries seem dull in=
=0A=
comparison. There is nothing insignificant about huckleberries.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Recipes for huckleberries are nearly endless, and this beautifully=0A=
illustrated book combines clear concise recipes with brilliant color=0A=
photographs that are literally mouth-watering. For those interested in th=
e=0A=
lore of huckleberries, informational side-bars on huckleberry history and=
=0A=
legend are sprinkled among the recipes throughout the book. Traditional=
=0A=
recipes for jams, pies, and pancakes are included, but the reader is=0A=
warned=0A=
not to read this book outside of huckleberry season (which is brief, from=
=0A=
late July to early September) unless there is a good stock of=0A=
huckleberries=0A=
in the freezer. Otherwise, what will you do when you see huckleberry ice=
=0A=
cream, huckleberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting, huckleberry=
=0A=
seafood salad, grilled rib-eye with huckleberry caramelized onions, roast=
=0A=
duck with huckleberry hoisin, baby back ribs with huckleberry BBQ sauce,=
=0A=
pan-seared salmon with huckleberry sauce (something any bear would love),=
=0A=
baked huckleberry doughnut holes, vichyssoise with huckleberry swirl,=0A=
huckleberry crumb cake, huckleberry cobbler, huckleberry cr=3DC3=3DA8me=
=0A=
brulee,=0A=
huckleberry frozen margaritas, or huckleberry banana smoothies? The=0A=
variety=0A=
of desserts, pastries, sauces, drinks, glazes, jams, spreads, appetizers,=
=0A=
salads, breakfast items, breads, and main entrees is dazzling. Simply=0A=
looking at the superb photographs without some huckleberries at the ready=
=0A=
is torture.=0A=
=0A=
=0A=
Gift shops in Hannibal and Hartford and elsewhere stock huckleberry=0A=
products like jams, syrups, soaps, lotions, and drinks, and this cookbook=
=0A=
deserves a place of honor alongside such huckleberry products. Twain's=0A=
last=0A=
home at Stormfield was surrounded by huckleberry fields and Twain was=0A=
reported to have loved huckleberry pie. Too bad he didn't have this=0A=
cookbook handy, but there's no reason any Twainian foodie should have to=
=0A=
suffer today. The wild huckleberry has yet to be domesticated and raised=
=0A=
commercially. One of the wonderful things about huckleberries is their=0A=
wildness, their boldness, and their resistance to being civilized like th=
e=0A=
blueberry. But if that day ever comes, true Twainians will light out for=
=0A=
the territory (Trout Creek, Montana, the huckleberry capital of the world=
,=0A=
to be exact) to pick their own. If they're smart they'll bring along a=0A=
copy=0A=
of this book.=0A=
=
|
