Dear forum members,

I'm hoping to pick your collective brains about any memory of Twain crossing
paths with William Wells Brown, or any evidence about Twain having read *
Clotel* (or its variations: *Clotelle*, *Miralda*, etc).  The original *
Clotel* wasn't published in the US originally, but since Twain spent some
time overseas, I thought he might have stumbled on it there.  I checked
Gribben's *Reconstruction*, but see no mention of Twain owning any of
Brown's works (unless there's something in the rumored updated edition), and
I read a few articles that talk about them in conjunction with one another,
but nothing that would indicate Twain having read Brown, or that they had
met.

Any leads?

Thanks and have a happy fourth,

Michael MacBride
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
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