Dennis,
     Accept your schizophrenia? Revel in it, I hope. I'm guessing that 
many a Twainiac is in the same open boat.
     In the interests of full disclosure, I'm not only a member of the 
Dickens Fellowship, I was on the planning committee for the 2009 
international conference. They meet every year and have since 1902. 
How's that for crazy? Also deeply involved with societies devoted to 
Stevenson, Poe, Steinbeck and Hammett. I'm pretty sure you'd get similar 
similar cross-pollination response from other Twain enthusiasts, albeit 
with different authors named.

On 8/19/2013 2:25 PM, Dennis Eddings wrote:
> Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, what hath thou wrought?   This thread reminds me of =
> a remark by a colleague many more years ago than I care to recall:  =
> "Most members of author societies resemble their author."  Superficially =
> that does appear to be the case; such at least is the gist of these =
> posts.  But on a deeper level, perhaps not-so-true, or even more =
> disturbingly, true in ways we never suspect.  I belong to the Twain =
> Circle, American Humor Studies Association, the Stephen Crane Society =
> (where we soldier bravely along) and the Poe Studies Association.  How =
> do I reconcile such disparity, other than the perhaps too-broad "all =
> deal with humor, albeit in very different ways?  Or do I just accept my =
> schizophrenia and enjoy it all?
>
> I do regret missing the Elmira conference, which is truly a unique =
> event.  Maybe next time around.
>
> Dennis Eddings
>