Mark Twain Visits the Holy Land

Submitted by scott on Fri, 02/02/2024 - 17:58

Mark Twain’s journey through “The Holy Land”, as described in his book “The Innocents Abroad” , tells of his disenchantment with the Biblical tales he grew up with. This was not the land of “milk and honey” he might have expected. He did not hear the cooing of the turtledove. The land Twain experienced was geographically the same location but the landscape was not as found in those tales. By the same token, the land Twain visited is not what we find there today. It is an ancient land that had been occupied by Neolithic peoples.

Mark Twain and George Washington Cable

Submitted by scott on Fri, 09/29/2023 - 08:38

Just some thoughts regarding Sam and GW Cable, I had not spent much time examining Cable’s writings, or his life in general, only being amused by Sam’s increasing animosity towards Cable as their lecture tour continued. I had assumed, because of the material he read from on the tour, that Cable was attracted to the Creole culture. Such was not the case. I suspect that Sam was most impressed by Cable’s early writings, without paying much attention to Cable’s biases.

Twain's Geography

Submitted by scott on Fri, 09/29/2023 - 08:22

There's not much new material being added to this site as my primary interest has been development of Twain's Geography.  I've been reading through Gary Scharnhorst's massive three volume biography of Mark Twain, "The Life of Mark Twain", The Early Years , The Middle Years and The Final Years, while incorporating bits of geographic and socio-cultural interest.  Also, for some time now I've been incorporating the entries from David Fears' "Mark Twain Day By Day", courtesy of the Center for Mark Twain Studies where David Fears had generously donated h

Sam Clemens Goes West

Submitted by scott on Tue, 03/28/2023 - 20:18

Sam Clemens, July of 1861, found himself escapting the Civil War by heading west to the Nevada Territory, Carson City. His brother, Orion, had been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory and Sam had financed the trip. They departed from St. Joseph, Missouri on the Overland Stage.

Richard Francis Burton made the same journey the previous year. Burton was a man Bram Stoker described as “steel”. “He would go through you like a sword.” He was also quite detailed in his journal of the trip, far more than was Sam Clemens.

Mark Twain's Opinion on North American Indians

Submitted by scott on Mon, 03/27/2023 - 09:30

I recently asked a group of Mark Twain scholars about a comment in the notes section of the book “Heretical Fictions…”, that Twain had become "sympathetic toward and even admiring of Indians in the final decades of his life." My question drew little comment but I did receive a recommendation for a Masters Thesis from William and Mary College written by Carol Van Dessel Vaughn, “Mark Twain, Richard Irving Dodge, and the Indian: Myth and Disillusionment”, 1984.

Tricksters, Dialects and the story structures of Mark Twain

Submitted by scott on Tue, 02/14/2023 - 09:21

Sam Clemens, from his earliest days writing squibs for his brother’s newspapers, dealt with perceived issues with humor. This was his medium all through his life. The issues changed and perhaps he became a bit more acerbic in his later career, but the humorous vein remained. He employed a number of techniques, many deriving from his early days listening to the stories of his Uncle Dan’l.

Sam Clemens Returns to the Mississippi River

Submitted by scott on Sat, 02/04/2023 - 11:32

Excerpts from Life on the Mississippi

AFTER twenty-one years' absence, I felt a very strong desire to see the river again, and the steamboats, and such of the boys as might be left; so I resolved to go out there. I enlisted a poet for company, and a stenographer to 'take him down,' and started westward about the middle of April. [LOTM p 247]

Mark Twain, Fredrick Douglass and Huckleberry Finn

Submitted by scott on Sun, 01/29/2023 - 08:13

Although “Twain’s Geography” has been removed from the Web, I continue to work on it on my home computer. I have been incorporating David Fears’ “Mark Twain Day By Day” entries, courtesy of the Center from Mark Twain Studies. I had reached the summer of 1880, when the Clemens family summered at Quarry Farm. August 3rd saw the arrival and speech of Fredrick Douglass at the Emancipation Day celebrations in Elmira, just a short distance from the farm.

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