RE: Artemus Ward

Not only did Ward play a role within the environment of Twain's early
career.  Twain announced his connection to Ward explicitly in his inaugural
"Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog."  The frame for this tale is a letter
Twain wrote to "Mr. A. Ward" acknowledging that Ward had directed him to
look up Leonidas W. Smiley--which the writer now suspects was a practical
joke, a premise by which Twain would be subjected to Simon Wheeler's
storytelling.

Of course, the original query from the New Guy (there's a sobriquet that
works, I suggest that its owner make the most of it) was about the
influence of Charles Brockden Brown on Twain, of which I know none, unless
you count an indirect influence by way of Poe.  I doubt that C.B. Brown was
even in print during Twain's life, or even mentioned in the latter half of
the 19th century for Twain to have been aware of him.

--LH





At 09:08 AM 4/30/99 EDT, you wrote:
>Artemus Ward -- Charles Farrar Browne --
>was also a 19th century humorist.
>
>As I recall, his eccentricities on the plat-
>form and in his personal life make his
>popularity back then unfathomable to
>modern day readers.
>
>This is a man who used the same speech
>year after year after year and began it with
>the drop-dead laugh line "We are all descended
>from our grandfathers."  Try that out next time
>you have to give a speech!  Go figure.
>
>There is a famous picture taken of Mark Twain
>in a three-shot with Josh Billings and Petroleum
>V. Nasby where Twain is seen standing in the
>center with the other two seated to his left and
>right.  He towers over them in the photo, just as
>he does in talent and legacy.  (See Kaplan, Mr.
>Clemens and Mark Twain, p.216)  Similarly,
>Twain eclipses Ward.  But their friendship went
>back as far as the days out West, where they
>were not only itinerant lecturers but drinking
>buddies as well.
>
>The point being that in understanding Twain one
>might do well to understand the context and
>"characters" of his time.  Ward plays a part in
>that, thereby making Twain's life and achievement
>all the more remarkable by comparison.
>
>One man's opinion.
>
>Regards,
>Roger Durrett
>