Thursday, Nov. 17, 1960 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Study of Mark Twain Intense on Anniversary
By Edwin F. Grier
Mark Twain's anniversary has stimulated sufficient scholarly activity to suggest, combined with the statistics of publication in Professor Blair's "Mark Twain and Huck Finn," that 1960 marks the crest of a wave of scholarly enthusiasm which has been growing since the biographies of Ferguson and Wagenknecht and De Voto's "Mark Twain's America," were published. Since then, and especially since the publication of De Voto's "Mark Twain at Work in 1942," we have had a series of remarkable monographs, editions, and articles which reaches a magnificent climax in Mr. Blair's "biography" of "Huckleberry Finn" and in the publication of the Twain-Howells correspondence by Professors Smith and Arms. One should not, however, necessarily assume that American scholarship was purbilund until 1942, for the flood of publications may well have been caused by the adoption by the Estate of a more liberal policy than that which was followed during Paine's long executorship. De Voto broke the ice in more than one way.
(Editor's Note; The following review of several books on Mark Twain is excerpted from the Fall, 1880, issue of the Journal of American Studies Annu. Prof. Grier is associate professor of English at KU. The books reviewed are: "Mark Twain and Hack Finn" by Walter Blair; The University of California Press; Mark Twain—Howells, 12-19, 1895; Nash Smith and William M. Gibson with the assistance of Frederick Anderson. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.)
PERHAPS THE MOST interesting of Mr. Blair's discoveries result from his examination of Twain's career while "Huckleberry Finn" lay unfinished. Twain's travels, his reading of European history, his participation in Republican Bloody Shirt politics, his editing of the "Library of Humor," his conviction that everyone with whom he dealt was cheating him, even his fits of rage, all are brought into relation to the progress of his work.
If Mr. Blair's book stands at the top of recent expository works on Twain, the "Mark Twain-Howells Letters" caps the recent series of letters. The letters are a mine of information about the relations between the two authors, and in the case of such men one wants the whole evidence. The subtlest nuances are informative. Although Twain is the star of the show, Howells is no mere straightman. Any ten pages of one of his novels reveal his mastery of a polished prose, as firmly based on the vernacular as
There will not be an organized or official migration of KU students to the KU-MU football game Saturday.
MU Migration Plans Canceled
"All tickets were sold out about a month and a half before we tried to get hold of them," Brauer said.
Walt Brauer, Bonner Springs, senior, and president of the KU pep organization, Ku-Ku's, said plans had been made but had to be abandoned because of a lack of tickets.
A large number of KU students have bought tickets on their own and will be on hand to cheer their team." Brauer added.
Ike Has Naval Units Ready for Carribbean
AUGUSTA, Ga. — (UPI)— The White House said today that President Eisenhower has ordered the navy to prevent any invasion of either Guatemala or Nicaragua by "Communist-directed elements."
Navy surface and air units are now in position to help the two Carribean republics block any possible invasion attempt, the White House said.
Guatemala and Nicaragun, who have both charged that recent antigovernment revolts were formented by Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, requested the assistance.
Twain's more brilliant and colloquial style, his wit, and his irony. His letters, now read in conditions of the most severe competition, heighten one's appreciation of his qualities. One also finds in these the same world-weariness and bitterness, though far less vehemently expressed, that one finds in Twain. Indeed, in 1899 Twain noticed in reading Howells' "Their Silver Wedding Journey" furtive and fleeting glimpses of what I take to be the weariness and indulence of age . . . the secret sigh behind the public smile, the private what-in-the-heLL-did-I-come-for!"
REMARKS OF THIS sort suggest the character-of these letters. Their great value is not as documents for the scholar, but as literary works in themselves. They do what great letters ought to do: reveal character and personality. Neither man was a profound thinker and their letters are not "philosophical"; they are the regular give and take of old and intimate friends, and what they lack in profundity they make up in intimacy and in self-revelation.
In a letter to Twichell (August 29, 1880) Twain reflected how trivial the topics of his correspondence would seem to readers in 1960. He was wrong, of course. In whatever wingless and harpless mansion of Heaven Mark Twain now resides, he must in fact be happy. As Mr. Blair points out, he wanted to be accepted by the literary and scholarly gentry of his day. If he is not satisfied now, he never will be.
BALLOTS TALLIED-Ronald Elder, Benedict senior, runs the ballots cast in the general election through the IBM machine. The machine sorts the cards according to candidates and at the same time it gives the total number of votes received by that candidate.
Harrison Named Frosh President
(Continued from page 1)
Freshman Election Results
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Total vote cast ... 1,047
Phil Harrison ... 387
Mike Smith ... 264
Reuben McCornack ... 232
Jim DeGrand ... 167
Secretary
Total vote cast ... 1,018
Jim Clark ... 280
Jim Tharp ... 253
Lee Ayres ... 243
Merry Moore ... 242
Total vote cast ... 1,030
Kay Consolver ... 401
Wendy Wilkerson ... 294
Beverly Enna ... 178
Dena Scavuzzo ... 157
Total vote cast ... 1,003
Jim Banks ... 368
Joyce Neaderhiser ... 263
Dave Bucker ... 217
Jeff Bor ... 155
Zoo Food: Dopey Pigeons
Loo Food: Dopey Pigeons
SAN ANTONIO, Tex —(UPI)—City Parks Director Bob Frazer has started a project to tranquilize the pigeons that roost at the city hall.
He feeds the birds a meal of grain, laced with tranquilizer, then takes the groggy pigeons to the zoo. The zoo raises pigeons for animal food.
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