Hello, I'm a French student who studies English at University. I've just finished a dissertation for my MA; it includes a comparison between Mark Twain, The Gilded Age and Walt Whitman (about 90 Ko), "Democratic Vistas", with some comments concerning Carlyle's influences on these two authors. This study was meant as a historical approach of the Reconstruction era in the USA, therefore I did not focus too much on the stylistic characteristics of Twain and Whitman. However, if my work can provide anybody with a starting-point or be of any help, it would be great! Let me know! I would be very thankful if anyone could share some information with me concerning Huckleberry Finn- it is part of my syllabus this year. We are asked to study to what extent this novel is akin to a Bildungsroman. Another aspect of the program deals with Paul Auster's The Invention of Solitude, another with William Blake's Songs of Experience, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Any help or comment on either of these topics will be become, your personal impressions as native speakers or scholars will be mostly appreciated. I have already read some really interesting comments on HF, which related to the picaresque in the novel and a criticism onWas Huck Black and on Jane Smiley's book. If you have further information, please let me know. Thanks a lot. Nathalie Le Guelte. Louis LE GUELTE Laboratoire de Socioecologie, Conservation et Developpement 43 bd du 11 novembre 1918 69622 VILLEURBANNE CEDEX