Just a quick , very positive response to Fishkin's _Lighting Out_:

I liked reading this book very much.  It attempts to bridge the gap between
the personal experience of Twain and the scholarly profession of literary
studies.  Some scholarly folk aren't too big on such-like "narcissistic"
writing;  however, chalk me up as an admirer.  Certainly the work of a
tenured and promoted professor, to be sure;  but one quite enjoyable to
read, and probably re-read at some later date.  The style may fool one into
thinking it is "not scholarly";  the footnotes and heavy documentation
argue otherwise;  and all Twainians are familiar with the author's
provocative earlier work.
        The book's major thrusts, which I take to be Twain's interest in
issues of race, injustice, prejudice, as well as the unreported history of
African Americans and especially their prominent imprint in American
cultural history, show that Fishkin has certain affinities with Eric
Sundquist's monumental _To Wake the Nations_, which argues (sort of) that
Melville, for instance, is central to African American literature, and that
Chesnutt, DuBois, and others are central to American literature.
Additionally, the lengthy descriptions of Twain as captured in pop culture
and Americana take the foundational works of Louis Budd another step
further.  Despite the rather breezy and somewhat unfocused aspect of parts
of the book (for instance, there is really a LOT MORE about African
American history than one might expect when starting a book about Twain),
it is very rewarding and passes the first test of any good scholarly book:
it made me think and re-think my ideas about MT, and about life in a slave
state 150 years ago.

Dr. Harold K. Bush, Assoc. Director
Konan International Exchange Center
Konan University, 8-9-1 Okamoto
Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658, JAPAN