A century after Samuel Clemens's death, Mark Twain thrives - his
recently released autobiography topped bestseller lists. One way
fans still celebrate the first true American writer and his work is
by visiting any number of Mark Twain destinations. They believe
they can learn something unique by visiting the places where he
lived. Mark Twain's Homes and Literary Tourism untangles the
complicated ways that Clemens's houses, now museums, have come to
tell the stories that they do about Twain and, in the process,
reminds us that the sites themselves are the products of multiple
agendas and, in some cases, unpleasant histories. Hilary Iris Lowe
leads us through four Twain homes, beginning at the beginning -
Florida, Missouri, where Clemens was born. Today the site is simply
a concrete pedestal missing its bust, a plaque, and an
otherwise-empty field. Though the original cabin where he was born
likely no longer exists, Lowe treats us to an overview of the
history of the area and the state park challenged with somehow
marking this site. Next, we travel with Lowe to Hannibal, Missouri,
Clemens's childhood home, which he saw become a tourist destination
in his own lifetime. Today mannequins remind visitors of the man
that the boy who lived there became and the literature that grew
out of his experiences in the house and little town on the
Mississippi. Hartford, Connecticut, boasts one of Clemens's only
surviving adulthood homes, the house where he spent his most
productive years. Lowe describes the house's construction, its sale
when the high cost of living led the family to seek residence
abroad, and its transformation into the museum. Lastly, we travel
to Elmira, New York, where Clemens spent many summers with his
family at Quarry Farm. His study is the only room at this
destination open to the public, and yet, tourists follow in the
footsteps of literary pilgrim Rudyard Kipling to see this small
space. Literary historic sites pin their authority on the promise
of exclusive insight into authors and texts through firsthand
experience. As tempting as it is to accept the authenticity of
Clemens's homes, Mark Twain's Homes and Literary Tourism argues
that house museums are not reliable critical texts but are instead
carefully constructed spaces designed to satisfy visitors. This
volume shows us how these houses' portrayals of Clemens change
frequently to accommodate and shape our own expectations of the
author and his work.
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