{"product_id":"9781501329548","title":"Introspective Art of Mark Twain","description":"\u003ch1\u003eIntrospective Art of Mark Twain\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDouglas Anderson\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eLiterary Criticism \/ American \/ General\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Introspective Art of Mark Twain\u003c\/i\u003e is a major new assessment of a towering American writer. Seeking to trace the development of Mark Twain's imagination, Douglas Anderson begins near the end of Twain's life, with the long dialogue \u003ci\u003eWhat Is Man?\u003c\/i\u003e that Twain published anonymously in 1906. In Twain's view, the little-read \u003ci\u003eWhat Is Man?\u003c\/i\u003e lies at the heart of his creative life. It is the central aesthetic testament that he employed to tell the story of his artistic evolution. Anderson follows the contours of that story as it unfolds over Twain's career. The portrait that emerges addresses the full scope of Twain's achievement, drawing on his autobiographical and travel writings, as well as the published and unpublished works of fiction that are by now deeply embedded in the world literary canon.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Steer by the river in your head,” Mark Twain's master pilot, Horace Bixby, once advised him, when the opaque atmosphere of the outer world made it impossible to see the actual Mississippi through which Twain was trying to guide his steamboat. For the purposes of this book, the river in one's head is not a mental construct of the physical world but the riverine networks of consciousness itself: the river that is the mind. The detailed discussions of individual books that structure each chapter direct the attention of Mark Twain's students and admirers, through inward rather than outward channels, toward a fuller appreciation for his legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDouglas Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e is the Sterling-Goodman Professor of English at University of Georgia, USA. His previous books include \u003ci\u003eA House Undivided: Domesticity and Community in American Literature \u003c\/i\u003e(Cambridge University Press, 1990), \u003ci\u003eThe Radical Enlightenments of Benjamin Franklin \u003c\/i\u003e(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), \u003ci\u003eWilliam Bradford's Books: Of Plimmoth Plantation and the Printed Word \u003c\/i\u003e(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), \u003ci\u003ePictures of Ascent in the Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe\u003c\/i\u003e (Palgrave MacMillan, 2009), and \u003ci\u003eThe Unfinished Life of Benjamin Franklin\u003c\/i\u003e (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e20 April 2017\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781501329548\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback softback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e296\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e12.48\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51332346249356,"sku":"9781501329548","price":36.86,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_f841a2b2-dfba-417d-9a9a-61cd111a8a29.jpg?v=1783602991","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9781501329548","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}