Very interesting post, Ines. I like the part about how the attachment of
Twain's heroes to picaresque tradition provides a source of familiarity
and comfort to readers. So much of Twain criticism talks about his
establishment of new and particularly American heroes. I like the tension
between this move and the connection to a European tradition you
describe--adds another layer to reading Twain. With Hank Morgan, I think
this connection is not quite as clear *because* he is openly  (and
loudly) critiquing European traditions and attempting to transplant
American culture, attitudes, and technology to British soil. Hank is the
quintessential 19th-century inventor-nationalist. I don't think you need
secondary sources to consider ways in which Hank fails to fulfill the
journey of the picaro--I think the development of Hank as simultaneously
always already both innocent and knowledgeable is a very complex
construction by Twain. He begins his journey already more knowledgeable
than the culture he encounters and yet innocent of owning the potentially
damaging consequences of his own knowledge and technology production. The
reading I'm offering is sort of simple here, I know, but I'm writing on
the fly. I think there is something to be said about how this American
picaro destroys his own European roots in order to establish his "new"
values systems but in the process destroys himself...he can't exist if he
kills off his own tradition? Or the fact that Merlin's magic kills him in
the first time he dies in the book? Magic and tradition prevail? Or that
without clarity regarding tradition and history, our culture becomes
insane (the framed ending)? Something about how American culture cannot
exist without European traditions without destroying its own roots?
Something about the symbiosis between these two cultures?

Anyway those are some things your post makes me consider. I think you
have a great topic and don't need lots of secondary sources to write it,
as long as you are situating your own ideas within established ideas
about the picaresque...and/or within tensions between European and
American values systems...that seems like enough secondary material to
lay the foundation for your own reading...

Good luck--

Meryem Ersoz
University of Oregon

On Thu, 28 Mar 1996, Ines Koessl-Timm wrote:

> At 11:17 26.03.1996 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >Ines,
> >Please post more about the differences between German and American studies
> >in Twain and the influences of the classical Picaro.  I'd love to hear more
> >about it.  - Beth R.
> >
> >
>
> First of all, thanks to all of you who expressed encouragement and support.
> I was really overwhelmed and moved.
>
>
> I don't know if there really is a big difference in scholarship. Of course,
> American Studies and American Literary Studies in Germany derive most of
> their impulses from the US. It is just an idea, but I have the impression
> from all the research I've done lately that 'we' Germans tend to focus on
> European literary traditions whereas in the US questions like ethnicity,
> 'Americaness' (sp.?)etc. seem to be more important (just an opinion!!!!!).
> The Picaro may be one example, because secondary literature on Mark Twain in
> connection with the  Picaro is mainly from European critics (please correct
> me if I'm wrong).
>
> What I found out is, that Twains making use of the picaresque (in Germany:
> Schelmenroman) tradition has mainly to do with authority. This, in my
> opinion becomes quite clear, in Huck's case. If we assume that _Huck Finn_
> is a social satire and Twain is criticizing certain aspects of Southern
> society, he needs a protagonist that is accepted by his readers as a
> trustworthy, reliable character. By using a 12-or-something year old boy,
> who lies, steals, does not go to school etc. Twain does not really offer an
> authoritative character (especially in the end of the 19th cent. with
> Howells moral realism floating around). However, by referring to the
> picaresque tradition and thus making Huck a Picaro, Twain gives the
> authority of a literary tradition to the protagonist; Huck can lie, steal,
> do whatever, but his criticism remains acceptable for the reader - or even
> becomes more important. (This is exactly what Lazarillo de Tormes, the first
> Picaro, does. He commits the most terrible crimes one can imagine and at the
> same time uncovers injustice, poverty, pride, social inequality,etcetc. By
> the way, _Lazarillo_ was written anonymously, because the author feared
> capital punishment. - oh, one more thing: _Huck Finn_ was published during
> the Gilded Age, right? _Lazarillo_ is from the Siglo de Oro! Coincidence??)
> I also think that the ideological framework, which goes together with the
> picaresque tradition, works well in the 19th century, especially after the
> experience of the CW (the Picaro came into being after the 30-years war;
> very traumatic for Europeans!).
> Well, just a few thoughts, there is still more to it (the Picaro-part of my
> thesis is about 30 pages long ;), but I don't want to make this too long.
>
> The problem I have now is the following: in what way is Hank supposed to be
> a Picaro? I've heard it said, but I just can't find any secondary literature
> on it. Apart from all the formal characteristics which also apply to Hank
> Morgan (like fatherlessness (does this word exist?), being an 'outsider'
> from the lower class, mobility (horizontal and vertical), criticism of the
> established church,etc), I'm not sure if Hank needs the literary tradition
> as authorization. Is his being from the 19th century authority enough?
>
> Any ideas, comments, recommendations? What connotations and meanings does
> 'picaresque' or 'Picaro' have in the US?
>
> Greetings from Good Old (far away :) Germany,
>
> Ines
>
>
> P.S. Did you know that Twain also spent some time in Munich? However, as far
> as I know, the house he had lived in had been torn down many years ago. (I'm
> not sure, but it probably was damaged during WW2.)
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> Ines Koessl-Timm
> Wallbergstr. 3
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