Twain on AMLIT-L I am forwarding the message below from AMLIT-L for those that are interested, with the added motive of mentioning that there seems to consistently be sporadic (how's that for an oxymoron?) Twain threads on AMLIT-L. The address is <[log in to unmask]>. Travis ----------------------FORWARDED MESSAGE----------------------------- Since the original request for info on literary hoaxes was--I think-- looking for info on the 19th rather than the 20th century, AGL's comment on Whitman reviewing his own publications brings us back on line somewhat (I know, I drifted too, but that's what makes these discussions interesting--unlike *Melrose Place*, the end can never be determined by the start). In the same vein, in Dec. of 1870 Twain published a "review" of his own *Innocents Abroad* in *Galaxy*, a NY monthly. He attributed the review to the London *Saturday Review*, and wrote it as a spoof of how (he thought) a solemn, literal-minded English reviewer would respond to the American irreverence of *Innocents* (Sample sentence: "...the insolence, the impertinence, the presumption, the mendacity, and, above all, the majestic ignorance of this author.") Unfortunately, the joke backfired--everyone thought the review was genuine. Eventually, Twain was forced to offer $500 to anyone who could produce a copy of the "original" review from the *Saturday Review.* (for anyone that's interested, Justin Kaplan tells this story on p. 131 of his *Mr Clemens and Mark Twain*, still my favourite Twain bio.) Nick Mount Dalhousie U.