The Mark Twain Circle of America will sponsor the following sessions at this month's MLA convention in Chicago: Session #61: MARK TWAIN AND DIFFERENCE* Monday, December 27th 5:15-6:30 p.m., Columbian Room, Hyatt Regency Hotel Chair: Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Univ. of Texas, Austin 1. " 'You Could Hear Him in Illinois': Deafness, Laughter and Mark Twain," Christopher Krentz, Univ. of Virginia 2. "'Concerning the Jews' at One Hundred," Eliza Russi Lowen McGraw, Vanderbilt University 3. "_Following the Equator_: Twain's Redescription of Civilization," Bong Eun Kim, Koisin Univ., Korea 4. "Understanding Mark Twain's Female Adolescents Through the Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir," Carla Anderson, Michigan State University *A sign language interpreter is scheduled for this session. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Session #338. NEW DIRECTIONS IN MARK TWAIN STUDIES Tuesday, December 28th 3:30-4:45 p.m., Atlanta Room, Hyatt Regency Hotel Chair: Laura Elise Skandera-Trombley, Coe Coll. 1. "Mutual Influences: Mark Twain's and C.D. Warner's Views of Children in Their Early Work," Ryuichi Asayama, Soka Univ., Japan 2. "Back to the Future: Twain, Bellamy, and the Techno-utopian Impulse," Joel Dinerstein, Univ. of Texas, Austin 3. "The 'Circus Side' of Twain's 'Object Lesson in Democracy': _A Connecticut Yankee_ and the Economy of Apocalyptic Spectacle," Charles Martin, Florida State Univ. 4. "Mark Twain's _Pudd'nhead Wilson_ and the Influence of Slave Narratives," James O. Brecher, Univ. of South Florida --------------------------------------- The Mark Twain Circle will also sponsor a reception at the Palmer House (17 E. Monroe) on December 28th from 5:15-7:15. (Check with the Concierge for the room number.) Those of you who wend their way over to the Palmer House from the Hyatt (seven blocks, they tell me) will be rewarded--with food, drink, convivial conversation, a report from _Huck Finn_ CD-ROM Project Manager Marta Werner, and........a surprise or two. See you there!