The Circle at MLA
2001
Panel 1: Saturday, December 29; 7:15-8:30 p.m.;
Oakley, Sheraton)
Title: Mark Twain: Grief, Race, and
Culture
Chair: Laura Skandera-Trombley (
Papers:
1. "Mark
Twain's Grief: A Critique of Freudian Grief Theory"—Harold K. Bush,
Jr. (
2. "The
Speakerly Text: Moving Toward
Identity"—Jocelyn Chadwick (
3. "The
Postcolonial Twain: Yankees, Savages, and Soap"—Charles D. Martin (
4. "Mark Twain and the Culture Industry"— Scott Henkel (
Panel 2: Sunday, December 30; 12:00 noon-1:15
p.m.; Oakley, Sheraton)
Title: Constructing Mark Twain
Chair: Henry Wonham (
Papers:
1. "The Critics Dream Mark Twain: The Myth of Racial Transcendence in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"—Michael J. Kiskis
(
2. "'Who
Killed Mark Twain?' Hamlin Hill Was Right!"—Gary Scharnhorst(
3. "Romancing
Jim: The Myth of Race in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"—Ann
Ryan (
Respondent: Jeffrey Steinbrink (
Current
Mark Twain
Bibliography
James S. Leonard
The Citadel
Current Mark Twain Bibliography is a means of giving notice of
what’s new in Mark Twain scholarship. Where annotations are used, they are in
most cases descriptive blurbs provided by publishers (or in some cases, by
authors) with value judgments edited out.
If you have recently published something that you would like to have
included in this list, send it to me by e-mail (leonardj@citadel.edu), or by
other means.
Books
Burns, Ken,
David, Beverly R.
Mark Twain and His Illustrators: Volume 2 (1875-1883). Whitston
Publishing Company, 2001. Hardcover. 333 pages. 342 illustrations. $58.50. ISBN 0-87875-513-6.
Beverly David‘s Volume 2 further details how the pictures
found in Twain‘s works contributed to their greatness by painting
detailed images that are often imprinted upon the reader‘s mind as
strongly as his words. The book is
comprised of four chapters, each focusing upon the illustrations in one of
Twain’s books, including Sketches, New and Old and Other Stories, A
Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, and Life on the
Mississippi. The sharp and
skillful pictures in these tales are explored through the way they translate
specific characters and scenes visually.
In addition, this book explores how Twain
himself interacted with various artists, as well as his journeys on the roads
to publication. It provides
an in-depth and personal account of what the author himself was going through
with editors and publishers in the business part of his life while showing how
he strove to obtain powerful visual representations of some of the most
memorable portions of his books and short stories. [Reviewed for the Mark
Twain Forum on Sept. 17, 2001 by Barbara Schmidt.]
Vaidhyanathan, Siva. Copyrights and Copywrongs:
The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens
Creativity. NYU
Press, 2001. 230 pages. $27.95. ISBN 0-8147-8806-8.
Vaidhyanathan tracks the history of American
copyright law through the 20th century, from Mark Twain's vehement calls for
copyright protection to recent lawsuits regarding sampling in rap music and the
digital controversy personified by the rise of Napster and MP3 technology. [Reviewed for the Mark
Twain Forum on October 21, 2001 by David E. White.]
Ziff, Larzer. Return Passages: Great American
Travel Writing, 1780-1910.
Articles
Leonard, James S. “Racial
Objections to Huckleberry Finn.” Essays in Arts and Sciences 30
(October 2001): 77B82.
Link,
Eric Carl. “The Structure of Memory
in Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad.” Essays in Arts and Sciences 30
(October 2001): 1B16.
Call
for Papers •
2002
The
Panel One: “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Pedagogy and Critical Editions.”
The intention is to have a panel discussing the various editions of Adventures
of Huck Finn, specifically their use in the classroom. A variety of editions
would be welcome and they could be critically reviewed. No matter the edition chosen there are
always issues associated with that choice: whether or not to include the raftsmen's chapter, the importance of textual
illustrations, etc.
Panel Two: "Would someone please suggest a definitive
biography dealing with Mr. Clemens' life history?" Earlier this year there was a spirited
discussion on TWAIN-L@YORKU.CA about what constitutes "definitive"
Mark Twain biography. Recommendations included such well-known biographers as
Kaplan and Hill, as well as votes to bypass published biographies in favor of
the Mark Twain Project's volumes of Mark Twain's Letters and of his Notebooks
and Journals. Papers would address such topics as whether the term
"definitive" biography is a myth or if biography as a genre should be
considered a responsible defining of a subject's existence.
Please send paper proposals to
lskander@coe.edu.
Laura Skandera-Trombley
President, MTCA
Dates to Circle
December 27-30,
2001. Modern Language Association Annual Conference.
January
14-15, 2002. Mark
Twain, documentary by Ken Burns (Florentine Films), on PBS;
8:00-10:00 p.m..
May 30-June 2, 2001. American
Literature Association Annual Conference.