Happy Thanksgiving!

 The Mark Twain Circle is planning a number of interesting events at the
Modern Language Association Convention in San Francisco, December
27th-30th. Here's the schedule:

  (*) On December 27th from 9:00-10:15 p.m.in the Yosemite Room A of the
San Francisco Hilton, the Mark Twain Circle will sponsor a roundtable  on
"The Author as Public Intellectual,"  a discussion that will explore what
happens when someone parlays his fame and recognition as a writer into a
bully pulpit from which to engage the social and political issues of his
day. Centered on Twain, and his engagement with such issues as imperialism
and copyright, but branching out to explore the phenomenon in general, this
session will include Jim Zwick (Syracuse University), Siva Vaidyanathan
(Wesleyan Univesity), Fred Kaplan (Queens College and CUNY Graduate
Center), the writer David Bradley, and  Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Univ. of
Texas, Austin) as chair.
   (+) On December 28th from 9:00-9:30 a.m.in the Mark Twain Circle Suite
at the  Downtown Marriott there will be a breakfast-hour session featuring
Philip Fanning, a San Francisco-based independent scholar who has written
an intriguing book manuscript on Twain and Orion; he will address the
question,  "Did Mark Twain Get his Anti-Slavery Views from Orion?"
   (+) On December 28th from 5-6:l5 p.m.in the Mark Twain Circle Suite at
the  Downtown Marriott there will be a cocktail-hour session at which
1) Gregg Camfield (University of the Pacific) will speak with us briefly
about Twain in San Francisco  and promises everyone interested in doing a
self-guided walking tour of Twain's  San Francisco all they need to know;
and
 2) Robert H. Hirst, General Editor of the Mark Twain Project, will  catch
us up on what's going on at the Mark Twain Project.
   (+) On December 28th from 9:00-10:00 p.m.in the Mark Twain Circle Suite
at the  Downtown Marriott  we look forward to a conversation with Hal
Holbrook after we honor him with an award from the Twain Circle.  (If there
are any last-minute changes in Holbrook's schedule, I will post something
on the Mark Twain Forum).
    (+) On December 29th, from 5-6:30 there will be a cocktail-hour session
in the Twain Circle Suite  at the  Downtown Marriott featuring a paper by
Debbie Lopez (University of Texas, San Antonio) and Joe Towson
(Spartanburg, SC) entitled "A Portable Mississippi: The Metaphor of the
Market in Twain's Short Fiction.
    (*) On December 30th from 8:30-9:45 a.m. there will be a session on
"Mark Twain: New Perspectives on Established Works" in the Union Square 12
room of the San Francisco Hilton. Chaired by Laura E. Skandera-Trombley
(Coe College), the session will feature the following  papers:
1.  "Mark Twain as Western Outlaw: Language and Manhood in Roughing It and
Life on the Mississippi," Joseph L. Coulombe (U of Delaware)
2.  "'a man nobody wouldn't be ashamed of': Drinking and Temperance in
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Rosemarie L. Coste (U of Texas)
3.  "'The Crying Defect of My Character': Hank Morgan, Mark Twain, and the
Business of Determinism," Susanne Weil (Whittier C)

  Events marked with (*) are part of the formal convention program
(sometimes the MLA is rather vigilant about requiring convention
registration for attendance.) Events marked with (+) are in the Mark Twain
Circle/American Humor Studies Assn. Suite and do not require convention
registration.

         [The San Francisco Downtown Marriott is on Fourth St. between
Market and Mission. The room number for the Mark Twain Circle/American
Humor Studies Association suite won't be assigned until the convention.  To
find out the room number, look for signs in the MLA registration  area or
call Shelley Fisher Fishkin  either at Marriott's main number or from a
house phone in the Marriott when you arrive. It is not necessary to be
registered for the Convention to attend events in the Mark Twain Circle
Suite].

I look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco!

Shelley Fisher Fishkin
University of Texas