Routledge The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1249)

Product Description "A model reference work that can be used with profit and delight by general readers as well as by more advanced students of Twain. Highly recommended." - Library Journal The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain includes more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries that cover a full variety of topics on this major American writer's life, intellectual milieu, literary career, and achievements. Because so much of Twain's travel narratives, essays, letters, sketches, autobiography, journalism and fiction reflect his personal experience, particular attention is given to the delicate relationship between art and life, between artistic interpretations and their factual source. This comprehensive resource includes information on: Twain’s life and times: the author's childhood in Missouri and apprenticeship as a riverboat pilot, early career as a journalist in the West, world travels, friendships with well-known figures, reading and education, family life and career Complete Works: including novels, travel narratives, short stories, sketches, burlesques, and essays Significant characters, places, and landmarks Recurring concerns, themes or concepts: such as humor, language; race, war, religion, politics, imperialism, art and science Twain’s sources and influences. Useful for students, researchers, librarians and teachers, this volume features a chronology, a special appendix section tracking the poet's genealogy, and a thorough index. Each entry also includes a bibliography for further study. Review "The Mark Twain Encyclopedia deserves both the words encyclopedia and the in its title The diversity of critical approaches reflects the diversity in contemporary American literary scholarship. The editors prize this diversity and have therefore consciously avoided imposing or sanctioning any particular methodology or approach over another . . . These articles and these scholars are now the starting point and straw men of future Twain scholarship." - Bulletin of Bibliography "Nearly one hundred and eighty contributors responsible for some seven hundred and forty entries made quality control a difficult task for these editors, but on the whole they did their work well. . . . The thirty-three-page index in triple columns is especially welcome and, along with the cross-references at the end of each entry, adds greatly to the volume's value and usefulness." - Nineteenth-Century Literature " [T]his carefully conceived, meticulously edited, and admirably executed compendium could serve as a model for encyclopedias on individual authors. It not only synthesizes and illuminates previous scholarship on Twain, but also adds to that body of knowledge." - Booklist "A pleasure to read and invaluable for students and scholars...Sure to become the standard guide to Twain for readers at all levels." - American Libraries "LeMaster and Wilson have done readers great service by organizing an encyclopedia with an easy-to-use critical apparatus, a detailed index, clear cross references, useful bibliographies, and well-balanced, jargon-free articles A model reference work that can be used with profit and delight by general readers as well as by more advanced students of Twain. Highly recommended." - Library Journal "The authors demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of both the primary and secondary Twain literature and synthesize research findings on this quintessentially American voice...this masterful collection of articles on nearly every topic relating About the Author J. R. LeMaster is Emeritas Professor of English at Baylor University. The late James D. Wilson (1946-1996) taught at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.