Always nice to read about the same issue again and again. I agree with Jim (as well as Gary). Clemens was a clever fellow and surely could hold two kinda opposing thoughts in his head: Drinks and the drink. https://marktwainstudies.com/mark-twain-libation-a-talk-by-the-2017-louis-j-budd-award-winner/ Happy new year! Laura On Sat, Dec 30, 2023 at 11:14 AM James E Caron <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Here's two or three cents worth of thought. > (for who can resist a good academic controversy, especially when there can > be no definitive answer?) > > First there is the inference from 0000002(etc) that the answer to the > riddle is SLC's state of mind about choosing a nom-de-plume that sticks, > obviously speculation, which is fine, because all the arguments rest first > on speculation, with varying sorts of evidence to back them up. > > The notion that SLC was tutored by Wm Wright on the issue, however, doesn't > work because Wright was on an extended vacation back home to Iowa when Sam > first signed a squib "Mark Twain" in February 1863. Sam was hired to cover > for Wright, who doesn't return to Nevada until the end of the summer. > > Also, the claim that Sam knew his fate was to be a writer and so gave lots > of thought to the nom-de-plume is suspect, first because doing the sort of > journalism he was practicing in Nevada was not the same as a career as a > writer. > > The difference became apparent when Sam in the summer of 1864 very > seriously thought about quitting Nevada altogether and returning to the > river as a pilot in the pay of the Federal government: twice the salary he > was getting at the time from the SF Call. Mining stocks were devaluing from > the height of the 1863 boom, and he was not the hotshot in SF he was in > Nevada after being effectively exiled from the territory after the Sanitary > Fund fiasco. > > I agree with Kevin that having a nom-de-plume associated with beer drinking > would not have deterred Sam. In early 1863, his main audience were all "the > boys" working the mines. It would be a good joke to go with all the joking > and bantering and hoaxing he had been doing before "Mark Twain" appeared. > AND... he would surely have also associated the name with the river from > his piloting days, as Max argues in his interesting article about the > autobiography. > > Final thought: why is there any controversy? Why can't it be that the bar > tab theory as well as the leadsman's cry are both the sources? Why choose > at all? > > (Sorry Kevin, but to me those speculations seem more probable, maybe > especially harnessed together, than the Vanity Fair argument.) > > The story Sam concocts for the Langdons about Isiah Sellers was necessary > to scrub the bar-tab story from the record, a very different circumstance > from the conviviality of Piper's Saloon. Wanting to appear as respectable > as possible, Sam was then all about the river and not about lager beer, as > 0000002(etc) suggests. His state of mind as he campaigns for Livy's hand > looks clear on the matter. > > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 29, 2023 at 4:25 PM <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > Those are interesting comments. But don't you think somebody like > > Clemens, afflicted with venereal disease, ADHD, and latent > > pedophilia--as a certain recent biography sensationally claims--would be > > the same sort of fellow to pick up his nom de plume in a bar? > > > > OK, seriously, my brief response to the latest Scharnhorst screed will > > appear in the next Mark Twain Journal. It will involve lager beer, pale > > ale, and another hoax that Alf Doten published that is also located in > > Piper's Saloon (and drew a crowd). > > > > Happy holidays everyone! > > > > Kevin > > @ > > Mac Donnell Rare Books > > 9307 Glenlake Drive > > Austin TX 78730 > > 512-345-4139 > > > > You can browse our books at: > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.macdonnellrarebooks.com__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!SbkyztoFml5yHGCda0PvEAJXN6r2lD1EAtzOiDXuyFEPAzp6EXX4P7tnqiOge_qbpfKpxejpxFLWDYqnUOu8$ > > > > > > ------ Original Message ------ > > From: [log in to unmask] > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Sent: 12/29/2023 3:06:10 PM > > Subject: Comment on the Nomme de Plume > > > > >I have been re-reading Gary Scharnhorst's fall 2023 MT Journal article > on > > Sam Clemens earning the nickname "Mark Twain" from a bar tab. I found the > > list of editors who copied the article on the topic interesting, while > > remembering that when Jules Verne wrote "In Search of The Castaways" in > > 1868 he had one of the characters say "A falsehood repeated a hundred > times > > does not become a truth by the mere force of repetition." I have trouble > > believing that Sam Clemens would allow a somewhat derogatory reference to > > his love of lager beer to become his trade mark. Before joining the staff > > of the Territorial Enterprise, Sam had written letters from a mining camp > > and signed them "Josh." Now Sam was on that newspaper's staff, working > with > > and doubtless being mentored by William Wright, who wrote under the > > colorful nomme de plume of Dan DeQuille. Ohio born Wright was six years > > Sam's senior. I am not aware that any of Sam's early Comstock Humor > writing > > at the paper in the fall of 1862 was signed. It was, however, clear to > > readers that the new local writer Sam Clemens was occasionally "roasting" > > his friend "The Unreliable" (opposition newspaper writer C. T. Rice). In > > the letter introducing Mark Twain, "the Unreliable" is used as the key to > > tell readers who is introducing the name "Mark Twain." I am also > > comfortable in the belief that William Wright would have steered Sam > > Clemens away from any of the "nommes" Sam had used in the past. While the > > "DeQuille" nomme captures Wright's love of writing, "Mark Twain" hearkens > > back to Sam's beloved days on the Mississippi River. Both DeQuille and > > Twain, as names, have a personal tie to the individual. In the February > 2, > > 1863 publication of his "letter" he has the dreamer greeted by "The > > Unreliable" as "Mark" in the text. I believe it is the longest piece of > > mixed roast and humor Sam Clemens ever wrote. He gave a great deal of > > thought to that piece. To me, the long letter and the use of the name in > > the text seem like the studied introduction of a permanent trade mark. > The > > all too common humorist name Josh was already shopworn by others, and had > > come to be associated with (if not the parent of the word) "joshing." Sam > > Clemens had more in mind. He was to be a writer. He had reached the point > > in his career to emerge with a permanent name that no one else could use, > > much like DeQuille. Meaningful to him, easy to say or read, and fitting > his > > self image and comfortable to him. I do not dismiss Kevin MacDonnell's > > source that the personification of a measure of depth into a name could > > well have come from Vanity Fair, but if so, between reading it and > writing > > it the pen name Mark Twain underwent a lot of thought by Samuel Langhorne > > Clemens. And then he launched it in the winter of 1862-63. > > > -- *Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. Joan Didion*