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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 47
... never fully or consciously admit- ted) push to practice pathography. It is one thing to remove the gilt to see the man; it is another thing to toss gobs of agenda-laden muck with the hope of forging a critical and literary identity not ...
... never been thought simple; his relationships (all of them) were nothing if not complex. And the relationship between him and the critics and com- mentators who have worked off of his life and writings remains among the most complex of ...
... never wanted to escape the "domestic"; in fact, his identity depended heavily upon values embedded in home and hearth. For evidence, I will look toAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, "The Death of Jean," and the Autobiography. My experience ...
... never suspecting it. She lies there, and I sit here—writing, busying myself, to keep my heart from breaking. How dazzling the sunshine is flooding the hills around! It is like a mockery. (AU, 246-47) Twain's narrative distance is ...
... never be seen . Sam and Livy observed anniversaries of Susie's death in a silence that would , in my opinion , also cast a pall on Christmas and make some other annual holidays , such as Easter , unbearable . Sam and Livy buried ...
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 |