Annotated Bibliography of Mark Twain Essay

Budds classic text, first published in 1962, explores twains political, social, and philosophical views. It studies them in the context of his literary works, letters, and books and probes the authors personal evolution over time. Budd looks at boths views on American politics, capitalism, women, slavery, the Civil War, and imperialism. His thesis is that couplets views were complex and changed over time, but that ultimately he was an old fashioned 19th cytosine liberal who had views that would not easily be accepted in todays world.Though critics will concentrate on the formalized texts, recovering the full shape of twains ideas requires going deeper into the gregarious socialising with many self-confident men and a few feminists. (Budd, 14) This text is reliable beca physical exertion Budd hired couplings have extensive writings and letters to announce his philosophical views. Moreover, Budd was a lifelong historian and critic of pas de deux and edited a two volume colle cted works from the author. I will use this book to discuss Twains perspective on racial issues, anti-imperialism, and American politics and relate them to his novels and short stories.This book is an excellent exploration of Twains changing views. However, it is a relatively challenging read and is best suited for readers already familiar with the authors work and with 19th century history. I would exhort this book to anyone who already has some knowledge of Twains works. Carkeet, David. The Dialects in Huckleberry Finn. American Literature 51. 3 (November 1979) 315-332. Academic Search Complete. TCC Library, fort Worth, TX. October 4, 2012 David Carkeet studies Twains use of dialect and idiomatic speech in theAdventures of Huckleberry Finn.In particular, he probes whether Twain in fact followed the announcement at the root word of the book suggesting that seven dialects and variants of Southern English argon spoken in the text. Carkeets thesis is that Twain does in fact follow to a grand extent his written intention in writing the characters in variant forms of English, including Southwestern, Black, and Missouri Pike County accents. For Carkeet, the dialects of the various characters be best compared to Hucks own speech, which swear outs as the default standard in the story.A detailed examination of Huckleberry Finn shows that there are differences in the way people speak that are likewise systematic to be accidental. (Carkeet, 316) This author is reliable because Carkeet extensively covers the speech patterns in Huckleberry Finn and cites examples directly from the original text. He actually breaks down examples of how different characters say the uniform words and phrases differently. I will use this term to discuss how Twain made use of vernacular English and local speech to immerse readers in the world of Missouri and the South that he grew up with.This article is easy to understand and is an excellent complement to reading Twains book from a fresh perspective. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about Twain, or get a better understanding of the time. Gribben, Alan. The Importance of Mark Twain. American every quarter 37. 1 (January 1985) 30-49. America History and Life. TCC Library, Ft. Worth, TX. October17, 2012 Alan Gribbens article discusses the reception of Mark Twains writings by opposite authors and by literary critics.It addresses Twains unique position as a temperist and a classic author in the American canon. The authors thesis is that Twain had a unique comic voice in his writings that were flexible and supple enough to still resonate with modern audiences whereas many other writers from the stop consonant now sound dated. Nevertheless, Mark Twains literary stature has suffered, from time to time, because of his predilection for comic forms. (Gribben,31) This source is controlling because Gribben is one of Americas preeminent Twain scholars.He has studied and written for decades abou t the author and has founded a society for the appreciation of Twains writings. This article will serve my discussion of Twains writing style and unique idiom in my essay. Gribbens paper is extremely easy to understand and is articulate. I would recommend this article to anyone that wants a better insight of Twain and the time. As well a better perspective of the time, some of Twains perspectives come as more predilection than racism. Moore, Olin Harris. Mark Twain and Don Quixote. PMLA 37. 2 (June 1922) 324-346. TCC Library, Ft. Worth, TX. October 2, 2012. Moore suggests in this article that Twains writings were deeply influenced by the Spanish author Cervantes. He expresses variability with the then prevalent view that Twain was a purely American writer and instead describes how indebted he was to European literature. What genuine American humor What a true picture of American boyhood Nothing of Europe in Mark Twain Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are real Americans(Moore,324) The thesis is that Twains novels were shaped by Cervantes classic Don Quixote and that in particular, Tom Sawyer was modeled after the protagonist of the Spanish novel. This source is relatively authoritative because it relies upon Twains own writings, the record of what books he read and when, as well as Cervantes text. However, it may be undermined by more recent cognizance since when it was published in 1922 many of Twains writings and correspondence were not available to scholars.I plan to use this article to discuss different interpretations of Twains major works, especially Huckleberry Finn. The article is useful and easy to read. I would recommend this to anyone that wants gain a better perspective of Twain and his works. By being easy to read this would allow readers to easily understand the work. Powers, Ron. Mark Twain A Life. New York Free Press, 2005. Powers book is an extensive investigation of Twains life examining not just his major novels and short stories, but his thousands of letters, political essays, and newspaper articles.Moreover, by using what he calls interpretive portraiture, Powers probes into the expand of Twains personal life, relationships, and views on issues concerning woman, race, and American politics. The basic thesis of the book is that Twain is indeed worthy of the fame and popularity he has enjoyed among generations of readers. Powers defends Twains writings against his fiercest detractors, many of whom see his novels and stories as roughly and in artfully written or alternatively as racist or misogynistic, and argues that while flawed, they at generation rise to greatness.The authority of the source is that Powers is a long-time journalist, author and historian. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and has written extensively before on Twain and other topics such as the Second World War and Civil War. In addition, the authenticity of the source comes from the primary sources, including books and correspondence th at it relies upon. I would use this book to condition out the details of Twains life and situate his writing into the context of events in the late 19th century. The book is an excellent, if voluminous introduction to Twain.It is similarly well written and easy to understand. Railton, Stephen. Mark Twain in his Times. University of Virginia Library. 2012. October 2012. http//twain. lib. virginia. edu/index2. html. Stephen Railton at the University of Virginia has compiled a comprehensive online database of original writings and materials related to Twains works. The website has unpublished drafts of Twains major works, period advertisements, illustrations, sales prospectus, period reviews, and essays addressing topical issues related to the books.There is no thesis per se in this website because it is think ofed to to begin with serve as a collection of primary sources on Twains writings. The authority of this site derives most of all from the primary sources it gathers togethe r, many of which are rare and obscure. In addition, Railton is a professional historian and literary expert on Twain and 19th century American literature. I will use this site to look at Twains writing process as he wrote Huckleberry Finn and other books.I will also study the merchandise techniques Twain used and the critical reception he received at the time, as recorded in reviews on the site. This website is easy to read but jolly difficult to navigate. It is so extensive that it is not entirely user friendly and probably has its layout updated. Tucker, Jeffrey A. Mark Twains Radical Liberalism. Ludvig Von Mises Institute. January 27, 2010. November 2012. Jeffrey Tucker in this online article writes about the much debated nature of Mark Twains political views.Twains politics seem difficult to classify, Tucker observes, only because the political orientation he subscribed to is no longer fashionable. Part of the difficulty of understanding Mark Twains political outlook is due to the terminology and the inclination of politics to corrupt the meaning of everything. (Tucker, 1) Tucker situates Twains anti-slavery, anti-imperialist, anti-government, and pro-capitalist views in terms of 19th century classical liberalism. It is Tuckers thesis that Twain was essentially a liberal of the old, small government and pro market variety.The authority of this source comes from Tuckers study of Twains writings, which are quoted from and cited in the text. In addition, the author is a major scholar of libertarian politics and economics which are relevant to his interpretation of Twains views. I intend to use this online piece to show how Twain could hold points of view that today seem incompatible, such as being anti-war and pro-business. This is a very accessible source and should be of value even for those who disagree with Tuckers libertarian agenda. I would recommend this article to anyone that has a point of view on Twain.