Mark Twain in the Company of Women

Mark Twain in the Company of Women
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 252
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0812216199
ISBN-13 : 9780812216196
Rating : 4/5 (196 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Mark Twain in the Company of Women by : Laura E. Skandera Trombley

Download or read book Mark Twain in the Company of Women written by Laura E. Skandera Trombley and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 1997-02 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of Mark Twain biography has been dominated by men, and Samuel Clemens himself - riverboat pilot, Western correspondent, silver prospector, world traveler - has been traditionally portrayed as a man's man. The publication of Laura E. Skandera-Trombley's Mark Twain in the Company of Women, however, marks a significant departure from conventional scholarship. Skandera-Trombley, the first woman to write a scholarly biography of Mark Twain, contends that Clemens intentionally surrounded himself with women, and that his capacity to produce extended fictions had almost as much to do with the environment shaped by his female family as with the talent and genius of the writer himself. Women helped Clemens to define his boundaries, both personal and literary. Women shaped his life, edited his books, and provided models for his fictional characters. Clemens read and corresponded with female authors, and often actively promoted their careers. Skandera-Trombley seeks to combine a biographical study of Clemens's life with his beloved wife, Olivia (Livy) Langdon, and their three daughters, Susy, Clara, and Jean, with new readings of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Several crucial areas are investigated: the nature of Clemens's family participation in his writing process, the degree to which their experiences as women during the mid- and late nineteenth century affected his writing, and the extent to which the loss of his family may have impeded and ultimately ended his ability to write lengthy narratives. Skandera-Trombley points out that in marrying Livy, Clemens not only joined a family of substantial means, but also entered one active in thesuffragist, abolitionist, and other reformist movements, which had deep roots in the progressive community of Elmira, New York. Mark Twain in the Company of Women will be of interest to Twain scholars and readers as well as students in American studies, women's studies, nineteenth-century history, and political and cultural studies.


Mark Twain in the Company of Women Related Books

Mark Twain in the Company of Women
Language: en
Pages: 252
Authors: Laura E. Skandera Trombley
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 1997-02 - Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

GET EBOOK

The field of Mark Twain biography has been dominated by men, and Samuel Clemens himself - riverboat pilot, Western correspondent, silver prospector, world trave
Mark Twain's Other Woman
Language: en
Pages: 353
Authors: Laura Skandera Trombley
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-03-08 - Publisher: Vintage

GET EBOOK

Laura Skandera Trombley, the preeminent Twain scholar at work today, reveals the never-before-read letters and daily journals of Isabel Lyon, Mark Twain’s las
Dangerous Intimacy
Language: en
Pages: 382
Authors: Karen Lystra
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004-04-23 - Publisher: Univ of California Press

GET EBOOK

The last phase of Mark Twain's life is sadly familiar: Crippled by losses and tragedies, America's greatest humorist sank into a deep and bitter depression. It
Mark Twain's Autobiography
Language: en
Pages: 398
Authors: Mark Twain
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 1924 - Publisher:

GET EBOOK

Mark and Livy
Language: en
Pages: 348
Authors: Resa Willis
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2003 - Publisher: Psychology Press

GET EBOOK

"Until now, little has been known about Livy's crucial place in Twain's life. In Resa Willis's biography, we meet a dignified, optimistic woman who not only mar