I want to thank Robert Champ for that admirable bit of literary analysis. That was just the kind of posting I look forward to. Now, give me some time to digest it. I'm slowly working my way through Neider's edition of Twain's autobiography and I've seen a large variety of tangental subjects. An interesting note about Huck's moral/ethical development, Tom Blankenship (the model for Huck) is said to have become justice of the peace in Montana. I guess he really did take off for the territories. On another note, the new book to be reviewed contains Twain's work on Joan of Arc. I'd love to get a copy of this, however, I couldn't in all consciousness guarantee to be able to compose a review, so I must refrain from requesting a copy. I have to be careful about this internet thing, I'm new to it and I've found that it's really eating into my work production time. I haven't had this much fun since graduate school. I had never heard mention of Twain's book until this recent announcement on the Net and a short mention by Twain, himself, in his autobiography. The only reason I knew of it was because of a tendency to spend idle hours in a book store in Portland, Oregon during a long stretch of unemployment. It's been several years since I read the book and my copy is on loan to my librarian friend. We did discuss the fact that the book is virtually unknown and came to the conclusion that this was largely because of the subject, herself. Joan is a very difficult subject because she does not fit into accepted female roles and it would seem that she is percieved as threatening. I recall getting the feeling that Twain had fallen in love with his topic and the entire book has a worshipful flavor. Is anyone out there in Twain-L land familiar with this work? I'd like to hear any ideas regarding why this work is so unknown. Twain's mention in his autobiography leads me to believe he considered it a success, that he was able to craft it into a form he found acceptable. Scott Holmes