PENNY ([log in to unmask]) writes:

>Andy was give some advice on calling his thesis "Situational Bisexuality."
>Perhaps that would be a better place to start.  It certainly will create a
>stir -- did at Elmira.  Let's hear it out there for your thoughts.  I do
have
>a copy of Hoffman's paper.

I'd like to see the paper before I take any kind of position on its merits,
but I have a healthy mistrust of attempts to "out" historical figures. I
have the impression that the motives behind such efforts are more
sensatinoal
than scholarly. I might wish that kind of treatment on James Fenimore
Cooper,
but not Mark Twain. I hope this paper is a sincere and well-researched
effort,
not a splashy attempt to establish a reputation.

Lastly, why stop at "Situational Bisexuality"? If Andy is postulating that
Twain & company turned to each other due to a scarcity of women, how about
the local livestock, each others' shoes, and any other persuasion that
can be imagined? I suppose there's room for a bevy of papers exploring
each of these possibilities in detail. Well, that's made someone's career.
Not mine, though.

Perhaps this period saw Twain's first systematic exploration of the
science of onanism...

Robert Dagnall