A Companion to Mark Twain

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.

Notes on Contributors. Note on Referencing. Acknowledgments. PART I The Cultural Context. 1 Mark Twain and Nation ( Randall Knoper ). 2 Mark Twain and Human Nature ( Tom Quirk ). 3 Mark Twain and America′s Christian Mission Abroad ( Susan K. Harris ). 4 Mark Twain and Whiteness ( Richard S. Lowry ). 5 Mark Twain and Gender ( Peter Stoneley ). 6 Twain and Modernity ( T. J. Lustig ). 7 Mark Twain and Politics ( James S. Leonard ). 8 "The State, it is I": Mark Twain, Imperialism, and the New Americanists ( Scott Michaelsen ). PART II Mark Twain and Others. 9 Twain, Language, and the Southern Humorists ( Gavin Jones ). 10 The "American Dickens": Mark Twain and Charles Dickens ( Christopher Gair ). 11 Nevada Influences on Mark Twain ( Lawrence I. Berkove ). 12 The Twain–Cable Combination ( Stephen Railton ). 13 Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, and Realism ( Peter Messent ). PART III Mark Twain: Publishing and Performing. 14 "I don′t know A from B": Mark Twain and Orality ( Thomas D. Zlatic ). 15 Mark Twain and the Profession of Writing ( Leland Krauth ). 16 Mark Twain and the Promise and Problems of Magazines ( Martin T. Buinicki ). 17 Mark Twain and the Stage ( Shelley Fisher Fishkin ). 18 Mark Twain on the Screen ( R. Kent Rasmussen and Mark Dawidziak ). PART IV Mark Twain and Travel. 19 Twain and the Mississippi ( Andrew Dix ). 20 Mark Twain and the Literary Construction of the American West ( Gary Scharnhorst ). 21 Mark Twain and Continental Europe ( Holger Kersten ). 22 Mark Twain and Travel Writing ( Jeffrey Alan Melton ). PART V Mark Twain′s Fiction. 23 Mark Twain′s Short Fiction ( Henry B. Wonham ). 24  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  and  The Prince and the Pauper as Juvenile Literature ( Linda A. Morris ). 25 Plotting and Narrating "Huck" ( Victor Doyno ). 26 Going to Tom′s Hell in  Huckleberry Finn  ( Hilton Obenzinger ). 27 History, "Civilization," and  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur′s Court  ( Sam Halliday ). 28 Mark Twain′s Dialects ( David Lionel Smith ). 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 ). 30 Dreaming Better Dreams: The Late Writing of Mark Twain ( Forrest G. Robinson ). PART VI Mark Twain′s Humor. 31 Mark Twain′s Visual Humor ( Louis J. Budd ). 32 Mark Twain and Post–Civil War Humor ( Cameron C. Nickels ). 33 Mark Twain and Amiable Humor ( Gregg Camfield ). 34 Mark Twain and the Enigmas of Wit ( Bruce Michelson ). PART VII A Retrospective. 35 The State of Mark Twain Studies ( Alan Gribben ). Index.

Peter Messent is Professor of Modern American Literature at Nottingham University. He is the author of The Short Works of Mark Twain: A Critical Study (2001), Mark Twain (1997), Ernest Hemingway (1992), and New Readings of the American Novel: Narrative Theory and its Application (1990), and editor of Criminal Proceedings: The Contemporary American Crime Nov el (1997). Louis J. Budd is James B. Duke Professor (Emeritus) of American Literature at Duke University, where he taught American Literature from 1981 to 1991. He is the author of Mark Twain: Social Philosopher (reissued 2001) and Our Mark Twain: The Making of his Public Personality (1983) and the editor of Mark Twain: The Contemporary Reviews (1999). He served as founding president of the Mark Twain Circle of America.

"The editors have done an exemplary job in maintaining a very high level of scholarly excellence in almost all these contributions. On a vast range of subjects there is a plenitude here of scholarly research and insight, some of it at least exploring new ground …  and much of it proving illuminating and challenging." ( Notes and Queries , June 2009) "Highly recommended for the reference shelves of libraries collecting work on American literature and culture." ( Reference Reviews )