Guldurnit, there's his anti-imperialism snaking it's head in agin... On Tue, 2011-11-08 at 09:32 -0800, Ellen Komp wrote: > Don't forget this exchange between Huck and Tom, from Tom Sawyer Abroad: > > "A crusade is a war to recover the Holy Land from the paynim." > > "Which Holy Land?" > > "Why, the Holy Land=97there ain't but one." > > "What do we want of it?" > > "Why, can't you understand? It's in the hands of the paynim, and it's > our duty to take it away from them." > > "How did we come to let them git hold of it?" > > "We didn't come to let them git hold of it. They always had it." > > "Why, Tom, then it must belong to them, don't it?" > > "Why of course it does. Who said it didn't?" > > I studied over it, but couldn't seem to git at the right of it, no way. I s= > ays: > > "It's too many for me, Tom Sawyer. If I had a farm and it was mine, > and another person wanted it, would it be right for him to=97" > > "Oh, shucks! you don't know enough to come in when it rains, Huck > Finn. It ain't a farm, it's entirely different. You see, it's like > this. They own the land, just the mere land, and that's all they DO > own; but it was our folks, our Jews and Christians, that made it holy, > and so they haven't any business to be there defiling it. It's a > shame, and we ought not to stand it a minute. We ought to march > against them and take it away from them." > > "Why, it does seem to me it's the most mixed-up thing I ever see! Now, > if I had a farm and another person=97" > > "Don't I tell you it hasn't got anything to do with farming? Farming > is business, just common low-down business: that's all it is, it's all > you can say for it; but this is higher, this is religious, and totally > different." > > "Religious to go and take the land away from people that owns it?" > > "Certainly; it's always been considered so." > > Jim he shook his head, and says: > > "Mars Tom, I reckon dey's a mistake about it somers=97dey mos' sholy is. > I's religious myself, en I knows plenty religious people, but I hain't > run across none dat acts like dat." > > > > On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 12:44 PM, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> w= > rote: > > I recently published, on YouTube, a video of my reading chapter 13 of > > The Innocents Abroad. =A0It received a comment of some degree of > > astonishment on the degree of dislike Twain held for the Ottoman Empire. > > I replied with a remark to the effect that in some part he was reacting > > to the elitism he perceived in the Muslims, ie how anything that > > Christians come into contact with is defiled. > > > > I wanted to research this a bit further and found a paper presented by > > one Ben Rejeb, Lotfi, "Mark Twain, the Ottoman Empire and Palestine". > > The paper is not available but the abstract describes it: =A0"... This > > paper will explore the sources of that vision, Twains orientalism and > > his modes of expression, as well as the interplay of fancy and reality, > > of humor and seriousness, of childrens fantasies and historico-political > > designs." > > > > The paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Studies > > Association. =A0My print out of the abstract does not contain the date of > > the meeting. > > > > Would anyone care to comment about this? > >