Can we rediscover the wildness in Mark Twain's humor? Can we
understand how that wildness helped make him a national legend and
a key figure in the expression of an American self? In Mark Twain
on the Loose, Bruce Michelson writes about Twain as a body of
literature, as a public personality, and as a myth. Michelson shows
that many of Twain's most ambitious and memorable works, from the
very beginning to the end of his career, express a drive for
absolute liberation from every social, psychological, and artistic
limit. The outrageous and anarchic sides of Twain play a vital role
in his art. But these traits are undervalued even by his admirers,
who often favor clean shapes and steady affirmations in Twain's
writing - not the dangerous comic outbreak, or the deep yearning to
free the self from every definition and confinement. Reviewing
works from a wide range of Twain's writings, Michelson brings to
light those wild dimensions, their literary consequences, and their
cultural importance. He reveals this great author as "the best
escape artist in the American canon", a reflexive, paradoxical,
rule-shattering comic genius.
General
Imprint: |
University of Massachusetts Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
May 1995 |
First published: |
April 1995 |
Authors: |
Bruce Michelson
|
Dimensions: |
230 x 153 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
288 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-87023-967-0 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-87023-967-8 |
Barcode: |
9780870239670 |
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