Reception and Criticism (1960 to Present)

doi:10.1017/9781108617208.032

Chapter 30 - Reception and Criticism (1960 to Present)

from Part IV - Reception and Criticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2019

Joseph Csicsila

Edited by

John Bird

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John Bird: Affiliation:
Winthrop University

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Summary

The 1960s saw several seminal works of Twain criticism, including Henry Nash Smith’s Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer, Walter Blair’s study of Huckleberry Finn, and James M. Cox’s Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor. The publication in 1962 of Letters from the Earth and other late writings that had been suppressed by Twain’s daughter Clara brought a complete reappraisal of the author. Justin Kaplan’s 1967 biography, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain, was influenced by the split Van Wyck Brooks had earlier argued for, and other biographies have followed, a dozen or more since that time. All of Twain’s major works have received book-length treatment, and thousands of critical articles have been published, most notably on Huckleberry Finn, with his work being treated by all the major theoretical movements of the last half-century. The Mark Twain critical industry continues to thrive.

Keywords

Mark Twain Samuel Clemens reception criticism

Type: Chapter
Information: Mark Twain in Context , pp. 305 - 316

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108617208.032 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

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