A companion to Mark Twain / edited by Peter Messent and Louis J. Budd.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Messent, Peter, 1946-

Budd, Louis J.

Series:

Blackwell companions to literature and culture ; 37.

Blackwell companions to literature and culture ; 37

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Criticism and interpretation--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Twain, Mark.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Handbooks and manuals.

Physical Description:

xviii, 568 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2005.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Part I The Cultural Context 1

1 Mark Twain and Nation / Randall Knoper 3

2 Mark Twain and Human Nature / Tom Quirk 21

3 Mark Twain and America's Christian Mission Abroad / Susan K. Harris 38

4 Mark Twain and Whiteness / Richard S. Lowry 53

5 Mark Twain and Gender / Peter Stoneley 66

6 Twain and Modernity / T. J. Lustig 78

7 Mark Twain and Politics / James S. Leonard 94

8 "The State, it is I": Mark Twain, Imperialism, and the New Americanists / Scott Michaelsen 109

Part II Mark Twain and Others 123

9 Twain, Language, and the Southern Humorists / Gavin Jones 125

10 The "American Dickens": Mark Twain and Charles Dickens / Christopher Gair 141

11 Nevada Influences on Mark Twain / Lawrence I. Berkove 157

12 The Twain-Cable Combination / Stephen Railton 172

13 Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, and Realism / Peter Messent 186

Part III Mark Twain: Publishing and Performing 209

14 "I don't know A from B": Mark Twain and Orality / Thomas D. Zlatic 211

15 Mark Twain and the Profession of Writing / Leland Krauth 228

16 Mark Twain and the Promise and Problems of Magazines / Martin T. Buinicki 243

17 Mark Twain and the Stage / Shelley Fisher Fishkin 259

18 Mark Twain on the Screen / R. Kent Rasmussen, Mark Dawidziak 274

Part IV Mark Twain and Travel 291

19 Twain and the Mississippi / Andrew Dix 293

20 Mark Twain and the Literary Construction of the American West / Gary Scharnhorst 309

21 Mark Twain and Continental Europe / Holger Kersten 324

22 Mark Twain and Travel Writing / Jeffrey Alan Melton 338

Part V Mark Twain's Fiction 355

23 Mark Twain's Short Fiction / Henry B. Wonham 357

24 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Prince and the Pauper as Juvenile Literature / Linda A. Morris 371

25 Plotting and Narrating "Huck" / Victor Doyno 387

26 Going to Tom's Hell in Huckleberry Finn / Hilton Obenzinger 401

27 History, "Civilization," and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court / Sam Halliday 416

28 Mark Twain's Dialects / David Lionel Smith 431

29 Killing Half A Dog, Half A Novel: The Trouble With The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and The Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins / John Bird 441

30 Dreaming Better Dreams: The Late Writing of Mark Twain / Forrest G. Robinson 449

Part VI Mark Twain's Humor 467

31 Mark Twain's Visual Humor / Louis J. Budd 469

32 Mark Twain and Post-Civil War Humor / Cameron C. Nickels 485

33 Mark Twain and Amiable Humor / Gregg Camfield 500

34 Mark Twain and the Enigmas of Wit / Bruce Michelson 513

Part VII A Retrospective 531

35 The State of Mark Twain Studies / Alan Gribben 533.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1405123796

OCLC:

58546933

Publisher Number:

9781405123792 (hbk. : alk. paper)