The Circle at MLA

The Mark Twain Circle of America will sponsor two sessions as part of the regular program at the 2000 Modern Language Association Annual Convention (Washington, DC, Dec. 27-30):

SESSION 1. Friday, Dec. 29, 10:15 a.m.; Ethan Allen Room, Marriott Wardman Park

Title: New Directions in Mark Twain Research

Chair: Shelley Fisher Fishkin (U of Texas, Austin)

Papers:

¨ "Mark Twain's Reconstruction," Martin Zehr (Kansas City, Missouri)

¨ "The Private History of Ambivalent Nostalgia," Wolfgang Hochbruck (University of Stuttgart)

¨ "Huckleberry Finn and the Victims of Metaphor," John Bird (Winthrop University)

¨ "Fetuses, Nerves, and Brains: Mark Twain's Biology of Realism" Randall Knoper (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

SESSION 2. Saturday, Dec. 30, 12:00 (noon); Embassy Room, Marriott Wardman Park

Title: Mark Twain's Literary Sisters And Daughters

Chair: Robert C. Comeau (Union County College)

Papers:

¨ "Mark Twain's Debt to the Women's Humor Tradition, "Linda Morris (University of California, Davis)

¨ "Damnatio Memoriae: Clara Clemens' Biographical Burning of Samuel Clemens," Laura Skandera-Trombley (Coe College)

¨ "Willa Cather's Respectful Response to Mark Twain's West,” Joe Coulombe (University of Tennessee, Martin)

¨ "'Crumbly Old Bricks Do Not a Strong Foundation Make': Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, Kaye Gibbons' Ellen Foster, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Renee Gross, (Corning Community College)

The Circle has also scheduled the following session outside the regular MLA program:

EVENING SESSION: Saturday, Dec. 30, 6:30 p.m.; location TBA

Presentation: "We hold these truths to be Self-Evident": Mark Twain and the Colorline," Ann M. Ryan (LeMoyne University)