...sounds to me as if he was reading something about Poe. Who at that time was already hailed as a genius, who had written poetry that wasn't exactly of the easy-access type, and whose ignominious end in the gutter was widely known -- Does that sound like a possibility? w. On Sun, 26 Sep 2021 00:29:03 -0700 Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Were there any stops made by the America on its journey south? It >seems unlikely that cholera would have been introduced at the outset, >from San Francisco. I read the "madeallthedifference" article but I >don't sense the kind of fatalism in Twain's poem that would arise from >deaths aboard the ship. It also seems very early in his career for >him to be too worried about being a genius. So, I remain a bit baffled >regarding the subject(s) of his open verse. I'm leaning towards the >idea that he is reacting to something he was reading. Passing out >dead drunk in an alley doesn't fit with my image of the man. > >On 9/25/21 3:36 PM, Barbara Schmidt wrote: >> I do not think there was any cholera aboard the steamer AMERICA when >> Clemens composed “Genius” if the date in the notebook of Dec. 21 is >correct >> and that is when he did indeed write “Genius.” >> >> There is no indication of the cause of death of the child on >Christmas Eve >> aboard the AMERICA and attributing it to cholera may be difficult to >prove. >> The AMERICA arrived in Nicaragua on Dec. 28, 1866 and there >encountered >> cholera. It was after Clemens boarded the SAN FRANCISCO that the >cholera >> spread among the passengers and the tone of his journal entries >changed. >> >> However ..... Notebook 7 is described as “chaotic” and without >seeing how >> the pages are bound in Notebook 7, it may be difficult to conclude >on just >> which leg of the journey the work was composed if those pages have >been >> disbound and reinserted at a later time. >> >> Barb >> >> On Saturday, September 25, 2021, Matt Seybold <[log in to unmask]> >wrote: >> >>> Jocelyn & I recently wrote about this, including scans of the >original >>> from Twain’s notebooks, courtesy of the Mark Twain Project: >>> >>> https://marktwainstudies.com/madeallthedifference/ >>> >>>> On Sep 25, 2021, at 3:53 PM, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> >>> wrote: >>>> I posted this quote on Facebook without any explanation and got >back >>> some curious responses. I'm wondering if anyone can add light to >>> why-where-and/or when: >>>> "Geniuses are people who dash off weird, wild, incomprehensible >poems >>> with astonishing facility, & then go & get booming drunk & sleep in >the >>> gutter…people who have genius do not pay their board, as a general >thing” >>>> I suspect he was reacting to someone being referred to as a >genius... Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck Dept. of English Centre for Security and Society Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg Rempart St. 15 D-79098 Freiburg Germany