I mentioned a while back that I was reading Mark Twain The Fate of Humor
by James M. Cox, in fits and starts during my lunch break at work. I
was a bit surprised to read that he'd considered The Prince and the
Pauper to be a failure. Rather strong words. I grant that it is not up
to par with the likes of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but then few
books are. I was wondering if this is the prevailing consensus among
Twain scholars. I've just started a series of readings from this novel
as Second Life events, the virtual world on the internet. I must admit
that Twain's attempts to duplicate speech patterns from the court of
King Henry VIII are awkward, a skill he was a master of with the
dialects along the Mississippi River.
Just curious....