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Mark Twain is one of the best-known figures of American literature. This broad-ranging
companion brings together many of the most respected American and European critics and a number of up-and-coming scholars to provide an overview of Twain, his background, his writings, and his place in American literary history. It places especial emphasis on the ways in which the author's works remain both relevant and important for a twenty-first century audience. The book approaches Twain through six subject headings: his cultural and historical context; his relationships with other writers; his role in the larger professional world of publishing and performing; studies of his travel writing; studies of his fictional works; and readings of his role as a humorist. A concluding essay evaluates the changing landscape of Twain criticism. This organisation provides a strong basis for the exploration and re-evaluation of Twain's work and cultural importance.
List of contents
Notes on Contributors x
Note on Referencing xvii
Acknowledgments xix
PART I The Cultural Context 1 1 Mark Twain and Nation 3
Randall Knoper 2 Mark Twain and Human Nature 21
Tom Quirk 3 Mark Twain and America's Christian Mission Abroad 38
Susan K. Harris 4 Mark Twain and Whiteness 53
Richard S. Lowry 5 Mark Twain and Gender 66
Peter Stoneley 6 Twain and Modernity 78
T. J. Lustig 7 Mark Twain and Politics 94
James S. Leonard 8 "The State, it is I": Mark Twain, Imperialism, and the New Americanists 109
Scott Michaelsen PART II Mark Twain and Others 123 9 Twain, Language, and the Southern Humorists 125
Gavin Jones 10 The "American Dickens": Mark Twain and Charles Dickens 141
Christopher Gair 11 Nevada Influences on Mark Twain 157
Lawrence I. Berkove 12 The Twain-Cable Combination 172
Stephen Railton 13 Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, and Realism 186
Peter Messent PART III Mark Twain: Publishing and Performing 209 14 "I don't know A from B" Mark Twain and Orality 211
Thomas D. Zlatic 15 Mark Twain and the Profession of Writing 228
Leland Krauth 16 Mark Twain and the Promise and Problems of Magazines 243
Martin T. Buinicki 17 Mark Twain and the Stage 259
Shelley Fisher Fishkin 18 Mark Twain on the Screen 274
R. Kent Rasmussen and Mark Dawidziak PART IV Mark Twain and Travel 291 19 Twain and the Mississippi 293
Andrew Dix 20 Mark Twain and the Literary Construction of the American West 309
Gary Scharnhorst 21 Mark Twain and Continental Europe 324
Holger Kersten 22 Mark Twain and Travel Writing 338
Jeffrey Alan Melton PART V Mark Twain' Fiction 355 23 Mark Twain's Short Fiction 357
Henry B. Wonham 24 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Prince and the Pauper as Juvenile Literature 371
Linda A. Morris 25 Plotting and Narrating "Huck" 387
Victor Doyno 26 Going to Tom's Hell in Huckleberry Finn 401
Hilton Obenzinger 27 History, "Civilization," and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 416
Sam Halliday 28 Mark Twain's Dialects 431
David Lionel Smith 29 Killing Half A Dog, Half A Novel: The Trouble With The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and The Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins 441
John Bird 30 Dreaming Better Dreams: The Late Writing of Mark Twain 449
Forrest G. Robinson PART VI Mark Twain's Humor 467 31 Mark Twain's Visual Humor 469
Louis J. Budd 32 Mark Twain and Post-Civil War Humor 485
Cameron C. Nickels 33 Mark Twain and Amiable Humor 500
Gregg Camfield 34 Mark Twain and the Enigmas of Wit 513
Bruce Michelson PART VII A Retrospective 531 35 The State of Mark Twain Studies 533
Alan Gribben Index 555
About the author
Peter Messent is Emeritus Professor of Modern American Literature at Nottingham University. He is the author of
The Crime Fiction Handbook (2012), the prize-winning
Mark Twain and Male Friendship (2009),
The Short Works of Mark Twain: A Critical Study (2001),
Mark Twain (1997),
Ernest Hemingway (1992), and
New Readings of the American Novel: Narrative Theory and its Application (1990).
Louis J. Budd died after this book was first published, in 2011. He was James B. Duke Professor (Emeritus) of American Literature at Duke University, where he taught American Literature from 1981 to 1991. He was also the author of
Mark Twain: Social Philosopher (reissued 2001) and
Our Mark Twain: The Making of his Public Personality (1983) and the editor of
Mark Twain: The Contemporary Reviews (1999). He served as founding president of the Mark Twain Circle of America
Summary
* * One of the most broad-ranging volumes to appear on Mark Twain in recent years. * * Brings together respected Twain critics and a number of younger scholars in the field to provide an overview of this central figure in American literature.
