The story continues to mutate in odd [amusing, frustrating, unexpected, 
etc.] ways. It was on Huffington Post a couple of days ago where the writer 
seems to imply that Twain only used two pen-names before he settled on "Mark 
Twain." This seems to be a misreading of the piece about my article in the 
LA Times Review of Books that mentioned two or three previous pen-names. 
Another piece says Twain's only reason for not wanting to admit Vanity Fair 
was his source was because the Phunny Phellows associated with that magazine 
were not very funny. I happen to think some Phunny Phellow humor is very 
funny, but it did go stale, and Twain was heading in other directions. Not 
mentioned in that other piece was the fact that the "Mr Mark Twain" 
character in the VF piece was presented as merely "shallow" in the context 
of the term's meaning when used on ocean-going vessels. Also not mentioned 
was that Twain wanted to associate his name with the romance, glory, and 
mythologies of the Mississippi River (duh!). Of course, I explain all of 
this in my article but not much of what I wrote has been translated into 
these second and third and fourth generation pieces about my article. Martin 
Zehr's piece about my article in the Kansas City Star and Daniel Hernandez's 
piece in the LA Times Book Review are excellent, but some of those who have 
picked up the story since have truly unimpressive reading comprehension 
skills. Imagine evolution running in reverse, my article being human and the 
online blogs being the monkey offsprings. Eventually the story could devolve 
into something that slithers backwards into some primordial sea. Bu-bye to 
all that.

All I can do is urge that those interested read the original article in the 
Mark Twain Journal.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Talbot" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: Should go directly to it


> Kevin,
> You're always going to be my hero. Your erudition is incomparable and let
> all the others say what they might. The work stands for itself. Illegitimi
> non carborundum.
>
> Your friend and fan in Minnesota,Rick
> PS
> Give Donna my best
>
> Richard Talbot
> 1531 West Idaho Avenue
> Falcon Heights, MN 55108-2118
> (651) 646-6624
> (651) 280 8734
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charles 
> Cogar
> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 1:04 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Should go directly to it
>
> Thanks everyone for sharing this.
>
> I always thought the pen name was attributed to a river depth call of
> "...mark, twain...." meaning a depth of twelve feet?
>
> Kindly,
>
> Charles Cogar
> Omaha, Nebraska
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac
> Donnell
> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:50 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Should go directly to it
>
> I must thank Mr Durrett for his posting. I'd have done it myself --I have 
> no
>
> false modesty. And none of the genuine stuff either.
>
> The LA Book Review piece by David Hernandez has spread to many places. I 
> was
>
> informed by someone that a website that tracks and ranks media postings 
> that
>
> go"viral" ranked this piece 1,238 out of about 12,500 media postings that
> appeared in that same 24 hour period. That was after it got posted at
> salon.com. I'm not sure how viral that really is, but while "going viral"
> online I was at home nursing a truly painful abdominal infection with two
> antibiotics that had entertaining side effects (cf 1601). Too much
> information --I know-- but I like the irony, and as I get older my
> appreciation for irony is exceeded only by my appreciation for 
> antibiotics.
>
> It also got pinged as "noteworthy research" or "articles worth noting" or
> something like that at The Chronicle of Higher Education, got a notice and
> link at the New Yorker website, and even got blogged about in Italy. There
> have been a bunch of Facebook "likes" attached to the LA Book Review piece
> and a bunch of tweets, but I belong to neither and don't follow any of 
> that.
>
> Whatever Kevin Mac Donnells you may see on Facebook are not me. Comments
> I've read in some other places lead me to conclude that the less a reader
> "gets" what they are reading, the more likely they feel compelled to post
> something. Of course, none of these people are reading my original 
> article;
> they are reading and responding to a short piece about my article, and 
> some
> of the subsequent postings about it leave out even more details which 
> begins
>
> to distort what I said, reminding me of the old game of "rumor." Some of
> these subsequent postings would have you thinking some things that I never
> said and wholly unaware of many things I did say in How Sam Clemens Found
> Mark Twain.
>
> Anyway, it's nice to see Twain in the popular media and I hope the bottom
> line is that it draws some new subscriptions to the Mark Twain Journal and
> gets people to read his writings.
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:10 AM
> Subject: Should go directly to it
>
>
>> Folks:
>>
>> I copied-and-pasted an intermediate step.  This
>> will take you right to the Atlantic Newswire page.
>>
>> I hope.
>>
>> Dang, sorry for the rabbit trail.
>>
>>
> http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/10/now-we-know-how-samuel-
>> clemens-became-mark-twain/70161/
>>
>> Roger Durrett
>>
>>
>>
>> -----
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>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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>>
>
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6734 - Release Date: 10/08/13
>