I have to agree with John that one of the joys of working with AI is that
it allows viewers and readers the opportunity to visualize facial
expressions and moods that we know Mark Twain displayed -- because he was
human --  but were never actually captured by a camera -- another facet of
himself that existed. But it is also a challenge in descriptive writing to
communicate with an AI robot what you want to see and the situations and
surroundings in which you want to see Mark Twain. Rasmussen has fine tuned
his descriptive talents to produce some eye-catching results.

Barb

On Sun, Nov 3, 2024 at 11:21 AM John R. Pascal <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I teach a year-long course on Twain’s works and his life with the primary
> goal showing his continued relevance to my students now and throughout
> their lives.  Almost all of the photographs we have of Mark Twain show him
> in formal poses facing us or in a profile. While it is a joy to share his
> familiar photos to many of them who have seen just the famous 1906 picture
> of Twain in his white suit looking at us with perhaps a wisp of a knowing
> smile, it is a unique and greater thrill to be able to see him brought into
> a physical body in a diversity of near-natural body movements and facial
> expressions by these AI-generated, authentic-looking pictures in Kent
> Rasmussen's new book.
>
> In commenting on his works, my students invariably wonder what facial
> expressions Twain would have had while he was writing these tales.  He must
> have enjoyed writing them, because his newest and youngest fans feel that
> way in reading them.
>
> Rasmussen pictures Twain's various stages of life from an auburn-haired
> mature young man to the frizzy white lion’s mane of his later years.
>
> We don’t know for certain if he read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but what a
> delightful surprise to see an image of Twain with his mouth aghast in
> fright as his imagination conjures a younger-looking Twain just above him
> as a vampire!
>
> The image for the title page of Part I, "Tales Spooky & Grisly" show a
> thirty-something Twain amidst papers, inkwell and pen with uplifted eyes
> conjuring a skeletal image.  Who hasn’t among us raised our eyeballs in
> firing up our imagination?
>
> To see Twain listening intently to and unafraid of the Cardiff Giant,
> shows his absorption of the tale and so will be ready to sketch “The Ghost
> Who Made an Ass of Himself.”
>
> In “Neglected Graveyards,” we are treated to Twain in full suit and a
> skeleton in a tattered shroud carry a gravestone.  Twain’s eyes face us in
> solemnity of helping the skeleton whose skull, bent toward Twain, shows his
> gratitude.  Twain respects the dead, as should we.  The second picture in
> this story shows Twain conversing with one of the skeletons in the decaying
> graveyard.  Twain’s dark hair and mustache on his young face are distinct
> as he listens so respectfully that you expect him to speak at any moment to
> the skeleton, and hopefully turn to us, too.
>
> To see Twain wearing what appears to be a modern-day trench coat while
> taking notes on the statuary in the Milan Cathedral in Part II’s
> "Unpleasant Places" - “Repulsive Memories” reminds us that he was a world
> traveler.  But we know traveling isn’t always pleasant (try groping in the
> dark in an unfamiliar hotel room) and perhaps we would be looking as Twain
> looks straight at us in frustration in “Forty-Seven Miles in the Dark."  We
> laugh because the picture makes us empathize with him.
>
> The picture accompanying Part III’s "Remarkable Characters” depicts a more
> familiar Twain in his white suit writing “The War Prayer” with a facial
> expression that suggests the Deity is greatly disappointed in his human
> creations.
>
> Whenever I teach Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, my students are curious
> about Huck’s interest in the late Emmeline Grangerford and are open to my
> suggestions that he unknowingly has his first crush on her.  But besides
> her funerary drawings and poems, what did she look like?  Was she indeed
> the spider-armed woman who was ready to end her life?  Rasmussen shows us a
> beautiful long-haired young woman seriously composing a poem for a newly
> deceased elderly man.  I offer for consideration the possibility that she
> would have enjoyed helping Huck develop his own creative writing skills.
> After all, she has an admirer who “tried to sweat out a verse or two” in
> tribute to her!
>
> All these pictures and more showcase Rasmussen’s skillful talents for
> bringing a new appreciation of Twain’s lesser-known works for me, my
> students, and all lovers of Twain. See the first picture of Twain in Part
> IV, “Curious Talk & Strange Obsessions” - “Facing One’s Most Pitiless
> Enemy.” For me and my students, we feel that we are finally sitting in a
> leather chair in front of his desk, watching his satisfied smile about his
> writing.  We know he is about to pass the manuscript to us, and we eagerly
> reach for it with grateful smiles.