tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post3769862192228544769..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: a delicate spider’s web over the face of the watch - Twain gets oddAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-12733720884110152402015-04-13T12:06:21.461-05:002015-04-13T12:06:21.461-05:00I don't know either. Your guesses sound right...I don't know either. Your guesses sound right to me.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59464829155179143592015-04-13T11:19:37.931-05:002015-04-13T11:19:37.931-05:00How did "know" lose its "k"? P...How did "know" lose its "k"? Please imagine it there.Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-4012609283965873412015-04-13T11:18:14.439-05:002015-04-13T11:18:14.439-05:00Did Twain ever talk about his influences? I don...Did Twain ever talk about his influences? I don't now. "1601" shows that he read the Elizabethans; he knew enough German to translate "Slovenly Peter"; his attacks on religion were inspired by Paine and Ingersoll. My guess is that he was steeped in Shakespeare and the Bible, like everyone else at the time, and probably read more contemporary books and journalism than classics. I'm curious, though. Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3946589343206069502015-04-11T23:30:48.339-05:002015-04-11T23:30:48.339-05:00nnyhav - Exactly! We still wear watches and use t...nnyhav - Exactly! We still wear watches and use the telephone. Do we ever. Someone should update that watch story for the Computer Age.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-54177352971619387152015-04-11T23:28:26.536-05:002015-04-11T23:28:26.536-05:00As readers of Wuthering Expectations know, and per...As readers of Wuthering Expectations know, and perhaps regret, I love tracing influences, and the fact is that I do not really know how to do that with Twain. Aside form some obvious boyhood reading, it certainly seems like it is mostly a sub-literary world that he absorbed so brilliantly - all of the great storytelling, tall tales, and lies he heard on steamboats and in Nevada saloons. Yeah, the "old timers." Plus, all of the cliches and cant of the newspaper trade.<br /><br />Real comedians are always a bit of a mystery. A lot of this shorter stuff is time-bound, definitely, but then there are lines, passages, and entire pieces that are still plenty funny. Maybe even relevant. We still have plenty of morally "improving" literature worthy of mockery, even if it has changed somewhat from Twain's day.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53040994952834502152015-04-11T23:27:46.605-05:002015-04-11T23:27:46.605-05:00@RT: relevant to our time, or to our new Apple Wat...@RT: relevant to our time, or to our new Apple Watch?nnyhavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181178492559547560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70322027772966856722015-04-11T16:41:23.360-05:002015-04-11T16:41:23.360-05:00twain was mostly influenced by his early experienc...twain was mostly influenced by his early experiences on the riverbank of the mississippi, talking and chortling with old timers who loved tall tales with a philosophical point. that kind of laid back old timey conservative pragmatic spirit that has found it's greatest exponent in the famed liar's club of various locales. it's possible to see this attitude gradually changing as clemens ages, becoming more sarcastic and bitter as time progressesMudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91280437705377339532015-04-11T14:03:17.812-05:002015-04-11T14:03:17.812-05:00Postscript: I wonder if Twain is becoming time-bou...Postscript: I wonder if Twain is becoming time-bound because of the author's contexts. The author was a product of his time, but is he relevant to our time?R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-19183660594499374272015-04-11T13:55:27.739-05:002015-04-11T13:55:27.739-05:00Interesting! In my forthcoming reading of Twain/Cl...Interesting! In my forthcoming reading of Twain/Clemens, I hope to comes across his literary influences. The Bible, I know, is huge. But, I wonder, what other works were in his head. R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.com