tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4546160681930476903..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought - The Mysterious Stranger as a vehicle for Twain-stuffAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27326542829375266392017-03-26T10:51:09.031-05:002017-03-26T10:51:09.031-05:00Oh no! I have seen, in internet writing, increasi...Oh no! I have seen, in internet writing, increasing sloppiness with these terms, and now I am spreading the poison. Thanks - will correct.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-52086259849361309132017-03-26T08:52:15.956-05:002017-03-26T08:52:15.956-05:00I have nothing profound to add, but I do have a co...I have nothing profound to add, but I do have a copyeditor's quibble:<br /><br /><i>“Two centuries from now [e.g., in 1902],” </i><br /><br />For e.g. read i.e.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80506539053178011902017-03-25T23:39:21.226-05:002017-03-25T23:39:21.226-05:00The Mysterious Stranger, in whatever form, is not ...<i>The Mysterious Stranger</i>, in whatever form, is not much like those earlier Twain books. The great Twain voice is muted. He is doing something different.<br /><br />The comparison with Melville is perverse in the sense that it compares the world's most famous writer with a man who had an audience of 25. Yet it is a good comparison. All of this fragmented, unpublished writing suggests that for some of what he wanted to do, Twain did not have even 25 readers. <br /><br />As for getting ahead, I'm pretty sure you're as well off behind. <i>Idylls of the King</i> is good! Let me refresh my memory with my Tennyson collection - some of it is good! The earlier Tennyson wrote the chapter, the more likely it is to be good. "The Death of Arthur" is good. He wrote that first.<br /><br />Tim, I am sure you are right. Twain's obsession with religion - with his sense of the idiocies of <i>other people's</i> religion - drove so much of his final writing.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48639006889528330382017-03-25T19:20:22.677-05:002017-03-25T19:20:22.677-05:00Correction: agon not agony. But I guess both might...Correction: agon not agony. But I guess both might pertain. RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-10915064282021574362017-03-25T16:37:41.013-05:002017-03-25T16:37:41.013-05:00As the child is the father of the man, I suspect t...As the child is the father of the man, I suspect the keys to unlocking Twain's darker works can be found in his biography (not autobiography), especially his agony with family and religion; so, with that in mind and with your insights as catalysts, I'm beginning my own Twain reading adventures. I look forward to following more of yours.RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-40388629331229703492017-03-25T15:07:01.688-05:002017-03-25T15:07:01.688-05:00I have had this on my TBR shelf for some time, par...I have had this on my TBR shelf for some time, partly because I so thoroughly enjoyed The Innocents Abroad and Life on the Mississippi (not Huckleberry Finn so much), and partly because this is one of the books of Twain's on the "Authors" card game that one day I hope to conquer in the deck's entirety ("Idylls of the King"? Really?). <br /><br />I find your comment about Twain losing his way late in life to be reminiscent of Melville, although Melville took some comfort in poetry (whether we take comfort in his poetry is another matter). It seems as if Twain reached for bigger and bigger issues, his grasp became weaker and weaker.<br /><br />I hope to get to the various versions of The Mysterious Stranger in the next few months. I just can't get ahead of your eclectic reading list, no matter how hard I try.cwilson284https://www.blogger.com/profile/01095943424268993611noreply@blogger.com