Cosmopolitan Twain (Mark Twain and His Circle)

287 Pages·2008·13.35 MB·English

by  Ann M. Ryan

Cosmopolitan Twain
Mark Twain and His Circle Series
TOM QUIRK, EDITOR
Cosmopolitan
Twain
EDITED BY Ann M. Ryan
AND Joseph B. McCullough
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
Copyright © 2008 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cosmopolitan Twain / edited by Ann M. Ryan and Joseph B.
McCullough.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “From New York City to Vienna to the suburban
utopia of Harford, Twain spent most of his life in an urban
environment, generating writings that marked America’s
movement into the twentieth century. Rather than the nostalgic
voice of America’s rural past, Twain was a visionary of a
cosmopolitan future”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-8262-1827-8 (alk. paper)
1. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—Homes and haunts.
2. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—Travel. 3. Cosmopolitanism
in literature. 4. Cities and towns in literature. 5. City
and town life in literature. 6. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—
Settings. 7. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—Psychology.
8. Modernism (Literature)—United States. I. Ryan,
Ann M. II. McCullough, Joseph B.
PS1334.C67 2008
818(cid:2).409—dc22
2008040157
ø™ This paper meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Kristie Lee
Typesetter: The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Berkeley, Astaire, Aristocrat
Title page illustration courtesy Mark Twain Papers and Project,
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Ann:
In loving memory of Liz Salvagno
Joe:
In memory of my mother and father and for Jessica, who
often makes me laugh and who makes me very proud
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments iv
Abbreviations xi
Introduction: Mark Twain and the Cosmopolitan Ideal 1
ANN M. RYAN
Mark Twain and the Mean (and Magical) Streets of New York 21
ANN M. RYAN
Sam Clemens and the Mississippi River Metropolis 64
BRUCE MICHELSON
Mark Twain, San Francisco’s ComicFlâneur 93
JAMES E. CARON
Taming the Bohemian: MarkTwain in Buffalo 116
JOSEPH B. MCCULLOUGH
Mark Twain’s Music Box: Livy, Cosmopolitanism,
and the Commodity Aesthetic 140
KERRY DRISCOLL
“Not an Alien but at Home”: Mark Twain and London 187
PETER MESSENT
vii
viii Contents
Mark Twain in Vienna: A Diplomat without Pay 211
JANICE MCINTIRE-STRASBURG
A Room of His Own: Samuel Clemens, Elmira, and Quarry Farm 233
MICHAEL J. KISKIS
About the Contributors 255
Index 257
Acknowledgments
We owe our thanks to a great many people for their support, guidance,
and expertise. We would like to thank Robert Hirst and the staff of the Mark
Twain Project of the University of California, Berkeley, for both their assis-
tance and their permission to use materials from the archive, and we would
also like to thank Bob for his generous insights into this project. At the Mark
Twain House and Museum, we owe thanks to Patti Philippon, who was in-
strumental in providing resources for Kerry Driscoll’s essay. Additionally, we
appreciate the kindness extended to this project by the entire staff of the
Mark Twain House, particularly Jeffrey Nichols, who helped us to experi-
ence firsthand Twain’s cosmopolitan lifestyle. We are grateful to the Center
for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, and especially to Barb Snedecor
for making available the many resources of Quarry Farm. We would like to
thank as well Mark Woodhouse of the Gannett-Tripp Library at Elmira Col-
lege for lending us his expertise. Kenneth Johnson from the reproduction
department of the Library of Congress’s digital collection made a complicat-
ed process much less daunting. And we also owe our thanks to the Barrett
Collection at the University of Virginia for giving us permission to reproduce
an image of Twain, resplendent in his top hat, and to Stephen Railton, whose
Mark Twain in His Times Web site makes these images so accessible. And we
are most particularly grateful to Ms. Alexandra Lidov for her permission to
use the work of her husband, Arthur Lidov, whose drawing of Mark Twain
has contributed greatly to this volume. Finally, we would like to acknowl-
edge Tom Quirk, editor of the Mark Twain and Circle Series, whose support
and sage advice throughout this project cannot be overstated.
ix