I've been looking at some papers on Mark Twain's Orientalism, reportedly influenced by the materialism of the "gilded age". In Innocents Abroad he burlesques, and downright attacks, the Pilgrim's orientalism but seemingly replaces it with his own. A number of his pre -existing fantasies are dispelled, a common them throughout the book, some of which originated from Tales of the Arabian Nights. Sir Richard Burton translated those tales. I'm curious if Twain ever remarked on Burton. -- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. http://bscottholmes.com