Constructing Mark Twain: New Directions in ScholarshipMichael J. Kiskis, Laura E. Skandera-Trombley University of Missouri Press, 2001 - 252 pages The thirteen essays in this collection combine to offer a complex and deeply nuanced picture of Samuel Clemens. With the purpose of straying from the usual notions of Clemens (most notably the Clemens/Twain split that has ruled Twain scholarship for over thirty years), the editors have assembled contributions from a wide range of Twain scholars. As a whole, the collection argues that it is time we approach Clemens not as a shadow behind the literary persona but as a complex and intricate creator of stories, a creator who is deeply embedded in the political events of his time and who used a mix of literary, social, and personal experience to fuel the movements of his pen. The essays illuminate Clemens's connections with people and events not usually given the spotlight and introduce us to Clemens as a man deeply embroiled in the process of making literary gold out of everyday experiences. From Clemens's wonderings on race and identity to his looking to family and domesticity as defining experiences, from musings on the language that Clemens used so effectively to consideration of the images and processes of composition, these essays challenge long-held notions of why Clemens was so successful and so influential a writer. While that search itself is not new, the varied approaches within this collection highlight markedly inventive ways of reading the life and work of Samuel Clemens. |
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... effect. But Sam did not pick the opiate; he administered what he was given, providing pain relief and sedation in a terrible situation.) Sam had to bring Henry's body home to his mother and family. That trip and arrival could not have ...
... effects . Also , we have the problematic advantage of retrospection , and accordingly we can recognize the patterns and sequences , the supposed causations . To answer any resulting sense of biographical certainty , deter- minism , or ...
... effects of Sam Clemens within the family . On July 19 , 1877 , he wrote to Clara , aged three : I have bought two bath tubs and two dolls . . . for you and Susie . One of the dolls is named Hosannah Mariah and she is in very delicate ...
... effect upon the child's state of mind ; for it would know , with its mature two years ' experience , that no promise of any kind . was ever made to a child in our house and not rigidly kept . So this child would quiet down at this point ...
... effects of inconsistent parenting reveals how far his opinions were in advance of his culture's norms. In 2001 how many children have been trained by their parents' random rewards to wheedle and whine? Now how many parents punish only ...
Contents
13 | |
28 | |
To his preferred friends he revealed his true character | 50 |
Mark Twains Mechanical Marvels | 72 |
Steamboats Cocaine and Paper Money | 87 |
Mark Twain Isabel Lyon and the Talking Cure | 101 |
The Minstrel and the Detective | 122 |
Huck Jim and the BlackandWhite Fallacy | 139 |
Black Genes and White Lies | 169 |
Mark Twain in Large and Small | 191 |
Who Killed Mark Twain? Long Live Samuel Clemens | 218 |
CONTRIBUTORS | 239 |