1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910451537403321

Autore

Bush Harold K (Harold Karl), <1956-2021.>

Titolo

Mark Twain and the spiritual crisis of his age [[electronic resource] /] / Harold K. Bush, Jr

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Tuscaloosa, : University of Alabama Press, c2007

ISBN

0-8173-8129-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (354 p.)

Collana

Studies in American literary realism and naturalism

Disciplina

818/.409

Soggetti

Christianity and literature - United States - History - 19th century

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [311]-331) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Mark Twain's roots : Hannibal, the river, and the west -- Mark Twain's wife : the moral ethos of the Victorian home -- Mark Twain's pastor : Joe Twichell and social Christianity -- Mark Twain's liberal faith : the social gospel on Asylum Hill -- Mark Twain's Civil War : civil religion and the Lost Cause -- Mark Twain's American Adam : humor as hope and apocalypse -- Mark Twain's grief : the final years.

Sommario/riassunto

The writer's fascination with America's spiritual and religious evolution in the 19th century. Mark Twain is often pictured as a severe critic of religious piety, shaking his fist at God and mocking the devout. Such a view, however, is only partly correct. It ignores the social realities of Twain's major period as a writer and his own spiritual interests: his participation in church activities, his socially progressive agenda, his reliance on religious themes in his major works, and his friendships with clergymen, especially his pastor and best friend, Joe Twichell. It also bet