The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain

by Susan K. Harris

Overview

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. Working with Langdon's own letters and diaries as well as Twain's, Harris traces the progress of their courtship within the larger context of Victorian American culture, showing how the couple negotiated their relationship through the mediums of literature, material culture, and social and familial dynamics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521556507
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/28/1997
Series:	Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture , #101
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"Harris nimbly interweaving texts (letters, diaries) and contexts, dispels the mystery, bringing back the real Mrs. Twain: a woman of genuine intellectual reach, and a passionate reader in an era where that passion could itself be a kind of art." The New Yorker

From the Publisher