That's interesting and amusing. Lyon says Twain didn't like Neitzsche
either, and would say something like "Damn Neitzsche!" every time she'd
try to quote something she'd read to Twain. She quoted from her reading
because she thought Twain and Neitzsche thought alike. At some point she
finally quoted something of Neitzsche that Twain admitted he liked and
then Twain stamped his foot or slapped his leg and said something like
"Well, he got that right!"
Don't take my word for any of this. I'm pretty sure Gribben quotes all
of this accurately from Lyon's account.
BTW, Jean Clemens had an 1894 six volume edition (bound in 3 vols) of a
history of the German reformation by Leopold von Ranke. Ranke, a very
influential and wise historian, was also an admirer of Kant, Hegel, and
others, so this is yet another indirect connection to that general
school of philosophy shared by Schopenhauer. I have the first two vols
owned by Jean; MTP has the other four.
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA
You can browse our books at:
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
------ Original Message ------
From: "Eva Schweitzer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>;
"[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 10/18/2020 11:14:38 AM
Subject: Re: Twain and ... Schopenhauer?
>
>Twain spoke about Schopenhauser, as documented in our books "Mark Twain
>in Berlin." He did not like him. He did not mention Nietzsche, though
>(as far as I remember)
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Mac Donnell Rare
>Books <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2020 6:06 PM
>To:[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Twain and ... Schopenhauer?
>
>Twain also owned a copy of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason in the 1880s,
>so some of Kant's influence on Schopenhauer may have been direct on
>Twain. As for Neitzsche, Twain may have said he didn't read Neitzsche
>himself, but he certainly knew his philosophy if his comments to Lyon
>are any indication-- when she was reading Neitzsche in 1906 and quoting
>Neitzsche to Twain because she thought they were similar in their
>outlooks (cf Gribben). Another approach could be through the authors
>heavily influenced by the Kant-Schopenhauer-Neitzsche school of
>thought,
>like Tolstoy, whose works were read by Twain the 1880s and 1890s.
>
>I don't have any works by Kant, Schopenhauer, or Neitzsche from Twain's
>library, although I may have some works that quote from them that Twain
>owned. That would take some poking around. But the Tolstoy connection
>involved just two degrees of separation: Among Clara's signed cabinet
>photos of musicians in her social circle in the 1890s, is a photo of
>Tolstoy inscribed to Ossip. Twain and Ossip spent time together in 1898
>and again when Ossip showed up at Stormfield to recover from surgery.
>I've seen no evidence they ever spoke of Tolstoy, and I don't know
>under
>what circumstances Ossip met or knew Tolstoy, but the subject could
>have
>come up.
>
>Kevin
>@
>Mac Donnell Rare Books
>9307 Glenlake Drive
>Austin TX 78730
>512-345-4139
>Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA
>
>You can browse our books at:
>www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
>
>------ Original Message ------
>From: "Barbara Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: 10/18/2020 10:34:50 AM
>Subject: Re: Twain and ... Schopenhauer?
>
> >Alan Gribben in MARK TWAIN'S LIBRARY: A RECONSTRUCTION records a
>volume by
> >Schopenhauer ESSAYS OF ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER -- a translation published
>in
> >1892 that was sold in the 1951 sale of Clemens's library. It is listed
>as
> >belonging to Jean and Clara. In addition, Gribben also records that
> >journalist Henry Fisher also commented on Twain's interest in
> >Schopenhauer's writings. Whether the volume from the Clemens library
>has
> >ever been recovered or examined for marginalia is not documented.
> >
> >Barb
> >
> >On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 10:08 AM Dave Davis
><[log in to unmask]>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> This one sentence from Arthur Schopenhauer intrigues me:
> >>
> >> *Our hesitation before such a colossal thought will perhaps be
>diminished
> >> by the recollection... that the ultimate dreamer of the vast
>life-dream is
> >> finally, in a certain sense, but one, namely the Will to Live, and
>that the
> >> multiplicity of appearances follows from the conditioning effects
>of time
> >> and space [the morphogenetic field whereby the Will to Live assumes
>forms].
> >> It is one great dream dreamed by a single Being, but in such a way
>that all
> >> the dream characters dream too. *
> >> --Arthur Schopenhauer, "Transcendental Speculation on Apparent
>Design in
> >> the Fate of the Individual,” " (1851)
> >>
> >> (More about that:
> >>https://harpers.org/2012/02/schopenhauer-causality-and-synchronicity/
>)
> >>
> >> It reminds me of the great conclusion of #44, The Mysterious
>Stranger
> >> which we all know:
> >>
> >> "... "It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no
>God, no
> >> universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is
>all a
> >> dream--a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And
>you are
> >> but a thought--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless
>thought,
> >> wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"
> >>
> >> (Actually, the whole of that last, concluding Chapter)
> >>
> >>
> >> I recall that SLC told a correspondent he had never read Nietzsche;
>but we
> >> also know that he could get by, reading German, and was in Germany
>quite a
> >> bit in the 1890's, when such ideas were in the air there.
> >>
> >> Any thoughts? Maybe they both got it from Shakespeare. Ideas float
>around,
> >> expression is everything.
> >>
> >> DDD
> >>
> >
|