Kevin, You're always going to be my hero. Your erudition is incomparable and let all the others say what they might. The work stands for itself. Illegitimi non carborundum. Your friend and fan in Minnesota,Rick PS Give Donna my best Richard Talbot 1531 West Idaho Avenue Falcon Heights, MN 55108-2118 (651) 646-6624 (651) 280 8734 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charles Cogar Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 1:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Should go directly to it Thanks everyone for sharing this. I always thought the pen name was attributed to a river depth call of "...mark, twain...." meaning a depth of twelve feet? Kindly, Charles Cogar Omaha, Nebraska -----Original Message----- From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac Donnell Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:50 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Should go directly to it I must thank Mr Durrett for his posting. I'd have done it myself --I have no false modesty. And none of the genuine stuff either. The LA Book Review piece by David Hernandez has spread to many places. I was informed by someone that a website that tracks and ranks media postings that go"viral" ranked this piece 1,238 out of about 12,500 media postings that appeared in that same 24 hour period. That was after it got posted at salon.com. I'm not sure how viral that really is, but while "going viral" online I was at home nursing a truly painful abdominal infection with two antibiotics that had entertaining side effects (cf 1601). Too much information --I know-- but I like the irony, and as I get older my appreciation for irony is exceeded only by my appreciation for antibiotics. It also got pinged as "noteworthy research" or "articles worth noting" or something like that at The Chronicle of Higher Education, got a notice and link at the New Yorker website, and even got blogged about in Italy. There have been a bunch of Facebook "likes" attached to the LA Book Review piece and a bunch of tweets, but I belong to neither and don't follow any of that. Whatever Kevin Mac Donnells you may see on Facebook are not me. Comments I've read in some other places lead me to conclude that the less a reader "gets" what they are reading, the more likely they feel compelled to post something. Of course, none of these people are reading my original article; they are reading and responding to a short piece about my article, and some of the subsequent postings about it leave out even more details which begins to distort what I said, reminding me of the old game of "rumor." Some of these subsequent postings would have you thinking some things that I never said and wholly unaware of many things I did say in How Sam Clemens Found Mark Twain. Anyway, it's nice to see Twain in the popular media and I hope the bottom line is that it draws some new subscriptions to the Mark Twain Journal and gets people to read his writings. Kevin @ Mac Donnell Rare Books 9307 Glenlake Drive Austin TX 78730 512-345-4139 Member: ABAA, ILAB ************************* You may browse our books at www.macdonnellrarebooks.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2013 10:10 AM Subject: Should go directly to it > Folks: > > I copied-and-pasted an intermediate step. This > will take you right to the Atlantic Newswire page. > > I hope. > > Dang, sorry for the rabbit trail. > > http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/10/now-we-know-how-samuel- > clemens-became-mark-twain/70161/ > > Roger Durrett > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2014.0.4142 / Virus Database: 3604/6716 - Release Date: 10/02/13 >