A voracious pack-rat, Mark Twain hoarded his readers' letters as did few of his contemporaries. Dear Mark Twain collects 200 of these letters written by a diverse cross-section of correspondents from around the world—children, farmers, schoolteachers, businessmen, preachers, railroad clerks, inmates of mental institutions, con artists, and even a former president. It is a unique and groundbreaking book—the first published collection of reader letters to any writer of Mark Twain's time. Its contents afford a rare and exhilarating glimpse into the sensibilities of nineteenth-century people while revealing the impact Samuel L. Clemens had on his readers. Clemens’s own and often startling comments and replies are also included.
R. Kent Rasmussen’s extensive research provides fascinating profiles of the correspondents, whose personal stories are often as interesting as their letters. Ranging from gushing fan appreciations and requests for help and advice to suggestions for writing projects and stinging criticisms, the letters are filled with perceptive insights, pathos, and unintentional but often riotous humor. Many are deeply moving, more than a few are hilarious, some may be shocking, but none are dull.
R. Kent Rasmussen is a prolific and widely respected scholar of Mark Twain. Among his books are Mark Twain A to Z, The Quotable Mark Twain, Bloom’s How to Write About Mark Twain and Critical Companion to Mark Twain. He is also the editor of the recently published Penguin Classics edition of Mark Twain’s Autobiographical Writings.
“Dear Mark Twain leaves the reader with little doubt as to the singular and powerful chord that this author struck in the hearts of the American public.”—Ron Powers, from the Foreword
"Kent Rasmussen has done valuable work researching for the nuggets in the goldmine of Mark Twain's work."—Hal Holbrook
“Working with seemingly unpromising materials, R Kent Rasmussen has produced a remarkable and highly readable book. Dear Mark Twain provides us with a picture of Twain’s readership, by turns adulatory, critical, advice- and autograph- seeking, and money begging; but the volume but also tells us much about American readers generally during Twain’s writing life. The book is scrupulously edited and superbly annotated, and includes Twain’s usually terse and biting comments. A triumph.”—N. John Hall, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, CUNY Graduate Center and author of Correspondence: An Adventure in Letters.
"Twain remains a beloved, even familial, figure, so none should be surprised that complete strangers wrote to him with every imaginable request, compliment, and even criticism. Dear Mark Twain takes this correspondence and moves Twain scholarship in an intimate new direction that will surely captivate a wide audience. The chronologically arranged letters with Clemens’s own notations could stand alone, but Kent Rasmussen’s rich scholarship places these letters and their writers in context, and his elegant and insightful postscript to each missive at once clarifies, informs, and entertains."—Cindy Lovell, Executive Director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
316 pp.6 x 9Illus: 25 b/w photographs
9780520261341$28.95|£25.00Hardcover
Apr 2013