Critical Companion To Mark Twain

Praise for the previous edition:RASD/ALA "Outstanding Reference Source, 1996""'Essential' is the word for it!

The creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain has long been regarded as the quintessential American writer. Critical Companion to Mark Twain, an updated and expanded edition of the award-winning Mark Twain A to Z, is the essential reference to Mark Twain's life and writings. All new to this two-volume edition are more than 30 extensive critical analyses on Mark Twain's most important works and a concise biography of Mark Twain. In addition, there are more than 350 completely new entries, several new appendixes and maps, and more than 100 new illustrations. Original entries have been updated and expanded to incorporate more details and to account for new developments in the field of Mark Twain studies. With more than 150,000 words of new material and a new, student-friendly structure, Critical Companion to Mark Twain is the essential reference for students, librarians, scholars, and fans of Mark Twain. Coverage includes: A concise but comprehensive biography of Mark Twain; Detailed synopses of, and critical commentaries on, all of Mark Twain's major works; Discussions of all the characters and places in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and major characters and fictional places in other works; Entries on family, friends, contemporaries, places, publishers, topics, and more; Appendixes, including a glossary of terms used by Mark Twain, a chronology, a bibliography, and much more. - Publisher.

The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain offers new and thought provoking essays on an author of enduring pre-eminence in the American canon. The book is a collaborative project, assembled by scholars who have played crucial roles in the recent explosion of Twain criticism. Accessible enough to interest both experienced specialists and students new to Twain criticism, the essays examine Twain from a wide variety of critical perspectives, and include timely reflections by major critics on the hotly debated dynamics of race and slavery perceptible throughout his writing. The volume includes a chronology of Twain's life and a list of suggestions for further reading, to provide the students or general reader with sources for background as well as additional information.

Features synopses of works, character descriptions, biographies of contemporaries, and explanations of literary terms and place names

This broad-ranging companion brings together respected American and European critics and a number of up-and-coming scholars to provide an overview of Twain, his background, his writings, and his place in American literary history. One of the most broad-ranging volumes to appear on Mark Twain in recent years Brings together respected Twain critics and a number of younger scholars in the field to provide an overview of this central figure in American literature Places special emphasis on the ways in which Twain's works remain both relevant and important for a twenty-first century audience A concluding essay evaluates the changing landscape of Twain criticism

Mark Twain's legacy is an extensive canon of writings that includes some of the most widely read, staged, debated, reinterpreted, and filmed works ever. This introductory critical study helps students and general readers appreciate the myriad perspectives of the man, his life, and his contributions to American literature. A fresh biographical account traces Twain's colorful life through his varied careers and adventures, to his rise to national prominence as a writer of short stories, to the creation of masterpieces like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Also examined are the thematic concerns, plot structure, character development, and historical background in the travel narratives, a selection of short stories, and Twain's novels. A lively biographical chapter is followed by a section on Mark Twain's career and contributions to American literature, which situates Twain within the traditions of American humor writings. A selection of Twain's early short stories and sketches are examined, followed by the personal travel narratives. A full chapter on each of the five novels examines their important literary components, and also offers alternative critical perspectives. The final chapter surveys short writings from Twain's later years. A select bibliography cites sources for all of Twain's works, with numerous contemporary reviews, and general criticism of individual and collected works. As a scholar of Twain's writings and of American humor, David Sloane's insightful analysis illuminates how Mark Twain managed to fuse his irreverent humor with his deep seated concerns about humanity.