Research Catalog

Title

Proper Mark Twain / Leland Krauth.

Author

Krauth, Leland.

Publication

Athens : University of Georgia Press, ©1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 304 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Proper Mark Twain redefines the persona of the humorist to include this bounded Twain, who affirms the dominant values of Victorian America. Largely overlooked or sidestepped in critical commentaries, the proper Twain informs all of the writer's major works. He also appears in the early western writings, the personal courtship letters, and the final autobiographical dictations. The proper Twain confirms and upholds humorously what the transgressive Twain seems to subvert. Krauth finds manifestations of the conventional in Twain's cultural imperialism, literary domesticity, sentimentality, commitment to progress, and even his humor. Further, he argues persuasively that the bounded Twain speaks not only to appease his culture but to express deeply held convictions. This meticulous study aims to determine just how orthodox Twain was and to what extent he was a product of the culture he seemed to oppose." "To see the proper Mark Twain, Krauth explains, is to understand how Twain saw himself and what he meant to convey to his audience. Throughout his career, Twain longed to be seen as more than a mere humorist, claiming, as his, qualities dear to the Victorian heart: seriousness, morality, and pathos. He contended that gravity and tender feeling are "absolutely essential" in a humorist. Upholding the elite culture he seemed to challenge, the proper Mark Twain even hoped to cultivate the masses. Krauth's study uncovers a seldom-seen side of America's most important humorist."--Jacket.

Subject

• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 > Ethics
• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
• Twain, Mark 1835-1910
• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 > Ethics
• Twain, Mark
• Didactic fiction, American > History and criticism
• Moral conditions in literature
• Sentimentalism in literature
• Ethics in literature
• Didactic fiction, American
• Ethics
• Ethics in literature
• Moral conditions in literature
• Sentimentalism in literature
• Gesellschaftliches Bewusstsein
• Gesellschaftsbild
• Wertorientierung
• Ethiek
• Didactic fiction, American > History and criticism

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-296) and index.

Contents

1. Moralist of the Main 17 -- 2. Victorian Traveler 51 -- 3. Man of Letters 78 -- 4. Writer on the River 103 -- 5. Adventurous Homebody 136 -- 6. Southwestern Sentimentalist 166 -- 7. Sage 189 -- 8. Personage 219 -- Coda: Icon 251.

ISBN

• 0820321060
• 9780820321066

LCCN

98051168

OCLC

• ocm40396116
• 40396116
• SCSB-9020704

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library