Rick and Ben are right. Great review, great books.
Michel L. Stone
STONE & SUTTON, P.A.
116 East 4th Street
Panama City, Florida 32401
(850) 785-7272
[log in to unmask]
Check out my new play, Mark Twain Interruption:
http://www.stageplays.com/products/mark_twain_interruptioncategorycyberpress
code417
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rick Talbot
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 4:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Review: _Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Scharnhorst.
Ben is right. I did the same thing.
Rick
Richard Talbot
1531 West Idaho Avenue
Falcon Heights, MN 55108-2118
(651) 280 8734
(651) 646-6624
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ben Wise
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 1:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Review: _Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Scharnhorst.
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Wonderful review, Kevin. Rushed out to my nearest Amazon website and ordered
a copy. Thanks.
Ben
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Bochynski" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 11:13:18 AM
Subject: Review: _Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Scharnhorst.
_Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Scharnhorst. University of Iowa
Press, 2010. Pp. xxxiii + 348. Softcover and e-book. $27.95. ISBN
978-1-58729-914-8 (softcover) and ISBN 978-1-57929-951-3 (e-book).
Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from the
TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions that
benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.net>.
Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin Mac Donnell
Copyright (c) 2014 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
redistributed in any medium without permission.
Editor Gary Scharnhorst and many other Twain scholars have pointed out that
Mark Twain controlled his public image as tightly as possible, dramatizing
the events of his life that did take place and making up other events that,
well, didn't. Without the benefit of a public relations consultant he
learned over time to manage his reputation and manipulate the public's
perception, granting interviews when it was to his advantage and declining
them when it wasn't. He engaged in damage control when things went wrong
like his bankruptcy, subscribed to a clipping service to monitor the
effectiveness of his public relations efforts, trademarked his nom de plume,
and allowed it to be used to brand a variety of products. His efforts did
not end with his death; to provide post-mortem protection of his brand he
bequeathed his daughter Clara the "Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript" to wield as a
weapon against two people he thought might try to harm the market value of
his reputation. He formed the Mark Twain Company and for decades his last
publisher and his "official" biographer carried on the task of shaping his
public image. Sam Clemens did everything he could to create the legend of
Mark Twain and then perpetuate it, but who was the man behind that carefully
crafted public persona?
This anthology of ninety-six excerpts from writings by those who knew or met
Mark Twain gives us some valuable clues. Scharnhorst notes that these
accounts are "largely immune from Twain's spin-doctoring and image-making.
By the same token, it is not a debunking account of his life. Rather it
offers an alternative, anecdotal version of Twain's life over which he had
virtually no control" (xvii). The same year that this collection was first
published, a collection of sixty-one writings about Twain by other authors
was compiled by Shelley Fisher Fishkin. Her collection, _The Mark Twain
Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Works_ (Library of America, 2010)
provides a broad overview of Twain's influence on his fellow authors from
around the world over a span of 140 years. Scharnhorst's collection is
confined to Twain's lifetime, and while it includes recollections by some of
the same authors included in Fishkin's anthology, it focuses more on others
who encountered Twain and left behind unvarnished accounts of the man--his
own mother and two of his daughters, one of his childhood sweethearts along
with other childhood friends, his rowdy fellow western journalists and his
not-so-rowdy Nook Farm neighbors, two of his book illustrators, some of his
fellow celebrities, two of his angelfish, one of his secretaries, one of his
publishers, his lecture agent, and others who recorded facets of Twain's
personality that Twain's public never saw. Sitting side by side on the
shelf, Scharnhorst's and Fishkin's two volumes comprise a handy resource
that documents Twain's life and art as effectively as some Twain
biographies.
Arranged in chronological order, these eye-witness testimonies contained in
_Twain in His Own Time_ present a behind-the-scenes tour of Sam Clemens's
childhood, tracing his rise to fame as Mark Twain, documenting his success
as a writer, illuminating the creative process of his most famous literary
works, tracking his broadening cultural influence, and following his final
years as an American icon. The lengthy subtitle sums it up well: "a
biographical chronicle of his life, drawn from recollections, interviews,
and memoirs by family, friends, and associates." Each account is introduced
with a bit of background on the author of each account and their
relationship to Twain, and followed by ample footnotes. A list of the works
cited and a handy index round out the text. The succession of different
voices resonates with a ring of authenticity that is sometimes absent from
the solitary narration of a formal biographer. Katy Leary and Mary Howden
tell what it was like to work in the household away from the public glare;
Helen Keller tells what it was like to sit by the fireside and be read a
story by Twain himself; Dorothy Quick, Dorothy Sturgis, and Elizabeth
Wallace describe what it was like to feel the full force of Twain's charms
in his last years; George Bernard Shaw describes Twain inscribing a book to
him while explaining that he always inscribes the inside cover instead of a
flyleaf to prevent the recipient from ripping out the signature and selling
it (we assume Shaw could take a hint); Jane Clemens reveals Sam Clemens the
boy while Susy and Clara draw portraits of Sam Clemens the father. Others
describe Twain's mannerisms, his daily habits, his speech, his writing, his
wraths, his sadnesses, his smoking, his drinking, his illnesses, and what it
was like to argue with him or how he appeared to a child. Describing Twain
at different points in his life and in a variety of situations, viewed at
times through the savvy eyes of older adults and at other times through the
innocent eyes of children, the complicated mosaic of Twain's protean
personality begins to assemble before the reader's eyes. Some accounts, like
Frank Harris's distinctly negative reaction, may not gain the reader's full
acceptance (many of Harris's accounts of his own life have been debunked)
while the words of William Dean Howells seem like confidences shared by a
trusted friend. But true Twainians will find nearly all of them mesmerizing,
and the volume itself a page-turner.
Many of these accounts will be already be familiar to Twain scholars who
will recognize them from previous biographies about Twain, or from brief
quotes in scholarly articles. However, for many readers it may be the first
time they have been able to read extended accounts of Twain by his steamboat
mentor Horace Bixby, or stories by his western friends like Joe Goodman, Tom
Fitch, Dan De Quille, George Barnes, or Steve Gillis. Twainians are familiar
with Twain's letters to `Mother' Fairbanks, but how many have read her
account of Twain during the voyage of the _Quaker City_ in her very own
words? Many Twainians have read William Dean Howells's _My Mark Twain_ cover
to cover, but how many have read the memoirs of Senator William Stewart
(briefly Twain's boss in Washington DC), Moncure Conway (fellow author and a
minister), Henry Watterson (editor, and very distant relative), Lillian
Aldrich (Twain detested Lillian, the wife of author Thomas Bailey Aldrich),
Annie Fields (author, and widow of publisher James T. Fields), Charles
Warren Stoddard (author, and Twain's private secretary during a visit to
England), and dozens like them. Twainians have read about Mark Twain's
illustrators, but how many have read accounts of Twain in the words of those
illustrators themselves, like Dan Beard and E. W. Kemble? Twainians have
probably read Susy Clemens's biography of her father and Clara Clemens's _My
Father Mark Twain_, but how many have read Jane Clemens's 1885 unguarded
interview about Mark Twain's boyhood, or Laura Hawkins Frazier's
1918 testimony about her childhood "romance" with Sam Clemens?
Obtaining the original texts of these accounts would entail hours of tedious
online searching, more hours of interlibrary loaning, and more than a little
cash-strapping, so having them in this useful well-edited single volume is a
welcome achievement. These factors probably account for the success of the
series in which this volume was published--other authors who have been
similarly treated include Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe, and
Walt Whitman. We don't know what took them so long to get around to Mark
Twain, but we're glad they did.
------=_Part_285879_1338035349.1389210901927
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<html><head><style type=3D'text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><=
div style=3D'font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'><br><styl=
e>p { margin: 0; }</style><div style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size:
e>12pt=
; color: #000000">Wonderful review, Kevin. Rushed out to my nearest A=
mazon website and ordered a copy. Thanks.<br><br>Ben<br><br><hr id=3D=
"zwchr"><b>From: </b>"Kevin Bochynski" <[log in to unmask]><br><b>To=
: </b>[log in to unmask]<br><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, January 8, 2014 11:13:18 =
AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Review: _Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Schar=
nhorst.<br><br>_Twain in His Own Time_. Edited by Gary Scharnhorst. Univers=
ity of Iowa Press, 2010. Pp. xxxiii + 348. Softcover and e-book. $27.95. IS=
BN 978-1-58729-914-8 (softcover) and ISBN 978-1-57929-951-3 (e-book).<br><b=
r>Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices
r>from =
the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions t=
hat benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.ne=
t>.<br><br>Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin Mac Donnell<br><br=
>Copyright (c) 2014 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published
>or r=
edistributed in any medium without permission.<br><br><br>Editor Gary Schar=
nhorst and many other Twain scholars have pointed out that Mark Twain contr=
olled his public image as tightly as possible, dramatizing the events of hi=
s life that did take place and making up other events that, well, didn't. W=
ithout the benefit of a public relations consultant he learned over time to=
manage his reputation and manipulate the public's perception, granting int=
erviews when it was to his advantage and declining them when it wasn't. He =
engaged in damage control when things went wrong like his bankruptcy, subsc=
ribed to a clipping service to monitor the effectiveness of his public rela=
tions efforts, trademarked his nom de plume, and allowed it to be used to b=
rand a variety of products. His efforts did not end with his death; to prov=
ide post-mortem protection of his brand he bequeathed his daughter Clara th=
e "Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript" to wield as a weapon against two people he tho=
ught might try to harm the market value of his<br> reputation. He form=
ed the Mark Twain Company and for decades his last publisher and his "offic=
ial" biographer carried on the task of shaping his public image. Sam Clemen=
s did everything he could to create the legend of Mark Twain and then perpe=
tuate it, but who was the man behind that carefully crafted public persona?=
<br><br>This anthology of ninety-six excerpts from writings by those who k=
new or met Mark Twain gives us some valuable clues. Scharnhorst notes that =
these accounts are "largely immune from Twain's spin-doctoring and image-ma=
king. By the same token, it is not a debunking account of his life. Rather =
it offers an alternative, anecdotal version of Twain's life over which he h=
ad virtually no control" (xvii). The same year that this collection was fir=
st published, a collection of sixty-one writings about Twain by other autho=
rs was compiled by Shelley Fisher Fishkin. Her collection, _The Mark Twain =
Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Works_ (Library of America, 2010) =
provides a broad overview of Twain's influence on his fellow authors from a=
round the world over a span of 140 years. Scharnhorst's collection is confi=
ned to Twain's lifetime, and while it includes recollections by some of the=
same authors included in Fishkin's anthology, it focuses more on others wh=
o<br> encountered Twain and left behind unvarnished accounts of the ma=
n--his own mother and two of his daughters, one of his childhood sweetheart=
s along with other childhood friends, his rowdy fellow western journalists =
and his not-so-rowdy Nook Farm neighbors, two of his book illustrators, som=
e of his fellow celebrities, two of his angelfish, one of his secretaries, =
one of his publishers, his lecture agent, and others who recorded facets of=
Twain's personality that Twain's public never saw. Sitting side by side on=
the shelf, Scharnhorst's and Fishkin's two volumes comprise a handy resour=
ce that documents Twain's life and art as effectively as some Twain biograp=
hies. <br><br>Arranged in chronological order, these eye-witness testimonie=
s contained in _Twain in His Own Time_ present a behind-the-scenes tour of =
Sam Clemens's childhood, tracing his rise to fame as Mark Twain, documentin=
g his success as a writer, illuminating the creative process of his most fa=
mous literary works, tracking his broadening cultural influence, and follow=
ing his final years as an American icon. The lengthy subtitle sums it up we=
ll: "a biographical chronicle of his life, drawn from recollections, interv=
iews, and memoirs by family, friends, and associates." Each account is intr=
oduced with a bit of background on the author of each account and their rel=
ationship to Twain, and followed by ample footnotes. A list of the works ci=
ted and a handy index round out the text. The succession of different voice=
s resonates with a ring of authenticity that is sometimes absent from the s=
olitary narration of a formal biographer. Katy Leary and Mary Howden tell w=
hat it<br> was like to work in the household away from the public glar=
e; Helen Keller tells what it was like to sit by the fireside and be read a=
story by Twain himself; Dorothy Quick, Dorothy Sturgis, and Elizabeth Wall=
ace describe what it was like to feel the full force of Twain's charms in h=
is last years; George Bernard Shaw describes Twain inscribing a book to him=
while explaining that he always inscribes the inside cover instead of a fl=
yleaf to prevent the recipient from ripping out the signature and selling i=
t (we assume Shaw could take a hint); Jane Clemens reveals Sam Clemens the =
boy while Susy and Clara draw portraits of Sam Clemens the father. Others d=
escribe Twain's mannerisms, his daily habits, his speech, his writing, his =
wraths, his sadnesses, his smoking, his drinking, his illnesses, and what i=
t was like to argue with him or how he appeared to a child. Describing Twai=
n at different points in his life and in a variety of situations, viewed at=
times<br> through the savvy eyes of older adults and at other times t=
hrough the innocent eyes of children, the complicated mosaic of Twain's pro=
tean personality begins to assemble before the reader's eyes. Some accounts=
, like Frank Harris's distinctly negative reaction, may not gain the reader=
's full acceptance (many of Harris's accounts of his own life have been deb=
unked) while the words of William Dean Howells seem like confidences shared=
by a trusted friend. But true Twainians will find nearly all of them mesme=
rizing, and the volume itself a page-turner. <br><br>Many of these accounts=
will be already be familiar to Twain scholars who will recognize them from=
previous biographies about Twain, or from brief quotes in scholarly articl=
es. However, for many readers it may be the first time they have been able =
to read extended accounts of Twain by his steamboat mentor Horace Bixby, or=
stories by his western friends like Joe Goodman, Tom Fitch, Dan De Quille,=
George Barnes, or Steve Gillis. Twainians are familiar with Twain's letter=
s to `Mother' Fairbanks, but how many have read her account of Twain during=
the voyage of the _Quaker City_ in her very own words? Many Twainians have=
read William Dean Howells's _My Mark Twain_ cover to cover, but how many h=
ave read the memoirs of Senator William Stewart (briefly Twain's boss in Wa=
shington DC), Moncure Conway (fellow author and a minister), Henry Watterso=
n (editor, and very distant relative), Lillian Aldrich (Twain detested Lill=
ian, the wife of author Thomas Bailey<br> Aldrich), Annie Fields (auth=
or, and widow of publisher James T. Fields), Charles Warren Stoddard (autho=
r, and Twain's private secretary during a visit to England), and dozens lik=
e them. Twainians have read about Mark Twain's illustrators, but how many h=
ave read accounts of Twain in the words of those illustrators themselves, l=
ike Dan Beard and E. W. Kemble? Twainians have probably read Susy Clemens's=
biography of her father and Clara Clemens's _My Father Mark Twain_, but ho=
w many have read Jane Clemens's 1885 unguarded interview about Mark Twain's=
boyhood, or Laura Hawkins Frazier's 1918 testimony about her childhood "ro=
mance" with Sam Clemens?<br><br>Obtaining the original texts of these accou=
nts would entail hours of tedious online searching, more hours of interlibr=
ary loaning, and more than a little cash-strapping, so having them in this =
useful well-edited single volume is a welcome achievement. These factors pr=
obably account for the success of the series in which this volume was publi=
shed--other authors who have been similarly treated include Louisa May Alco=
tt, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beec=
her Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman. We don't know what took them =
so long to get around to Mark Twain, but we're glad they did.<br></div></di=
v></body></html>
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