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Subject:
From:
Tom Swenson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:38:24 EDT
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Dear Bob, et al.

I guess I would lean toward Camy's position on this one. Twain was obsessed
much of his life with becoming rich and he hatched many a scheme to become
wealthy. Here, as in most aspects of his life, Twain was a mass of
contradictions. And he certainly reaped what he sowed in this area of his
life.  One need
only visit the home in Hartford to realize his obsession with wealth  and
many
of its trappings.

What fascinates me most about Twain is precisely his wondrous complexity
and
inconsistency in matters of wealth, race, politics and so on. In this
regard
he is much like the America he reflected in his writings. Remember his
statement that he isn't AN American, he is THE American. He is just as
complicated
and contradictory as America herself is.

Tom Swenson

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