Just a note to say what I’ve been up to. My main interest has been the context of Mark Twain’s life, as found in my site “Twain’s Geography” [https://twainsgeography.com/ ]. I’ve also become intrigue by this idea of “Make America Great Again” and just what period of time within which America was “Great”, as found in a much smaller (and much newer) site “Make America Great, Again?” [ https://magawhen.com/].
Just a note to say what I’ve been up to. My main interest has been the context of Mark Twain’s life, as found in my site “Twain’s Geography” [https://twainsgeography.com/ ]. I’ve also become intrigue by this idea of “Make America Great Again” and just what period of time within which America was “Great”, as found in a much smaller (and much newer) site “Make America Great, Again?” [ https://magawhen.com/].
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.
Found in "Mark Twain's Notebooks and Journals" Volume III (1883-1891):
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.
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
Mark Twain and Richard Francis Burton seem to have orbited without ever acknowledging each other. I’m not aware of any mention of Burton by Twain, nor of Twain by Burton, but there are a connections between these two men.
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.
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.
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.