Dear fellow Twainians, i have been commissioned to write the article about _HF_ for a collection of papers on 19th c. American novels. The collection is supposed to be used by students in 300 level courses. After a moment of exhilaration i am now worried about what looks like a pretty formidable task. I have published some Twain articles in English and (more) in German, but i am more and more self-consciously aware of the fact there are many here who are more qualified than i am. Which is why i'd appreciate advice on recent scholarship that i might have missed out on, and more so, which typical mistakes to avoid. best wishes, w Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck Dept. of English / Centre for Security and Society Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg Rempart St. 15 D-79098 Freiburg Germany