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Mike Pearson <[log in to unmask]>
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 18:42:29 -0700
text/plain (51 lines)
Several of Mark Twain's best friends and in-laws were well educated:
Howells, Tesla... His wife attended college. 
 Seems their education shone through, for him. 
Did he attend any college? 

I'm glad to read all these interesting responses, comments, objections.

> Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:46:17 +0000
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: When political posters quote Mark Twain
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> I think Kevin is entirely right about this.  Twain's distrust of the common=
>  voter and belief that the votes of the wealthy and educated should weigh m=
> ore than those of the poor and ignorant is explicitly (and, as Kevin sugges=
> ts, non-satirically) laid out in "The Curious Republic of Gondour," is stro=
> ngly implied in The Gilded Age, and, I would say, is generally consistent t=
> hroughout Twain's writings.  I believe Lou Budd also suggested something of=
>  the sort many years ago in Mark Twain, Social Philosopher.
> 
> P. S.  In "The Curious Republic," it's the narrator's desire to return to h=
> is "dear native land" that's satirized.   --Jim L.=20
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac Don=
> nell
> Sent: Friday, September 25, 2015 2:53 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: When political posters quote Mark Twain
> 
> Yup, I think the case can be made either way. The narrator was glad to get =
> back home, so this could signal it was satire, but it reads as if it is a s=
> erious proposal, and I've always thought Twain was seriously floating the n=
> otion (the more educated you are the more votes you get, etc.). If I weren'=
> t snowed under on other writing projects I'd be tempted to dive into this o=
> ne and read his letters to Howells (the sketch was published by Howells in =
> The Atlantic Monthly), Twain's other comments on voting like Pap in HF, Twa=
> in's political speeches and letters of the 1870s-80s, etc.
> 
> Kevin
> @
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