Fear and Loathing in TLS

My reactions were annoyance, chuckles, and fatigue. I will skip the 
annoyance and start with the chuckles. I do not think highfalutin 
Twainphobes were the target readers for any of the books that twisted Karlin’s 
fancy-pants knickers, but it is not fair to brush off his screed without 
some specificity. He criticizes some essayists for telling him “things we 
knew already” after he noted that Twain wrote some very good things and some 
very bad things, and before he let it slip that Adventures of Huckleberry 
Finn is a masterpiece and that the jumping frog tale is a frame narrative. 
Intentional irony or unintentional hypocrisy? Funny either way, and the 
royal “we” is a nice touch. He says the essays in Mark Twain and Youth are 
uneven in “level or tone” despite the explicit warning in the introduction 
that the essayists do not all “talk alike”—this would have been inauthentic, 
just as Mark Twain famously warned readers of HF. Is he pretending he did 
not read the introduction? Or is he genuinely phobic of the diverse 
opinions, backgrounds, and writing styles? Either way, more chuckles, but I 
am sorry if he was frightened. When discussing the other books he squanders 
a lot of time telling us what he doesn’t like about books about Twain, 
providing only selective sketchy accounts of the books themselves. He bloats 
the lower bowels of his tract with a lot of gas about what he thinks are 
deep thoughts about Twain’s writings. Is this a trickster pretending to 
write a book review? Iterum chucklesus. His assessment of recent Twain 
scholarship (2016-2018) ignores excellent books by Beidler, Driscoll, 
Kinzer, Rasmussen, Roorda, Wuster, Zacks, and Zwonitzer. Now, what is so 
funny about that? All of these books, as well as those that induced Karlin’s 
burbling dyspepsia, have been favorably reviewed elsewhere at greater length 
by better-informed reviewers who actually like Twain, understand the 
necessarily broader scope of serious scholarly enquiry, practice the 
rhetoric taught in Book Reviewing 101, and actually tell us all things we 
did not already know. Fatigue soon descended, and only when his rant ended 
was the air again free of his falutulence. (Yes, I know). Readers have just 
one option—read the five books he discussed and the eight he did not, and 
decide for themselves. But woe unto ye wearers of fancy knickers.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
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-----Original Message----- 
From: Hal Bush
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2018 9:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: TLS review: recent MT scholarship

True, yes --  but aren't some of academia's biggest critics and sassiest pr=
ovocateurs to be found among senior professors -- true insiders??


If you want to read a terrific writer/essayist, who knows the Ivy-covered h=
alls well, and excoriates some of our most esteemed values and pleasures:  =
check out Joseph Epstein.  But if you do, prepare both to laugh out loud bu=
t also disagree violently with some of his claims.  If he is new to anyone,=
I suggest starting with A Literary Education ....




Dr. Hal Bush

Dept. of English

Saint Louis University

[log in to unmask]

314-977-3616

http://halbush.com

author website:  halbush.com

________________________________
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Matt Seybold <mseybo=
[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:20:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: TLS review: recent MT scholarship

Except that Karlin is, I believe, a silly, sassy endowed chair at U. Bristo=
l=3D
. - MS

> On Nov 1, 2018, at 8:59 AM, Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>=3D20
> Taylor, thanks for your thoughts on this.  Having now slept on the review=
,=3D
=3D3D
> and reading your response, it occurs to me that the TLS review might also=
q=3D
=3D3D
> ualify as one of those sassy essays in the "too superior for academic sch=
o=3D
l=3D3D
> arship" genre.  Meaning, partly, look at what those silly, abstruse acade=
m=3D
i=3D3D
> cs are talking about--and HOW they talk about it.  Even his response to t=
h=3D
e=3D3D
> edition of the Letters calls it
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
> Dr. Hal Bush
>=3D20
> Dept. of English
>=3D20
> Saint Louis University
>=3D20
> [log in to unmask]
>=3D20
> 314-977-3616
>=3D20
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__halbush.com&d=3DDwI=
BAg&c=3DPk_HpaIpE_jAoEC9PLIWoQ&r=3Df7i-Uq4rMQU8-TBe45qVLg&m=3DDbzpanGPey_1z=
2Rnhsfjai5Z7y7AkMTjgsJxw4Cg224&s=3DAYPRuhQ-VRQXjtEVK5OoI0pMVNsBCXsKODpz3Wue=
WKI&e=3D
>=3D20
> author website:  halbush.com
>=3D20
> ________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Taylor Roberts <ta=
y=3D
l=3D3D
> [log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 9:36:38 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: TLS review: recent MT scholarship
>=3D20
> Ouch! Karlin=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D99s review is stylishly well written=
, which=3D
hurts.=3D3D
> As Jac=3D3D3D
> k Black=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D99s character in the movie Orange County =
morosel=3D
y says =3D3D
> in resp=3D3D3D
> onse to an insult: =3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D9CHarsh!=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D=
3D3D9D
>=3D20
> Karlin seems to have good knowledge of MT (aside from death order of daug=
h=3D
t=3D3D
> e=3D3D3D
> rs + wife), but not much liking for him, and so I guess we shouldn=3D3D3D=
E2=3D3D=3D
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> 0=3D3D3D99t=3D3D3D
> expect much sympathy from the reviewer for MT scholarship targeted to lun=
a=3D
=3D3D
> t=3D3D3D
> ics like us=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D94I mean, =3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D9C=
completists,=3D3D=3D
3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D9=3D3D
> D which I admit I a=3D3D3D
> m. I guess Karlin won=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D99t be joining this Forum? =
:)
>=3D20
> Take care and hope you had a great Hallowe=3D3D3DE2=3D3D3D80=3D3D3D99en,
> Taylor
>=3D20
>> On Oct 31, 2018, at 16:18, Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> =3D3D3D20
>> Folks, here is a wide-ranging and entertaining review of a number of rec=
e=3D
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>> works on MT (though at times a tad dismissive), published in the latest =
T=3D
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> L=3D3D3D
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>> S; including some relatively nice things to say about our new edition of=
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> t=3D3D3D
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> =3D3D3D3D
>> some of in exchange for being cited in TLS!
>> =3D3D3D20
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>> =3D3D3D20
>> =3D3D3D20
>> =3D3D3D20
>> =3D3D3D20
>> =3D3D3D20
>> =3D3D3D20
>> Dr. Hal Bush
>> =3D3D3D20
>> Dept. of English
>> =3D3D3D20
>> Saint Louis University
>> =3D3D3D20
>> [log in to unmask]
>> =3D3D3D20
>> 314-977-3616
>> =3D3D3D20
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3D3Dhttp-3A__halbush.com&d=
=3D3D3=3D
DDwI=3D3D
> BAg&c=3D3D3DPk_HpaIpE_jAoEC9PLIWoQ&r=3D3D3Df7i-Uq4rMQU8-TBe45qVLg&m=3D3D3=
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>> =3D3D3D20
>> author website:  halbush.com