Sophie, Tones: 56 (Seecmetonta), Pigt ngs, Tema 58 (Secundaria) Pia ‘Centro de Estudios ECOEM, S|A,— Curso 2007/2008 "AMERICAN HUMOUR: MARK TWAIN. HENRY JAMES AND OLITANISM. JEL _HUMORISMO: M. TWAIN, H. JAMES Y EL ooucrH 54 /COsMOPOLITANISMO. coer “ai an ry Jones saa eyed wate he sae prod af ng ar non mee ‘epsom tere wey wens ‘A._READER ‘wae eset Anan conton, a secon te numa ay” ‘le gies of tara nich meg bebe aun to wha 2 a ay Kecian reece et se ea NeTRODUCTION. 2. AMERICAN HUMOUR ny nessa rw rn oa 2 an twain, eos) tle gana nor, od enon ae fc Twn a es ae tre wth De eco betas Ute Ses 4 cosnorourass, aca mi tba oy tne etsy ee rabeed ter e eet, hey be ocho, 51. Ute “ ye ‘2 AMERICAN HUMOUR. a {alte "pro Ie lawn San rancacanenapaer Marat Oe Lonel Sed pr inguin frre ol west foley cane wa ota i ring erate tang ta of eran Rar nthe be! mney 4 Tapeombies evn ac so a dk a ‘iygpsp whe nee cases Rey Vat ef tte, roe meal ‘Thea te or erred as 2 "anos Dicenonds sh” ey aes ‘mois hr aud se wi him owes hs cre = cig Whe seo were pear and he nexsared=pyernee ot ¢ mysterious strange. Mer Tas) ‘Stanog tet tn, ater veg» satan rs otis lacus a eas ‘ne cnet tenn tw sara: of face Am ough, analy fo he may shone Niet devoesng te posites espana. Use Seon ete hea Saciyon ® aerate tunping Fog ot clara curt” fr appeared Shi oneness irs & eres cere DILOIN, SA 902 STD 79 — sane ecoomgs — SnaloamOmInglés, Tema 54 (Secundaria Pag. 3 character in the tale, Huck tells a tale that is designed to make readers laugh without, as Mark Twain puts it below, "ever smiling." From early on in his career, Mark Twain believed that when a humorist gave no sign that he understood the meaning of the story he was telling, it made the audience that much more likely to laugh. Of course, in Huck Finn the narrative "innocence" of the storyteller is being put to much more profound thematic uses. The above mentioned genre known as tall tale, and with which Mark Twain became famous, is defined by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as narrative that depicts the wild adventures of extravagantly exaggerated folk heroes. The tall tale is essentially an oral form of entertain- ment; the audience appreciates the imaginative invention rather than the literal meaning of the tales. Associated with the lore of the American frontier, tall tales often explain ins of lakes, mountains, and canyons; they are spun around such legendary heroes as the giant lumberjack of the Pacific Northwest; Mike Fink, the rowdy Mississippi Rive man; and Davy Crockett, the backwoods Tennessee marksman. Othertall tales recgunt the superhuman exploits of western cowboy heroes such as William F. ly and Annie Jakley: American humour, as it appears in tall tales, has some cl nents: a problem solved in a funny wa a superhuman main character” deliberate misspellings (gp’¢aco parody, pastiche, comie’ocabul authors often blend; St arg carnestiz & ¥ * te ny“humorists. The history of the Southwest is The American Southwes one of expansion into roug} territe ten life in those conditions yas hai ships. The South-western: Au who were writinggaS"amat wit, these men cfeated a | cters which amused their contemporaries while helping mriaty to shape the et UFin myth of the frontier in America. The other main functions of Western- style humetir, apal relieving the pressure of having to live there, were otherwise twofold: ind nd, humour was the only way in which to face those hard- ‘2 most often professionals-- doctors, lawyers, editors-- 10. arai al en Inymously. Utilizing their experience, imagination and the empty patriotic language or respectable democratic institu- imvent, at least in some degree, the taboos of the nation’s Puritan value ystem; allusions to sexuality or to most bodily functions, were excluded from re- Spectable Anglo-American literature; masculine passions could perhaps be implic- itly suggested, in veiled language while female sexuality could not be mentioned at all; nor of course could homosexuality. .® The heyday of South-western humour culminates in the period between the 1830's and “the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. The Southwest to which these humorists refer is present day Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri. The genre that developed originates from the politics and oral histories of a burgeoning region-- full of fire and out to prove itself to the world. This enthusiasm manifests itself in bawdy, violent, and predominately masculine portrayals of the world of the Southwest. Yet beneath the savagery of the stories, there is an effort at realism and regional descriptions that had not been attempted © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte dela | i Inglés, Tema 54 (Secundaria Pag. 4 previously. Humorists like Augustus B. Longstreet, George Washington Harris and Johnson Jones Hooper (among others) were the forerunners of Mark Twain. They created a place in literature for American vernacular and regional caricatures with their overblown stereotypes of the frontiersman and yeoman farmer. Their work proved to be the fertile ground which allowed Twain to flourish in his time. 3. MARK TWAIN. 3.1. LIFE. Mark Twain (1835-1910) is the pen name Mencken called him "the true father of our national Twain made a more extensive combination of Ameri previous writers had done. Twain was born in the backwogds, « is: family moved to Hannibal on the Mi ippi Rivers,Theré*he developed a passion for the river and a desire to become the pilot 9 i goat Migs the dream of all the boys along the river, and Twain was very proud of en, - on, he actually became a pilot. Twain‘s father hadgwan wer, and did actually serve as a justice of the peace and judge, but ha man in Hannibal, but, rei Thus at the age ofe4 jooling ended, though he continued to read extensively. tury writers, the printshop and journalism served as : arious Eastern and Midwestern towns. In 1856 he fulfilled his boyhood j ing‘ river boat pilot. When the boats stopped operating during the Civil War, he serve imeéas a volunteer soldier and then, in 1862, he went West. %, Twain frst wrote for a newspaper in Nevada and then moved to San Francisco. During is period he wrote mainly humorous sketches, the most famous being “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country". Between 1865 and 1870, Twain went on tours of Hawaii, * “Wb Eur ' and the Middle East as a correspondent; later his adventures served as the subject of several books. His newspaper accounts of his travels spread his popularity, so that on his return ‘also became a successful humorous lecturer. In 1870, Twain married a wealthy and rather aristocratic girl and settled in the East, first in Buffalo and then permanently in Hartford, Connecticut. When he moved to Hartford, Twain gave up journalism to make writing fiction his career. His writing was popular and sold well, although he sometimes found lecture tours necessary to supplement his income. — © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacié6n se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de laInglés, Tema 54 (Secundaria) Pag. 5 In Hartford, Twain was surrounded by a wealthy, genteel society including several other popular authors of the time, and it has been assumed that this influence modified the bois- terous writer of newspaper days, curbing his wit and social criticism. This assumption is not entirely true, for the "Mark Twain" who appeared autobiographically in the stories of the West, and the Samuel Clemens of Hartford society were both, to some degree, social poses. Twain's work does not suffer from being overly genteel, and his satirical writing is a sharp attack on society. In his last years, he became increasingly bitter; some of his writing of this period is so Pessimistic that he withheld it from publication. 3.2. WORKS. He represents a new way of writing which is often called “Western” i, humour. This term was used to define parts of America (it was not in fact confined = id _ Still in process of settlement. Much of it was wilderness, thinly pop i white hunters and trappers, until the first settlers came. Life was hard ey survived oy éloping self-reliance to an extraordinary degree, and in so doing develo, law, speech and social observance. Frontier life could be lonely ai melancholy. John Nichol suggested that “transatlantic humour... is the rare e people habitually grave, whose insight is more clear than deepis exaggeration, and a blending of jest and earnest,,. any neat a ob “The new style was ie ened Nek goat novels The Ambussndos, The ings ofthe Dove a The Golden Bow Ne jetta seal gap urna > tenes, A he nv! doops Ureugh mat ages af wah ad rey we ‘ese th nhac rn of stton. hdtoahy, be ed owe shame roe ‘Spe omc cote al of apie age {rs fee cere Ws ey wre aa He, abe geo atin tof nord ecg ot re of he rcs ° ‘For of te “sven of concousnse ene ee OM ces conasion o “he type mat nT wing wae te naan o Bil occa eran or sy ite an ure son Ea rene [Bets wars te orn teres ve wey owed en ‘wot ran a yh pomp, te ya was aay se Seyon Ress re ‘Soon wren Tan conrased we ypc Fer ames spa fe and bla. wa ciples ae, be en. ‘Seas tr war oaye 9 cote by srpeen vaso. Aa lg ety ere os DEN SA ERED ~ wanes — ROSEN,a ieee, [_Torics4 |e | suak ae