Mark Twain and William James

by Horn, Jason Gary

• ISBN13: 9780826210722
• ISBN10: 0826210724
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Missouri Pr

Summary

The first documented meeting between Mark Twain and William James took place while both vacationed with their families in Florence, Italy, in 1892. "I have seen him a couple of times," James wrote home to Josiah Royce, "a fine, soft, fibred little fellow with the perversest twang and drawl, but very human and good. One might grow very fond of him," he confessed, "and wish he'd come and live in Cambridge." InMark Twain and William James,Jason Gary Horn offers the first thorough investigation of the relationship between Mark Twain and William James, emphasizing Twain's friendship with James beyond their shared intellectual interests. James, in fact, provides the cultural mirror most capable of reflecting Twain's own shifting thought and illuminating his often vaguely defined philosophical observations. Focusing on the experience of freedom embodied in three Twain texts,Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,andNo. 44, the Mysterious Stranger,this book encapsulates both Twain's early and late theoretical speculations on the nature of the divided self. From the thoughts and actions of the protagonists in these works, we can trace and follow Twain's fictive map of mind, one that eventually leads to a new vision of personal freedom. Horn moves gracefully and effectively between James and Twain, expounding the virtues of the mind and temperament of James against which we can best observe Twain's mind and philosophical temperament. Providing a fresh estimate of Mark Twain's later years,Mark Twain and William Jamesconstitutes a significant revision in our way of viewing one of America's important, endearing, and yet intellectually undersung writers.

Author Biography

Jason Gary Horn teaches in the Department of English at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction - Sounding Mark Twain against William James	p. 1
Developing the Introspective Link: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	p. 28
Verifying the Truth that Matters: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc	p. 69
Figuring Freedom as a Variety of Religious Experience: No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger	p. 106
Afterword - Further Soundings	p. 149
An Excursion on the Name/Number 44	p. 155
Twain's 1884 Essay on "Mental Telepathy"	p. 161
Two Letters from Twain to James	p. 165
Select Bibliography	p. 171
Index	p. 183
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