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Date: | Tue, 4 Apr 1995 12:40:34 +0000 |
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I just got a copy of this CD a few weeks ago and haven't spent very
much time with it yet, but I was struck immediately by two things: that
it has much more good material *about* Twain than I was expecting, and
that it has far less of his writings than I was expecting. In
particular, I was surprised to see that essays like "To the Person
Sitting in Darkness," "A Defence of General Funston," "As Regards
Patriotism," "Corn-Pone Opinions," "The Czar's Soliloquy," "King
Leopold's Soliloquy," and others along that vein were not included.
This body of writing is so under-represented on the CD that I think
there must have been an intentional decision made to exclude them.
Since it claims to have been developed with the "expert advice of many
scholars and curators," I'm wondering if anyone on this list participated
in its development and could explain the editorial decisions. There are
also some other editorial concerns for Twain scholars (though not for
most general readers) because of the reliance on Paine's texts.
Compare, for example Paine's "The War Prayer" included on the CD from
_Europe and Elsewhere_ with the version edited by Frederick Anderson in
_A Pen Warmed-up in Hell_. Both versions are covered by the same intact
copyright so permissions would not have prohibited using Anderson's more
authoritative edition. I'm sure it's a useful CD but I also found very
quickly
that it is also has many limitations.
Jim Zwick
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