BOOK REVIEW


_The Letters of Mark Twain and Joseph Hopkins Twichell_. Edited by Harold
K. Bush, Steve Courtney, and Peter Messent. University of Georgia Press,
2017. Pp. 512. Hardcover. $44.95. ISBN 9780820350752.

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Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
Barbara Schmidt

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redistributed in any medium without permission.



Three men, above all others, rose to the surface to become the most
influential men in the life of Samuel Clemens. They were the only men to
whom Clemens himself admitted he could divulge his intimately personal and
particularly private thoughts. They were author and editor William Dean
Howells, Standard Oil business tycoon Henry H. Rogers, and Hartford
Congregationalist minister Joseph Twichell. The correspondence exchanged
between Clemens and Howells was first published in the two-volume edition
of _Mark Twain-Howells Letters_ edited by Henry Nash Smith and William
Gibson in 1960. _Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers_
edited by Lewis Leary was published in 1969. Both collections are
considered indispensable resources to Mark Twain studies. Now _The Letters
of Mark Twain and Joseph Hopkins Twichell_ joins their ranks and provides
an unprecedented glance into the heart and soul of Clemens's relationship
with a man frequently referred to as "Mark Twain's pastor."


The three editors of this volume are Peter Messent, author of _Mark Twain
and Male Friendship: The Twichell, Howells, & Rogers Friendships_ (2009);
Steve Courtney, author of a definitive biography _Joseph Hopkins Twichell_
(2008); and Harold K. Bush, author of _Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis
of His Age_ (2007) and _Continuing Bonds with the Dead: Parental Grief and
Nineteenth-Century American Authors_ (2016).


This volume features 310 letters exchanged between Clemens and Twichell
from 1868 to 1909. Of these, 146 letters were written by Clemens. The
authoritative transcriptions for Clemens's letters were provided by the
Mark Twain Papers & Project. Messent, Courtney, and Bush provided the
transcriptions of Twichell's letters. Rather than adhering to the
meticulous style of publishing letters as established by the Mark Twain
Papers & Project, with all textual variants and emendations displayed,
these editors have implemented a simple format that provides a readable
text with minimal annotations. The editors ask not to be compared too
harshly to the previous scholarly editions issued from the University of
California Press for this decision. As a result, this volume is similar to
the style implemented by Smith, Gibson, and Leary in previous collections.
However, in a stylistic departure for heading each letter, this volume
identifies the correspondents as "Twichell" and "Twain" rather than
"Twichell" and "Clemens." This is perhaps a concession to the fact that
Twichell addressed Clemens as "Mark." Only twice in this collection of
correspondence did Clemens sign letters to Twichell with any name other
than "Mark"--in one letter written immediately after the death of his
daughter Susy in 1896 and in one after the death of his wife Livy in 1904.
Both letters he signed simply "SLC."


Thirty-six letters from Clemens to Twichell dating from 1868 to 1880, along
with their textual variants, have been available on the Mark Twain Project
website for a number of years. Six volumes of Mark Twain's letters to all
his correspondents through year 1875 have been available from the
University of California Press since 2002. In one misstep by the editors of
this current volume, they indicate Clemens's letters from 1880 are not
available online. They are.


Of the 146 Clemens letters, approximately 110 have not been readily
available in an authoritative text. Thirty-five of these letters, dating
from 1881 onward, were published by Albert Bigelow Paine in a two-volume
edition of _Mark Twain's Letters_ (1917). For a century now, Paine's
edition has been the most popular source for these texts. Being able to
compare Clemens's letters in this new edition to those in Paine's edition
reveals the full extent of Paine's silent editing and extensive censorship.
Scholars researching Paine's influence on preserving Mark Twain's public
reputation and legacy will be well advised to make the comparisons.


An example of a passage from a Clemens letter of 23 October 1897 from
Vienna that was censored out of Paine's 1917 edition: "I woke up in a rage
with somebody, & with this remark falling from my lips: 'You humiliate
me--& publicly. You make me feel like an exposed & conspicuous person whose
legs a dog has been surreptitiously pissing on whilst he was absorbed in
looking at a procession'" (pp. 201-202). Paine also censored passages from
a July 1903 letter regarding Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian
Science: "Everything the old sow does, interests me" (p. 322). From that
same letter Clemens expresses his delight that Twichell's daughter Harmony
is no longer working as a nurse in Chicago and writes, "I am so glad young
Harmony is out of those Chicago slums. I was always cordially glad to have
her ease the pains of those unnecessary people, but it distressed me to
have her trying to delay their dissolution" (p. 322).


This volume is divided into five sections, each representing a specific
time period. Each section is accompanied by a well-written essay discussing
the major events occurring in the two men's lives. From 1871 to 1891, when
they both lived in Hartford, their surviving correspondence is scant. This
is likely due to the fact they were in frequent contact with each other
socially and only wrote when one of them was out of town. For a number of
these years only one or two Clemens letters survive and the editors advise
readers to "be alert to the resulting jumps in time and location" (p. 8).
For some of these time jumps additional commentary would be welcome.


From the beginning of their correspondence, Twichell, an extremely fluent
and descriptive writer, comes across as a man neither embarrassed nor
ashamed to offer unconditional love. His letters are openly affectionate
and effusive in his praise and desire to share Clemens's company while
Clemens's letters are often more restrained and show Clemens playing a
devil's advocate sharing bawdy stories and offering up theological
challenges which Twichell enjoyed. By 1875 their friendship was deeply
ingrained in the public mind with Twichell writing, "It would appear that
the Hartford public have somewhat got the notion that I am the proper
medium of approach to you …" (p. 55). Throughout his lifetime Twichell
would often be called upon to be a conduit to Mark Twain's favor both at
home and abroad.


Whatever special research interest in Mark Twain any reader holds, there
will likely be something fresh and new to be found in this volume. Topics
range from domestic issues to international affairs and from the trivial to
the profound. Many of the insights and quips Clemens dishes up regarding
America's contentious politics are as timeless as ever. The 21-page index
is a worthy attempt to cover all topics. A few examples from the letters:


An example of Clemens's delight in sharing bawdy stories, written from
Paris in 1879:  "Boyesen called on Renan & Victor Hugo, also, & had a good
time with both of those old cocks, but I didn't go--my French ain't limber
enough. I can build up pretty stately French sentences, but …" A number of
double entendres follow (p. 91).


Insight into family dynamics appears in a letter Clemens wrote shortly
before the birth of his daughter Jean in 1880 when he shared his hopes with
Twichell for a male heir. Writing from Elmira in July 1880: "I think we are
doubtful about the son & heir. Sometimes we say, 'He cometh not at all, &
is a delusion & a fraud; at other times we be dimly hopeful, & say, 'Mayhap
this is not so; peradventure he cometh by slow freight'" (p. 98).


The correspondence is rich in discussions of the latest medical
advancements as well as home remedies. In 1882 when Twichell was apparently
trying to make kumis, a fermented mare's milk, for his ailing wife, he
wrote, "My sin, as a total abstainer, now finds me out. I haven't a beer
bottle in the house. I have the idea that we cannot _buy_ the kind we want
for our Koumiss. Will you kindly spare us a few of your empty ones?"
Twichell explained he was having difficulty opening bottles of kumis
without them apparently exploding. Clemens offered this bit of helpful
household advise, "Now there is no sense in _all_ people being idiots: take
a big 2-quart pickle-jar, up-end your Koomis-bottle, & uncork _downwards_
into that" (pp. 113-114).


In 1883 Twichell and Clemens experienced a difficult time in their
friendship when Twichell violated a confidence by allowing a portion of one
of Clemens's letters to be published in the Hartford newspaper. Clemens's
vicious letter of complaint and accusations was evidently destroyed by
Twichell, but judging from Twichell's reply, Clemens unfavorably compared
Twichell to his friend William Dean Howells. Twichell eventually managed to
get back in Twain's good graces with a letter defending his actions and
stating, "If you wish I will subscribe a vow never to do anything of the
kind again. I'm as safe as Howells henceforth. But he'll give you away
sometime--anyhow if he happens to survive you" (p. 132).


In June 1888 Clemens sent Twichell a playfully indelicate letter musing on
the physical advantage women have over men when it comes to relying on a
"monthly" excuse. "But land! suppose we had it. We would play it 31 days in
the month & 365 in the year, & in our gratitude count its temporary
discomforts as nothing. To wit: …" Clemens then proceeds to offer examples
of monthly excuses (p. 148).


Clemens frequently commented on materials he was reading. From an 1899
letter he wrote, "Annie Trumbull's a duck--she does certainly turn out the
cunningest & sparklingest dialogue of anybody I know" (p. 229). In an
annotation, the editors theorize he is reading _A Wheel of Progress_ which
was published in 1897.


The turn of the century in 1900 saw the United States embroiled in global
skirmishes. The Philippines, China and the Boxer Rebellion, Russia, and the
South African War figured in much of Clemens's correspondence and he wrote
with growing pessimism. Writing from England in July 1900, "It's the human
race--that explains everything; … I don't want to train with any angels
made out of human material" (p. 267). Twichell's reply to this tirade:
"Mark, the way you throw your rotten eggs at the human race doth greatly
arride me. We preachers are extensively accused of vilifying human nature,
as you are aware; but I must own that for enthusiasm of misanthropy you
beat us out of sight" (p. 271).


I found one error in transcription in this volume related to one of
Twichell's letters written shortly after the death of former president
Ulysses Grant. The editors transcribe Twichell's words as, "I'd give more
to sit on a log with you in the woods this afternoon, while we _turned_ a
wreath together for Launcelot's grave" (p. 135). The correct phrase is
"_twined_ a wreath together."  The annotation for this letter incorrectly
describes double slash marks before and after the sentence and theorizes
they were likely placed there by Clemens. The double slash marks appear
before the entire paragraph and were more likely placed there by Albert
Bigelow Paine who quoted Twichell's passage in his book _Mark Twain: A
Biography_ (Paine, p. 816).


Missing from this volume are three letters that were apparently overlooked
inadvertently. An "S. L. Clemens" inscription inside one of Twichell's
books is dated 14 April 1874 and should be regarded as part of the men's
correspondence. This note is readily available for reading and printing
from the online collection of Clemens's letters from the Mark Twain
Project. A second missing letter dated 17 November 1899 from London
features a long discussion of osteopathy, church going, and Hartford city
taxes. A third letter dated 12 September 1901 from Saranac Lake, New York
features a news clipping related to Vice President Teddy Roosevelt and a
typical Twain dressing down of the human race. It is hoped the editors will
find a way to make these additional letters easily available for readers.


In preparing a "wish list" for this volume, one must include the vital
birth and death dates of people mentioned in the annotations. Names are
given, but vital statistics are missing. It would also have been helpful if
some annotations had been presented earlier in the text and been more
extensive. Twichell's family included nine children whose names surface
throughout the correspondence. Having a Twichell family tree to consult
would be a choice enhancement. A bibliography of the major works cited as
well as a list of known previous publications of Mark Twain's letters would
also have been welcomed.


Twichell succinctly summed up his admiration for Twain's writing skills in
a letter from January 1903, "The story flows off the end of your pen taken
carelessly up to beguile the tedium of an anxious, slow-footed day; perfect
_literature_ from the word go; lights and shades all right; the complex
plot continuously lipid in clearness; the style M.T.'s own at its best;
diction, for ease, vigor and grace the choicest. . . . By George, it is not
fair--that inequitable distribution of talents by which it is given to only
one man to do without consciously trying what to all others is, granting it
possible, prodigiously difficult" (pp. 319-320). This collection of letters
perfectly aligns with Twichell's description of Mark Twain's talent as a
correspondent but also exhibits his own. This book is a "must" for all Mark
Twain scholars and researchers.