Several of Mark Twain's best friends and in-laws were well educated: Howells, Tesla... His wife attended college. Seems their education shone through, for him. Did he attend any college? I'm glad to read all these interesting responses, comments, objections. > Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:46:17 +0000 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: When political posters quote Mark Twain > To: [log in to unmask] > > I think Kevin is entirely right about this. Twain's distrust of the common= > voter and belief that the votes of the wealthy and educated should weigh m= > ore than those of the poor and ignorant is explicitly (and, as Kevin sugges= > ts, non-satirically) laid out in "The Curious Republic of Gondour," is stro= > ngly implied in The Gilded Age, and, I would say, is generally consistent t= > hroughout Twain's writings. I believe Lou Budd also suggested something of= > the sort many years ago in Mark Twain, Social Philosopher. > > P. S. In "The Curious Republic," it's the narrator's desire to return to h= > is "dear native land" that's satirized. --Jim L.=20 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Mac Don= > nell > Sent: Friday, September 25, 2015 2:53 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: When political posters quote Mark Twain > > Yup, I think the case can be made either way. The narrator was glad to get = > back home, so this could signal it was satire, but it reads as if it is a s= > erious proposal, and I've always thought Twain was seriously floating the n= > otion (the more educated you are the more votes you get, etc.). If I weren'= > t snowed under on other writing projects I'd be tempted to dive into this o= > ne and read his letters to Howells (the sketch was published by Howells in = > The Atlantic Monthly), Twain's other comments on voting like Pap in HF, Twa= > in's political speeches and letters of the 1870s-80s, etc. > > 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