I am a graduate student in English at the University of Southwestern
Louisiana.  Currently I am taking a course devoted entirely to Mark
Twain that is taught by Dr. Jim Wilson, co-editor of The Mark Twain
Encyclopedia_.  I'm interested in doing a research paper on Twain's
dual reputation both as a person and writer.  In reading Justin
Kaplan's biography of Twain, I've noticed that people either found
Twain a card-playing, low-humored drunk, or they found him to be
very witty, a good or excellent writer, and intelligent.

        I have 2 problems in researching this topic:

        1.  I do not have easy access to primary sources, esp. newspaper
reviews of his lectures and writings.  Although I could order copies
of newspaper reviews through interlibrary loan, interlibrary loan is
notoriously slow, or at least that is what my associates tell me.  By
the time such articles would reach me, my deadline would be long past.

        2.  I am not aware of any secondary sources devoted to Twain's
dual reputation.  I believe there is a book titled _Mark Twain's
Literary Reputation_, but in glancing through that book, I found it
did not effectively address the topic I'm interested in.

        My question is this:  Does anyone know of any source(s) that
discuss the duality of Mark Twain's reputation, whether those sources
be articles or books?  I'm interested in knowing whether such sources
even exist, regardless of whether
I can access those sources or not.

        Thank you,

        Kellie Frey  [log in to unmask]