I myself am withholding judgment until Donald Trump can address this matter at his next press conference. -Steve Hoffman, Takoma Park MD On 2/19/2017 7:12 PM, Barbara Schmidt wrote: > I am posting the following on behalf of Joe B. Fulton. > ~~~~~ > > > In his January 30, 2017, review of my book _Mark Twain under Fire: > Reception and Reputation, Criticism and Controversy, 1851-2015_, Kevin Mac > Donnell criticized my inclusion of certain material in my book. I feel that > clarification is necessary. As Mac Donnell said in his review, there is > more to the story. > > > _Mark Twain under Fire_ is a history of Mark Twain criticism from its > earliest stages to very recent criticism. In the book, I rely on many > archival documents to discuss the forces that have contributed--and still > contribute--to the scholarship on America's foremost writer and cultural > icon. It is possible that, reading Mac Donnell's review, a reader might > form the impression that my use of quotations in illuminating the > controversy surrounding the Mark Twain Project on pages 142-144 of _Mark > Twain under Fire_ may infringe on copyright and may even be potentially > defamatory. This would be an unfortunate, and inaccurate, impression. > > > Let me begin by describing the material. The correspondence written by many > individuals to many different people was bundled by someone (Mac Donnell > asserts it was Robert Hirst, director of the Mark Twain Project), given a > title page, consecutively paginated, and dated July 16, 1985. Mac Donnell > alleges that the person who bundled these letters together distributed them > to four Twain scholars. > > > Two of these copies were eventually donated to the Mark Twain Archives at > Elmira College in Elmira, New York, where they have been available to > scholars for years. Both have title pages and are dated. The copy I used > was from the Louis J. Budd Papers and has all the earmarks of a book: a > cover illustration, a title, a subtitle that calls it "A Selected Edition > in Photofacsimile," a table of contents, chapter titles and epigraphs, and > consecutive pagination. I refer to this collection in my book with the > abbreviation _MTPC_, from part of the title on the cover: "The Mark Twain > Project's Correspondence." I quote from only ten documents out of this > 214-page bundle. All ten are on letterhead, one from the United States > Information Agency. All are essential to the critical history I was writing. > > > I quoted from these ten documents briefly, within fair use guidelines, and > with the permission of the Mark Twain Archives. As for whether or not any > of these documents are defamatory, I do not take sides in my book as to the > charges levelled in those documents. I quoted from the documents in the > _MTPC_ because they illuminate a dynamic within this critical community > that is essential to the subject of my history. As Mac Donnell pointed out > in his review, one _must_ discuss the Mark Twain Project in a book like > _Mark Twain under Fire_; I would argue, too, that the Mark Twain Project > has exerted such a tremendous influence on scholarship and criticism, that > no history of Mark Twain criticism can be written without appreciating the > conflicts that occurred during the 1980s among important members of this > critical community. In my treatment, I believe I approached the matter > legally, fairly, and responsibly. > > > Dr. Joe B. Fulton, Baylor University >