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The Mythologizing of Mark Twain

The Mythologizing of Mark Twain

Edited by Sara Davis and Philip D. Beidler

208 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 0.60 in

Paperback
9780817302016
Published: October 1984

$29.95

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eBook
9780817388614
Published: September 2014

$29.95

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Description
Contents
Authors

Readers of Mark Twain seldom doubt his genius, but defining that genius and locating its source continue to challenge students of American literature. Equally elusive is an explanation of the intriguing phenomenon of Twain as a mythic figure, both shaper and embodier of an American mythos. Perhaps no single critical approach can adequately assess the complex force behind Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain. This native genius, our quintessential artist, rightfully provokes a number of powerful responses, as these original essays demonstrate.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction / Sara deSaussure Davis

Part I: America Mythologizes Twain

Collecting the Works of Mark Twain / John C. Gerber

"Norman Rockwell Sentimentality": The Rockwell Illustrations for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn / Allison R. Ensor

Part II: Twain Mythologizes Twain

Autobiography as Property: Mark Twain and His Legend / Alan Gribben

Mark Twain, "Funniest Man in the World" / Henry Nash Smith

A "Talent for Posturing": The Achievement of Mark Twain's Public Personality / Louis J. Budd

Life on the Mississippi Revisited / James M. Cox

Part III: Twain Mythologizes America and the Universe