EDITOR’S RE: MARKS

Abstract

With this volume, The Mark Twain Annual offers the second special issue in its history, “Mark Twain and the West: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Roughing It.” Although not all the essays in this volume directly comment on that book, they all capture some aspect of the wide-open (and at times eyes wide shut) spirit of Twain’s journey to the “Far West.” And Bruce Michelson’s opening essay, a revised version of his riveting and astute keynote address from the October 2021 Quarry Farm Symposium, captures in pure Michelsonian style Twain’s freewheeling rendering of his adventures west of the mighty river. It is followed by fourteen revised symposium talks. Twain claimed that “a good deal of information” was in Roughing It and lamented that he would give “worlds if he could retain [his] facts” and that ultimately he “leak[ed] wisdom.” The authors herein add to that information, take him to task by providing facts that he omitted, and leak some wisdom of their own.The 2021 symposium was the first “in-person” one held since the fall of 2020, as a result of the pandemic. Veteran and emerging Twain scholars attending felt the joy of intellectual and personal camaraderie that defines this community. By the time this issue reaches publication, the Center for Mark Twain Studies on the campus of Elmira University will have held its ninth quadrennial conference (postponed a year). And though the last two-plus years have had their share of hardship and grief, we can embrace the following idea put forward by Twain: “Grief can take care of itself, but to get full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.” We invite you to enjoy this special issue, “Mark Twain and the West: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Roughing It.”