Who was Mark Twain? Was he the genial author of two beloved boys books, the white-haired and white-suited avuncular humorist, the realistic novelist, the exposer of shams, the author repressed by bourgeois values, or the social satirist whose later writings embody an increasingly dark view? In light of those and other conceptions, the question we need to ask is not who he was but how did we get so many Mark Twains? The Mercurial Mark Twains(s): Reception History and Iconic Authorship provides answers to that question by examining the way Twain, his texts, and his image have been constructed by his audiences. Drawing on archival records of responses from common readers, reviewer reactions, analyses by Twain scholars and critics, and film and television adaptations, this study provides the first wide-ranging, fine-grained historical analysis of Twain's reception in both the public and private spheres, from the 1860s until the end of the twentieth century.

Reception study is an important tool for understanding how readers encounter texts and absorb information. This up-to-date selection of the most important published work lays out the principles of reception study and its major theoreticians, and goes on to show how the method is being widely used in areas as varied as cultural studies, African-American studies, and the burgeoning field called the history of the book. This volume presents the only complete account of reception study today.