The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)
Cambridge University Press, 2/28/1997
EAN 9780521556507, ISBN10: 0521556503
Paperback, 216 pages, 22.1 x 14.8 x 1.5 cm
Language: English
Passionate readers both, Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain courted through books, spelling out their expectations through literary references as they corresponded during their frequent separations. Surprisingly, in the process Olivia Langdon reveals herself not as a hypochondriacal hysteric, as many twentieth-century critics have portrayed her, but as a thoughtful intellectual, widely read in literature, history and modern science. Not so surprisingly, Samuel Clemens reveals himself as a critic and a sceptic, lampooning Langdon's physics lessons and her literary heroines. He also shows himself as an astute strategist, carefully manipulating Langdon and her parents. At the same time, Clemens's letters exhibit his own conservatism about women's nature and women's roles, while Langdon's show her carefully choosing from her culture's array of possible role models.
1. A commonplace book
2. Philosophy and chemistry
science study in 1860s' Elmira
3. Negotiating difference
love letters and love texts
4. Conning books
Olivia Langdon and Samuel Clemens's joint reading
5. Marriage.