Hello-
I came in late to this discussion. Was a source given for downloading the
Gillette recording? I would appreciate access to that resource.
Best Regards,
Tom Swenson
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 06:37:26 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: James Edstrom <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: What would Twain sound like?
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I'd be interested to hear Gillette's recording. I know that there''s a
copy available for listening at the Michigan State Vincent Voice Library
(http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/index.cfm), but I haven't been able to find the
recording online anywhere. Is it available online? Thanks!
Jim Edstrom
Associate Professor, William Rainey Harper College
Palatine, Illinois
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 07:09:38 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Carmela Valente <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Twain's presence
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Dear Group:
I am curious. Someone told me that Twain never smoked a cigar on the
lecture platform. Since Holbrook always smoked in his presentation, I
automatically believed that Twain smoked and could not think without a cigar
in his mouth. Also, Twain was a restless person, often pacing the floor.
Do we have any evidence that he paced the lecture platform, or was it too
narrow for that to be done. Did he often venture out into the audience and
interact with them?
I'm very curious.
Camy
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 11:17:36 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Twain Center <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The Trouble Begins at Eight Lecture Series
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The Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College is pleased to
announce the online posting of the following lectures from our Spring,
2007 series:
Mark Twain and Spiritual Crisis
Harold K. Bush, Associate Professor of English, Saint Louis University
The Reverend Mark Twain: "This Career of Sparkling Holiness,
Usefulness, and Health-Giving Theological Travel"
Joe B. Fulton, Associate Professor of English, Baylor
University
To access mp3 audiofiles of each lecture, go to
http://www.elmira.edu/academics/distinctive_programs/twain_center/troubl
e_at_eight
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 01:07:42 +1000
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: ron hohenhaus <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Clara comments
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Re Jerry Dean's comment:
>I also have a recollection of something one of his daughters said of
>his speech on the lecture platform. It seems to me that her comment was
>about how much slower and more heavily accented his speech was when he
>gave lectures than when he spoke normally.
Clara writes: "Father knew the full value of a pause and had the courage to
make a long one when required for a big effect. And his inimitable drawling
speech, which he often lost in private life, greatly increased the humorous
effect on the stage."
Pp. 138-139, "My Father -- Mark Twain", Harper and Brothers, New York 1931
Regards to all
Ron Hohenhaus
Australia
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 11:36:57 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Ben Wise <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: What would Twain sound like?
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Tom (or anyone),
Can you verify that quote as being MT's? I'm in a local community
theatre's production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and would
like to suggest it as a epigraph for the program.
Thanks.
Ben
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 15:21:59 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Mike Williams <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: What would Twain sound like?
Comments: cc: Ben Wise <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To: <a06230928c28dd5d6ea5a@[75.68.123.55]>
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Ben:
If you go to twainquotes.com, the site lists that quote as coming from MT's
Notebooks.
Mike
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 17:18:29 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: David H Fears <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Sam's speech "impediment"
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October 3 Tuesday - Sam wrote a long letter from Hartford to Charles
Webster=
, explaining agreements past and actions taken with Slote & Company about
pa=
yments on scrapbook sales [MTBus 201-3].
=C2=A0
Sam also typed a response to Charles T. Palmer (1827-1897).=C2=A0 C.T.H.
Pal=
mer was an early resident of San Francisco and Berkeley, California. He
prac=
ticed law in San Francisco and was involved in various business interests.
H=
e served as one of the first trustee of Folsom prison. Palmer had sent a
lis=
t of questions asking about Sam's speech patterns, whether he was ever a
sta=
mmerer. If not, was Sam's "extreme deliberation in speech natural or
adopted=
?"=20
=C2=A0
ALL THE QUESTIONS WHICH COME UNDER THE HEAD OF 'WERE YOU A STAMMERER' ARE
AN=
SWERABLE BY SIMPLY AND SOLIDLY, NO...IT IS NATURAL, NOT ADOPTED. I CAN
GIVE=20=
MY MOTHER THREE WORDS THE START ON A TEN WORD SENTENCE AND COME IN AT THE
HO=
ME STRETCH MAKING THE HEAD=20
=C2=A0
I HAVE NEVER STAMMERED, HAVE NEVER HAD ANY OBSTRUCTION IN MY SPEECH EXCEPT
S=
LOW DELIVERY, AND THAT OBSTRUCTION PERCEPTABLE TO OTHER PEOPLE ONLY; IT
DOES=
NOT SEEM SLOW TO ME, AND WHEN NIGGER MINSTRELS IMITATE IT ON THE PLATFORM
T=
O WHAT FRIENDS OF MINE CALL ABSOLUTE PERFECTION, IT ALWAYS FALLS UPON MY
EAR=
AS A MOST LIMITLESS AND EXTRAVAGANT EXAGGERATION [MTP].
=C2=A0
Palmer's interest in stammering and speech patterns may have been
profession=
al or simply a personal interest. Sam ended the letter "Please give my
love=20=
to Stoddard when you see him..." denoting that Palmer was probably still
in=20=
Berkeley or possibly in Hawaii.=20
=C2=A0
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 12:57:06 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: "J.Dean" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: What would Twain sound like?
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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I have a 2 minute mpg file of the Gillette recording doing Twain
paraphrasing the part of "The Jumping Frog.....". I will send it by
email to anyone who wants it, but I don't know how to post it for
downloading.
Jerry Dean ([log in to unmask])
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 17:46:37 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Ben Wise <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: What would Twain sound like?
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Thanks Mike...and Jeff and Barb in their offlist replies before that!
I sent the quote around to the cast and they love it, but the play
opens tomorrow so it's too late for the program, alas!
Ben
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 22:04:16 +1000
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: ron hohenhaus <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 1899 Twain interview in newspaper clipping?
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The following 1899 newspaper clipping tumbled out of an 1898 edition of
"More Tramps Abroad". Other than the fact that it seems to be a snippet of
an interview with Mark Twain, I doubt it's anything too remarkable.
However, I thought members of the list might find it of interest -- or
perhaps know more about the providence of this particular passage, which was
marked "Daily Mail, 11 November 1899." I'm not sure which "Daily Mail" this
refers to. It might be the London paper or one of several such mastheads in
the antipodes.
I trust the less-than-flattering remarks about the 'Boer' will not offend
any reader. I offer this text merely as a historical curiosity as I know
little or nothing of the subjects mentioned herein (all errors in
transcribing the text are mine). I also note that no such interview is
mentioned in Louis Budd's 1977 edition of "Interviews with Samuel L.
Clemens 1874-1910".
Perhaps this bit of editorialising is what we would call an "opinion piece"
today?
Regards
Ron Hohenhaus
Australian Mark Twain Society
The Boer in Peace Time. Mark Twain's Analysis of the Burgher of To-day.
Mark Twain has met the Boer, and this is what he says of him: -- "He is
deeply religious; profoundly ignorant; dull, obstinate, bigoted; uncleanly
in his habits; hospitable, honest in his dealings with the whites, a hard
master to his black servant, lazy, a good shot, good horseman, addicted to
the chase; a lover of political independence, a good husband and father; not
fond of herding together in towns, but liking the seclusion and remoteness
and solitude and empty vastness and silence of the veldt; a man of mighty
appetite, and not delicate about what he appeases it with -- well satisfied
with pork, and Indian corn and biltong, requiring only that the quantity
shall not be stinted; willing to ride a long journey to take a hand in a
rude all-night dance interspaced with vigorous feeding and boisterous
jollity, but ready to ride twice as far for a prayer meeting; proud of his
Dutch and Huguenot origin and its religious and military history; proud of
his race achievements in South Africa -- its bold plunges into hostile and
uncharted deserts in search of free solitudes unvexed by the pestering and
detested English, also its victories over the natives and the British;
proudest of all, of the direct and effusive personal interest which the
Deity has always taken in its affairs.
"He cannot read he cannot write; he has one or two newspapers; but he is
apparently not aware of it, until latterly, he had no schools, and taught
his children nothing; news is a term which has no meaning to him, and the
thing itself he cares nothing about. He hates to be taxed, and resents it.
He has stood stock still in South Africa for two centuries and a half, and
would like to stand still till the end of time, for he has no sympathy with
uitlander notions of progress.
"He is hungry to be rich and wishes that he had never been discovered."
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 09:14:33 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 1899 Twain interview in newspaper clipping?
Comments: To: ron hohenhaus <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To: <000001c7aa8e$4eba2b10$9900a8c0@ron>
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The passage is from _Following the Equator_, also titled _More
Tramps Abroad_. In the Oxford edition reprint of _Following
the Equator_, it is on p. 688.
Taking portions of Twain's works out of context and reprinting
them as "new" material, interviews or stories seems to have
been common practice. This is becoming very evident as more
and more historical newspaper archives are becoming text
searchable. It also requires researchers and collectors to
do more study to determine sources of what -- at first glance --
seems like new material.
Barb
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 15:53:17 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Gerald Stone <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: marktvenovski
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Hello all–
While idly reading the other day (happy the day with time for idle
reading) I ran across the following in Naming Day in Eden, Noah Jonathan
Jacobs, MacMillan: New York, 1958, p. 33: "The Russians have succeeded in
making an adjective of Mark Twain (marktvenovski)...." but with no
translation back to English.
Is anyone else familiar with this Russian adjective? And if so, what would
it translate back to?
Worse yet, what would "Samclemensovski" translate to?
Thanks,
– Gerald
=========================================================================
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 19:21:24 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Carmela Valente <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: True?
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Dear group:
Am I correct in remembering that Twain preferred cats to dogs? Does anyone
know why? Also, and I am serious here, if there are any vets on list, would
you please contact me?
Thank you.
Camy
=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 06:52:11 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: David Lang <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: True?
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ascii
Dearest Carmela,
I always love to read your notes to the group...you keep them stirred up.
I THINK I actually know the answer. Not being a scholar, of course I cannot
remember the source( It might be DANGEROUS WATERS by Ron Powers), but I
remember reading that young samuel was often punished for his many
transgressions and misadventures by being locked up with the hunting hounds
overnight. I feel the reference was for the summers he spent at the
Quarells Farm( his uncle, i believe). The dogs barked all night and he
hated it( little wonder). It is just a theory of mine . There are pictures
of at least one family dog but many more with cats and with Samuel holding
and petting the cats.
I do not share this affection with Samuel, I am not fond of cats and in fact
I am a dog...or have beeen in past reincarnations. I absolutely love dogs
and usually have really good empathy with them. How is your new "working"
dog? You see my memory is so poor I cannot at the moment remember the
wonderful name you came up with.
Take care- with great fondness...David
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:03:43 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: "J.Dean" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Twain - Gillette
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624)
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Hi.....
If anyone sent me a request for the Twain - Gillette mpg file, and did
not get it, I must have overlooked your message, or sent it somewhere
else. Please don't hesitate to ask me again. If there is anyone else
who wants one, that's fine, too. As far as I know, as of 9 am, CDT,
June 11, I have sent a file to everyone who requested one, so if you
don't have it yet, you need to ask again.
I have noticed that I may have been guilty of simply hitting "reply"
and, if you contacted me through the list, I guess I was returning the
file TO the list. I am aware of that problem, now, and don't think I'm
doing it any more. My email address is [log in to unmask] If you send
you request to that address, it will reduce my chances of making
another mistake. Always a good idea, in my case.
Jerry Dean
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:57:36 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: "Miller, Jeffrey W" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: marktvenovski
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Hi Gerald,
I don't know Russian, but I'll take a crack at it. (To paraphrase Sam,
I can understand Russian as well as the maniac that invented it, but I
talk it best through an interpreter).
My guess would be that "marktvenovski" would translate as "having to do
with Mark Twain," or, more succinctly, "Twain-like."
Thanks for the word-sleuthing opportunity. I like "marktvenovski" so
well, I'm going to go out and have it engraved on my letterhead.
Jeff Miller
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:12:03 +0000
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: "Martin D. Zehr" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: marktvenovski
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
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A Russian immigrant who works in our office informs me that "marktvenovski"
is indeed a proper adjective, roughly translated as "in the style or manner
of Mark Twain." Thus, she indicates, it would be appropriate to refer to
"marktvenovski" humor, assuming the Russian you're speaking with has a bit
of "humor" in available vocabulary stores.
Martin Zehr
University of Saint Mary
Leavenworth, Kansas
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:38:55 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Trends in Twain studies in the 21st Century
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Folks, given the fact that we are holding this panel in Hannibal on
Saturday, I would be interested to know what LIST-members consider to be
some of the "Trends in Twain studies" in the near future?
Where do you see Twain scholarship going in productive and/or interesting
ways? What are the major achievements of Twain scholars in recent years?
Who is doing some of the most compelling or groundbreaking work among the
younger contingent of Twain scholars?
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Saint Louis University
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:25:34 +0100
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Messent Peter <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Trends in Twain studies in the 21st Century
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In line with developments elsewhere, I guess the transnational Twain is one=
area likely to be expored further, and following Amy Kaplan and John Carlo=
s Rowe's lead. A young British scholar now working in the US, Alexis Haynes=
, has a forthcoming book, I believe, on this topic. Cheers. Pete (Messent)=
=20
=20
Folks, given the fact that we are holding this panel in Hannibal on
Saturday, I would be interested to know what LIST-members consider to be
some of the "Trends in Twain studies" in the near future?
Where do you see Twain scholarship going in productive and/or interesting
ways? What are the major achievements of Twain scholars in recent years?
Who is doing some of the most compelling or groundbreaking work among the
younger contingent of Twain scholars?
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Saint Louis University
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:53:41 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Jon Clinch <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Lecture at Twain House & Museum
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.3)
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I'm pleased to announce that I'll be presenting a lecture
at the Mark Twain House and Museum on Tuesday, July 24.
It's part of a National Endowment for the Humanities program
on using Twain's work to think about racism in America, and
my particular speech is titled "Huck and Finn: Reimagining
a World." The event starts at seven.
It's a huge honor for me to have been asked to participate.
Details -- incomplete, since I hadn't firmed up my subject
at the time -- are here: http://www.marktwainhouse.org/
-- Jon Clinch, author of FINN: A NOVEL
http://www.ReadFinn.com
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:30:59 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Andrew Beahrs <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: introduction
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624)
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Hello all,
Though it's been a pleasure lurking on this helpful and energetic list,
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I'm a freelance writer
and novelist living in Berkeley (fortuitously close to the Mark Twain
Project). A year or two ago, I became fascinated by the long menu
towards the end of A TRAMP ABROAD, where Twain lists about eighty of
his favorite American foods. It struck me that many of these wild
foods are no longer widely eaten, either for cultural reasons
(raccoons) or because they simply don't exist anymore (San Francisco
mussels). I've been working on what I hope will be a book-length
project about what the foods might have meant to Twain, what has become
of them in the years since he wrote his list, and what is being done to
restore the things that we no longer have. It's been a great deal of
fun.
If anyone is aware of other food writing that has been done about
Twain, I'd very much appreciate the reference; what I'm working on is
not so much a cookbook as it is a food history, but anything you know
of would be great.
Finally, if anyone is interested, my first article on the subject,
"Twain's Feast," is out in the current GASTRONOMICA magazine (Spring
2007).
Best,
Andrew Beahrs
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:57:15 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Sharon McCoy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Trends in Twain studies in the 21st Century
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Echoing Pete Messent, if I may presume, I think the transnational Twain is
an area of crucial development. I've been excited by what I've read and
heard.
And for what my opinion is worth, I think much of the very strong work I've
seen and heard about recently challenges the "accepted" vision of Twain as a
keeper of boyhood and American nostalgia--all of which seem to me about
re-assessing Twain in the context of the eras in which he lived:
1. Twain as cosmopolitan, looking at the impact of the city (American and
international) on Twain, including the complex intersections of class and
race in various urban environments--and how that complicates our views of
his Missouri novels. I think race will always be a central debate, but the
new approaches to Twain allow us to see class and how it interacts with race
more clearly, allows us to step back a little.
2. Twain and domesticity, looking at the impact of family and home on his
writing
(both in his bio and the literary tradition of domesticity).
3. Twain in the context of the philosophical, religious and cultural trends
of the era.
4. Twain in the classroom--what teachers can do with all of the new
material, how they can use it
To me, all of this work holds excitement and some danger. The challenge is
in avoiding "presentism"--the desire to see our own opinions echoed in the
past. But that's always the challenge, isn't it? To "bite the bullet," as
Louis Budd has said, and see what is there, rather than what we want to be
there. In my humble opinion, these avenues (and I know that there is so
much other fine work I'm not aware of!!!) offer strong possibilities for
future study and interest.
Sharon McCoy
=========================================================================
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 09:31:53 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Mark Twain roundtable in Hannibal, June 16, 2007
Comments: To: "Harris, Susan Kumin" <[log in to unmask]>,
Bruce Michelson <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
[log in to unmask]
Comments: cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
In-Reply-To:
<[log in to unmask]>
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Folks; Thanks to everyone for a very pleasant and inspiring day up in
Hannibal. Special thanks go to Henry and Regina for their hard work putting
it together, and Bruce for managing the panel. Good turnout-- including a
couple of attendees whom I would call somewhat colorful, especially Mark
Twain himself!! (inside joke) ; )
The talks were very good, and I cannot rehash them much here except to say
that some pioneering editor might like to gather some of these comments for
posting in some illustrious journal. I personally got to thinking about a
lot of things, and was edified by the proceedings. Maybe some of the others
will read this and want to chime in on the Twain-LIST, for the edification
of those unable to attend.
The drive back down along the river and through Louisiana (MO), was quite
nice. First we stopped at Lovers Leap [sic; no apostrophe on the signage].
We were moved by the sad tale of the Natives who evidently saw no other
options for their star-crossed love, and thus plunged together to their
demise. Quite a view of Hannibal and the river.
Beyond that, are some more very lovely views overlooking the cliffs and
river south of there. That road is called the Little Dixie Highway, by the
way. I am not sure what to think of that, maybe Terrell Dempsey could
enlighten us more about that one. We tried to feed some cows, but they
gazed at us city-folk with great suspicion and possibly paranoid delusions.
After about 10 futile minutes, we pitched our handfuls of grass at them and
returned to the air-conditioning of my car. (Although they had no interest
in our grass, they were definitely interested in each other).
I especially enjoyed meeting the Missouri State Trooper about 30 miles north
of Wentzville. The ticket was officially for staying too long in the left
lane. I believe my students were amused by my driving acumen, which made it
all worthwhile, of course. Anything for our students.
That is the 2nd straight time I have gotten tagged going to or coming from
Hannibal, which may explain my absence up in those parts in the foreseeable
future. If anyone drives those roads, I advise doing it well within the
laws of the state of Missouri and of the local magistrates, who are stubborn
about such matters, unlike St. Louis City cops, who are relatively sanguine
about such matters and treat traffic rules as they do in, say, Manila (if
you have never witnessed traffic in the great city of Manila, take my word
for it, it is not very good).
Peace,
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Saint Louis University
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:59:45 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Mark Twain roundtable in Hannibal, June 16, 2007
Comments: To: Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]>, "Harris, Susan Kumin"
<[log in to unmask]>,
Bruce Michelson <[log in to unmask]>,
[log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Comments: cc: [log in to unmask]
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Dear all--
I second Hal's comments. It was pleasure to see again those I'd already
met, and to meet others for the first time. We were very happy to have made
the drive for the event. In addition to the value of the commentary and
discussion, I also enjoyed meeting some of the grad students and hearing
about their work in progress.
Hal, this time I was little more conservative with the accelerator having
already had the pleasure of meeting a Missouri State trooper on my previous
visit. In addition to the cost, my meeting was also humbling because I'd
just taken the wheel from my daughter, a student driver at the time whose
difficulty in staying in her lane left her glumly silent in the back seat.
After receiving my little gift from the trooper, I heard her mumble, "_I_
didn't get a ticket." I was forced to admit that experience doesn't always
count as much as I'd just insisted that it does. It was a valuable lesson
for both of us, and a nice break in the mood despite the cost.
Hope to see you all somewhere down the road.
Larry Howe
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:20:40 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Sharon McCoy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Little Dixie, Roundtable and Rules of the Road
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Wish I could have been there--and hope there will be more such events in the
coming years.
I'd love to hear more about the Roundtable and the ideas presented that you
all found particulalry thought-provoking and exciting.
re: "Little Dixie":
While most of Missouri followed the pattern of northern slavery, with small
households, farms and hiring out slaves as described so well in Terrell
Dempsey's book, the central region of Missouri, along the Missouri River,
was the site for the hemp plantations. Slavery in this region was more like
slavery in the Deep South, with large plantations and slave quarters; the
region was and is still known as "Little Dixie."
If you're interested in reading more, R. Douglas Hurt's 1992 study,
_Agriculture and Slavery in Missouri's Little Dixie_ (U of Missouri Press),
is useful. George Rawick's Missouri slave narratives also include some from
this region, as I recall. And I haven't read it yet, but in 2006, Routledge
published a new study of slavery in the region, _Slavery, Southern Culture,
and Education in Little Dixie, Missouri, 1820-1860_ by Jeffrey C. Stone.
And Hal, your experience with the trooper seems to be part of a national
trend. Here in Georgia, they've had a couple of "education" days about
driving in the left-lane and in the "gussets." On those days, they didn't
give tickets, but stopped offenders and issued warnings. Other days, they
ticket.
On a two-lane highway, the left lane is supposed to be for passing only.
And don't ever cut through the "gussets"--those areas marked with diagonal
lines (usually near turn lanes or exits)--either. It's expensive.
Best,
Sharon McCoy
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:57:35 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Gregg Camfield <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Rural matters
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I'm glad to hear that Larry and Hal are supporting the rural economy is such
a cheerful way. I think Mark Twain wrote some encomia on police that would
suit the situation nicely.
But Hal, if you are a typical American consumer, you support the rural
economy in other ways, too. Hence, the cows were not paranoid, they were
legitimately suspicious. They rightly considered you akin to Baba Yaga, and
were likely to hold a stick through the fence to suggest they were not yet
fat enough.
By the way, without thinking about chapter eleven of _Huck_, when a cow's
laying down, which end of her gets up first? Answer up prompt, now, don't
stop to study over it. Which end gets up first?
Gregg
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:23:04 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: David Davis <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Little Dixie
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Interesting and utterly new to me. Thanks.
Map of "Little Dixie" counties.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~morandol/maps.htm
Hannibal/St. Petersburg is in Pike County, shown here as "bordering"
relative to Little Dixie. Also, of course, just across the river is
free-soil Illinois. Add in islands which might be free-soil one day and
slave territory the next, and certainly a dynamic circumstance results!
DDD
PS: This map exaggerates the size of the rivers (obviously) but shows
the "highway" system (if you will) very well. I don't know how far up
the Missouri was navigable by large boats.
http://www.mapofmississippi.com/map_of_mississippi.cfm
=========================================================================
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:48:12 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Jim Leonard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: contributing to an illustrious journal
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In regard to Hal Bush's recent Forum comment about the Hannibal
conference, that "some pioneering editor might like to gather some of
these comments for posting in some illustrious journal," I should point
out that John Bird, the intrepid pioneering editor of The Mark Twain
Annual, and Ann Ryan, his newly recruited associate editor, are
constantly on the lookout for worthwhile articles on Mark Twain--whether
from the Hannibal conference or from some less glamorous point of
origin. For submission details see the front matter pages of any issue
of the Annual, or visit the Annual's website:
http://www.winthrop.edu/english/twainannual/
Jim Leonard
=========================================================================
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:11:29 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Jim Leonard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Tom Tenney
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The rumor advanced by David Fears that Tom Tenney has been in the
hospital with pneumonia is, in fact, not exaggerated. However, I talked
with Tom by telephone this morning, and by both his own testimony and
the strength of his voice (deeply resonant as always), I think I can
safely report that he's doing well. The pneumonia is on the run, but he
also has a nerve-pinching problem (in an arm, I believe) that is getting
some attention, too. Tom's direct (Roper Hospital) room phone number,
for those who would like to confirm my diagnosis by voice-to-voice
contact, is 843-724-2437. -Jim Leonard
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:46:44 -0400
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: BOB BROWNLEE <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Source of Twain Quote?
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> CAN ANY ONE QUICKLY FIND THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE TWAIN QUOTE BELOW
>"In a monarchy, the king and his familty are the
>country. In a republic, it the common voice of the
>people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on
>his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn
>and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be
>flung asside at the bullying of pulpit, press,
>government or the empty catch-phrases of politicians.
>
>Each must for himself alone decide what is right and
>what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which
> isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide
>it against your convictions is to be an unqualified
>and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your
>country, let men label you as they may.
>
>If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way,
>and that way be the right way according to your
>convictions of the right, you have done your duty by
>yourself and by your country--hold up your head. Your
>have nothing to be ashamed of." MARK TWAIN
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:18:18 EDT
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Source of Twain Quote?
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Barb Schmidt has it on _www.twainquotes.com_ (http://www.twainquotes.com)
as from "Papers of the Adam Family."
Here's the link:
_http://www.twainquotes.com/Country.html_
(http://www.twainquotes.com/Country.html)
Also, you might check out Howard Baetzhold's and
Joseph B. McCullough's:
The Bible According to Mark Twain Published 1995
University of Georgia
Press
Here's a lengthy link that should take you to it:
_http://books.google.com/books?id=alwwjSjlHwUC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=%22in+a+m
on
archy+the+king+and+his+family+are+the+country%22+quotations&source=web&ots=B
ei
EySMVif&sig=C4_FSzSRUJiJfbWuk2IY_eKe2ss#PPA87,M1_
(http://books.google.com/books?id=alwwjSjlHwUC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq="in+a+mon
archy+the+king+and+his+family+
are+the+country"+quotations&source=web&ots=BeiEySMVif&sig=C4_FSzSRUJiJfbWuk2
IY
_eKe2ss#PPA87,M1)
Best regards,
Roger Durrett
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:39:18 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Arianne <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: MT "Mental Photography"
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Is anyone familiar with this article which I found in the Coshoctan Democrat
(Ohio) November 2, 1869. The title reminded me of his later "Mental
Telepathy." But article quite different.
After "What is your favorite," a list of things including "favorite
occupation?-"Like dew on the gowan--lying." and "If not yourself, who would
you rather be?--The Wandering Jew, with a nice annuity," and "What is your
dream?--Nightmare, as a general thing," and "What are the sweetest words in
the world?--Not guilty."
I know scholars often list newspapers with his articles written around that
time, also remarking "and many other newspapers," but I don't know if there
is a place for serendipitous discoveries to be recorded. The Coshocton
Democrat is not represented among the aticles mentioned on
www.twainquotes.com, but is a newspaper for one of the towns where he
lectured.
If it is OK to send files to Twain-l, I can send one along.
Arianne Laidlaw
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:06:10 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: MT "Mental Photography"
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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This article is from the _Buffalo Express_, October 2, 1869.
It is included in the collection _Mark Twain at the Buffalo
Express_, edited by Joseph B. McCullough and Janice McIntire-
Strasburg, p. 62-64. The original heading was "The Latest Novelty /
Mental Photographs." The article was often reprinted over the years
without a citation to the original publication. For example, the
San Francisco _Call_ reprinted a portion of it as late as July 2, 1905.
Newspapers frequently used Twain material as "filler." Tracing
first appearances becomes a challenge as more and more historic
newspapers become text searchable and when the material had been edited
to make it seem like a new interview or speech.
Barb
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:31:20 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Arianne <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: MT "Mental Photography"
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Barb, thank you so much for this information! I had checked Sketches but
haven't seen the Buffalo Express book yet. You are VERY kind to take the
time for this clarification.
I ran into another one about H.W. Beecher raising potatoes...in a Decatur
newspaper.
One very peculiar thing I've read is a criticism of Twain by Alexander N.
DeMenil. He speaks of being "puzzled" by Twain's popularity, who he
considers "coarse." (The Literature of the Louisiana Territory - 1904)
I'm refreshing my interest after recently learning that my 1963 master's
thesis on
Twain is available on the internet. I could download it for $32 but was
able to reread 24 pages of it, so passed. I have my hard copy. (And I
wonder that the copyright belongs to the digitalizers.) This paper led,
years later, to time spent at the Mark Twain Papers in Berkeley in 1978 and
that resulted in time spent pouring over microfilm
of old newspapers in 1983. I've been resting up from it all til now.
I review this to explain how I'm out of date on familiarity with Mark Twain
research.
Extremely grateful for your contributions.
Arianne Laidlaw
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:50:58 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Jerry Vorpahl <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Source of Twain Quote?
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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While we're searching for sources, maybe someone could help me with
this one. I have looked everywhere, only to conclude that perhaps it's
a false attribution such as, "The coldest winter I ever spent....."
But, as it's in my Top Ten MT quotes, hopefully someone can provide a
citation. Where did he write/say:
"Sometimes too much drink is barely enough."
Jerry Vorpahl
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:31:41 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Janice McIntire-Strasburg <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: MT "Mental Photography"
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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The HW Beecher sketch is also part of the Express material, along with one
about Horace Greeley. Many of those surface elsewhere in varying forms.
Hope this helps,
Janice McIntire-Strasburg
Saint Louis University
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:40:56 -0600
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: BOOK REVIEW: Messent, _The Cambridge Introduction to Mark
Twain_
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The following book review was written for the Mark Twain Forum by Larry
Howe.
~~~~~
BOOK REVIEW
_The Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain_. By Peter Messent. Cambridge
University Press, 2007. Pp. xii + 138 pages. Softcover, 6" x 9". $19.99.
ISBN 0-521-67075-6
Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from
the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions
that benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit <http://www.twainweb.net>.
Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
Larry Howe
Roosevelt University
Copyright (c) 2007 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
redistributed in any medium without permission.
Peter Messent is no stranger to Mark Twain studies. This volume is his
fourth contribution, in addition to _New Readings of the American Novel:
Narrative Theory and Its Application_, which included a chapter
demonstrating how Bakhtin's narrative theory elucidates aspects of
_Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. He also co-edited the Twain-related
volume _The Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell_. As with all of
his earlier books on Twain, _The Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain_ is
highly readable and insightful, and the strengths of his earlier books show
up here in the succinct and engaging biographical outline and especially in
the commentary on the major works. And although it is part of a series that
is designed primarily for undergraduate students and readers not very
familiar with its subject, readers with more exposure to the life and works
of America's most famous writer may well find it worthwhile.
As useful an introduction as it is to Mark Twain, I cannot avoid wondering
about some of the decisions that went into the organization of the book.
Divided into four chapters--"Mark Twain's life," "Contexts," "Works," and
"Critical reception and the late works"--the volume focuses on an
appropriate set of issues, but some are arranged in a curiously unbalanced
structure.
Messent devotes nearly three quarters of the book (87 of 119 pages) to the
third chapter--a wise decision, because it is the center of his focus. This
chapter is sub-divided into four sections dealing with different influences
or examples: vernacular humor; travel writing, including _Innocents
Abroad_, _A Tramp Abroad_, _Roughing It_ and _Life on the Mississippi_; two
relatively early works of fiction, _Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_; and
two later works of fiction, _A Connecticut Yankee_ and _Pudd'nhead Wilson_.
In the first section, Messent provides an articulate overview of the quirky
techniques of Twain's humor, tracing it from his far West journalism, with
an extended explanation of the "Jumping Frog" story and frontier oddities
like the "Personal Habits of Siamese Twins," through his naive posture in
_Innocents Abroad_, the development of a vernacular narrator like Huck, the
temporal dislocation of _Connecticut Yankee_, and finally with late work
like the satire of Sherlock Holmes in "A Double-Barreled Detective Story"
and the philosophical distance of _Letters from Earth_.
The section on travel writing explains at a higher degree of detail how
Mark Twain plays the role of tourist in _Innocents Abroad_, a precursor to
what would later be popularly referred to as the Ugly American. Perhaps
more notably, that book altered the format in which his writing appeared.
To become a "scribbler of books," as he would denote this stage of his
career in _Life on the Mississippi_, is a remarkable elevation of one who
began as a writer of humorous squibs. Messent pays considerable attention
to _A Tramp Abroad_, a work most often mentioned by other scholars in
passing as a book taken up in the midst of the difficult composition of
_Huckleberry Finn_. Messent persuasively argues that _A Tramp Abroad_
maximizes the best impulses of Twain's first travel book and benefits from
a more self-conscious and seasoned awareness of what it means to be a
tourist: "Twain engages issues that have since become central to the travel
narrative. He shows how tourism affects, and promotes a false version of
the countries it colonises. He is aware, too, of the mutual part both guest
and host play as this occurs" (49). Turning to the American travel books,
Messent notes the quality of bildungsroman that shapes _Roughing It_ as
well as a willingness to digress and to focus on tales about story telling.
This latter tendency continues and is exaggerated in _Life on the
Mississippi_ while also showing Twain's interest in retrospection, which
_Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_ would capitalize on, and the ways of
the South, which would help to focus his interest on the issue of racial
and class-based inequality in subsequent work.
The section of the chapter dealing with those two novels is equal in length
to that which covers all four of the travel narratives, and appropriately
so. Messent handles the narrative intricacies, problems, and themes with
accessible sophistication. His analysis focuses on archetypal qualities in
_Tom Sawyer_ as a mythology of American boyhood and the process of emerging
into adult society. In his treatment of _Huckleberry Finn_, Messent points
to its complex status as a realist text and its grappling with the issue of
race that has been so central to American culture.
The section on _A Connecticut Yankee_ and _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ similarly
emphasize the degrees of complexity that Twain takes on in each narrative's
attempt to frame an American identity. Twain's time-travel fantasy begins
as a celebration of American virtue in response to Matthew Arnold's
criticism of America but ends with a dystopian apocalypse as conflicted
about the present as it is about the past. _Pudd'nhead Wilson_, on the
other hand, returns to the region and era of the earlier novels, but
complicates and ironizes the racial issues even more than in _Huckleberry
Finn_. All of this makes for a very packed chapter, one that might have
profitably been divided into two or three.
Given the clarity and depth of Messent's accounts of the texts and his
subtle interpretive framing of them, other chapters disappoint because they
do not rise to the level of this central, well-executed chapter. The second
and fourth chapters in particular are either so scant or misdirected that
they raise questions about their purposes. "Contexts," the second chapter,
concerns me for what its title suggests but its contents insufficiently
deliver. Only ten pages in total, this chapter begins with some general
comments about events that occurred during Twain's lifetime, but then
segues into some of the various critical responses to his work, leading
with Toni Morrison's assessment of _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. These
critical responses seem more appropriate to the fourth chapter, and some of
it is repeated there, leading one to wonder why it was inserted in the
"Contexts" chapter. The balance of "Contexts" deals with the division
between the actual man and his authorial persona, which I would argue
belongs in the first chapter, "Mark Twain's life." Moreover, a chapter
titled "Contexts" might have more fruitfully expanded upon cultural
developments that frame, influence, and are addressed in the writings,
beyond the few slight gestures in this direction with general references to
the Civil War or late-nineteenth-century technological progress. Surveying
the chapter retrospectively, one comes away with the sense that material
that is better suited to other chapters ended up here to fill out the
section into a still rather-too-short chapter. A more purposeful execution
would have expanded on what the title promises and reallocated material
that belongs elsewhere. Messent does occasionally refer to historical
contexts later, during his account of some of the works in chapter 3, and
these instances generally work more effectively because they serve to
illuminate an aspect of the writing. In chapter 2, however, they form a
loose catalog that lacks a clear relevance.
The final chapter, "Critical reception and the late works"--also only ten
pages in length, so it hardly does justice to its title--is another area of
concern. To be sure, an undergraduate introduction need not address the
entire history of critical reception, but a slightly more detailed account
of how the responses to Twain's writing have evolved, how contemporary
criticism has paralleled the emergence of other social developments, and
how it treats the texts differently than earlier commentary did would be
useful. Limiting his commentary to a relative handful of critics, Messent
also privileges Twain's transnationalism, which has arisen as a critical
angle in recent years. Messent writes: "By transnationalism, we mean the
cultural intersections and exchanges that take place between nations, and
the way we can then read American Literature, and (in this case) Twain's
writing in particular, as composed of a series of negotiations between
national and international spaces" (115-16). Messent also foregrounds
transnationalism in the section on travel writing in chapter 3 and in his
discussion of _A Connecticut Yankee_. As a professor at the University of
Nottingham, Messent has a British perspective that affords him authority in
measuring that aspect of Twain's work. However, the weight that Messent
applies to this critical perspective is arguably too heavy and reflects a
bias about contemporary globalism that skews the introduction as well as
risking its consideration of the nineteenth century in presentism.
The last chapter "Guide to further reading," is useful though far from
exhaustive. Messent lists secondary sources of biography, bibliography,
criticism, and internet sites in thirteen categories. There are any number
of titles that could well have been included here, but there is nothing
listed that should not be. The "Notes" are also useful references to
sources that Messent has relied on in his commentary. However, in a couple
of instances, they raise questions about sourcing. For example, in at least
two cases Messent cites one of his own earlier works to source a quote that
he has drawn from another text, Howells in one and Bakhtin in another.
Given that he includes full citations for the original sources in his
previous work, it's not at all clear why the second-hand references appear
in the _Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain_. This is not a large matter,
but it does exemplify for undergraduates a practice that is generally
discouraged when, in teaching the responsibilities of scholarship, we
stress the importance of tracking a quotation to its source to insure its
reliability and to understand its context.
Despite these reservations about organization and proportion, the core of
Messent's book is an effective introduction of its subject, especially
valuable for its target audience; indeed, I've recommended it to my own
students. Books in a series are often formulated to a template that is not
one of the author's own devising, and I suspect that some of my concerns
derive from that requirement of publication. My reservations stem, however,
from my regard for the standard that Messent has set in his earlier work.
He rises to that standard throughout most of this volume; the lapses,
though, are the more glaring because of the quality when the book is on the
mark.
=========================================================================
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:18:06 -0700
Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From: Arianne <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: MT "Mental Photography"
In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
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Thanks, I'm must look into that book which gathered the Buffalo Express
articles. You are very kind to
let me know. I will proceed cautiously.
Arianne Laidlaw