For any of you who don't already have the books, the Chapter One
library at the Washington Post has portions of the first chapters of
Shelley Fisher Fishkin's _Lighting Out for the Territory: Reflections
on Mark Twain and American Culture_ and Andrew Hoffman's _Inventing
Mark Twain_ online at the following addresses:

Lighting Out for the Territory
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/
lightingoutfortheterritory.htm

Inventing Mark Twain
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/
inventingmarktwain.htm

There are also links at the tops of the chapters to the Post's
reviews of the books.

Also, when I checked my e-mail I was deluged with the following
question:

Name at least one of the two people who Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
considered to be the 19th century's most interesting characters.

If you think you know the answer, go to

http://www.dujour.com/mondotrivia/

It's the Riddler Mondo Trivia question of the day (April 8).  If you
need a clue, the name of one of them is on the Biography & Criticism
page of my Twain Resources page at
http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/twainwww.html

Jim Zwick
[log in to unmask]
http://www.rochester.ican.net/~fjzwick/