Mark Twain as Critic [by] Sydney J. Krause.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krause, Sydney J. (Sydney Joseph)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 308 p.) port.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Johns Hopkins University Press 2019

Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press [1967]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Originally published in 1967. Mark Twain's literary criticism is a significant branch of his writing that is relatively less explored and appreciated than his other writing. Sydney Krause analyzes the full range of Twain's criticism, much of which has lain neglected in notebooks, letters, marginalia, and autobiographical dictations. This body of work demonstrates that, in addition to being an acute critic given to close reading, Twain thought enough of his criticism to present much of it in an enveloping literary form. In his early criticism Twain used the mask of an ignorant fool (or Muggins), while in his later criticism he used the mask of a world-weary malcontent (or Grumbler). The resulting cross fire from extremes of innocence and experience proved effective against a wide range of literary targets. The Muggins dealt mainly with theater, journalism, oratory, and popular poetry; the grumbler with such writers as Goldsmith, Cooper, Scott, and Hare. Much of this criticism was an outgrowth of Twain's romanticism and therefore has importance for the history of American realism. Mark Twain's criticism was not wholly depreciatory, however. He liked Macaulay, Howells, Howe, Zola, and Wilbrandt, for example, because he found in some of their works the realization of history as an immediate presence. The evidence presented in this book challenges the view that Twain was not a serious student of the craft of writing; he possessed the combination of sensitivity and judgment that all great critics have.

Contents:

Cover

Copyright

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

PART I. Twain's Early Criticism: The Critic as Muggins

1. Mark Twain and the Critical Fool

2. Theatrical Criticism: A Dude before Nudes

3. Extravagant Romanticism: Playing Dumb

4. Of Journalism and Art: A Mad and a Frustrated Fool

5. Of Poetry and Sunday-School Tales: Anger and the Fool

PART II. Twain's Later Criticism: The Critic as Grumbler

6. The Grumbling Mark Twain

7. Boys, Girls, and Goldsmith: Sense vs. Sensibility

8. Cooper's Literary Offenses: Mark Twain in Wonderland

9. "The Sir Walter Disease": A Sick South and Sickened Mark Twain

10. Bret Harte: The Grumbling Realist's Friend and Foe

PART III. Twain's Appreciative Criticism: From History into Life

11. Macaulay: Living History by Antitheses

12. Howells and the Poetics of Appreciation

13. Howe and Zola: The Opposing Truth

14. Wilbrandt: The Tragic Conquest of Evil

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

"A bibliography of Mark Twain's criticism: his literary essays, miscellaneous critical commentaries ...": p. 296-302. Bibliographical footnotes .

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8018-0348-9

1-4214-3456-3

OCLC:

1128828291