Word: twain
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...only quarrel with your Twain story is with Rick Stengel's comment that Twain is the godfather of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. He may be their godfather, but there is no doubt in my mind that he should be considered more a legitimate father of George Carlin and Bill Maher. Alice A. Grimes, Watertown, Massachusetts...
...Illinois, only to be rescued by fearful adults. When I was 11, my grandmother took me aboard the legendary Delta Queen. Now, after more than 80 years afloat, the Delta Queen is to be put out of service because of inaction by Congress. It brings to mind a Twain saying: "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." I can't imagine an America without Twain's writings, the Mississippi River or the Delta Queen. Charles Greene, Lewisburg, Kentucky...
...Stephen L. Carter is right to point out that "Was Twain a racist?" is a ridiculous question. He was raised in Missouri in the 1830s and 1840s. Of course he was racist - at least for some of his life. And so is Huckleberry Finn, which is part of what makes the book so brilliant. The reader, through Huck, comes to see how absurd racism is as Jim is fully humanized on their trip down the river together. Twain's point is that racism is socially conditioned and is contrary to the natural inclinations of the human heart. Huck defies...
...Loved your articles on Twain, but I'm sick of reading that the 15th Amendment of 1869 granted former slaves the right to vote. The 15th Amendment granted only male ex-slaves the right to vote. Women of all races occupied a rung well below male slaves on the U.S. ladder of rights. This failure to include women should not be ignored or forgotten. Glenice Reed, Punta Gorda, Florida...
...Mark Twain had an impact on Australia, too, and not just a literary one. On a visit here in 1895, he took a train from New South Wales to Victoria. At Albury, on the state border, he and the other passengers had to change trains in the freezing pre-dawn. He later attacked the absurdity of Australia's 22 different rail gauges, and the "paralysis of intellect that gave that idea birth." That line became part of the rallying cry that - several decades later - led to the standardization of all railways between Australia's mainland-state capitals. Tim Fischer, Wodonga...