LEADER 05143nam 2200649Ia 450 001 9910955554903321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a9780826272706 010 $a0826272703 035 $a(CKB)2670000000160591 035 $a(EBL)3440760 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000690589 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11400576 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000690589 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10628456 035 $a(PQKB)10969870 035 $a(OCoLC)868217858 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse26937 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3440760 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10546067 035 $a(OCoLC)932311373 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3440760 035 $a(Perlego)1704470 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000160591 100 $a20110402d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe jester and the sages $eMark Twain in conversation with Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx /$fForrest G. Robinson, Gabriel Noah Brahm, Catherine Carlstroem 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aColumbia [Mo.] ;$aLondon $cUniversity of Missouri Press$dc2011 215 $a1 online resource (175 p.) 225 1 $aMark Twain and his circle series 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 08$a9780826219527 311 08$a0826219527 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aTwain and Nietzsche / Gabriel Noah Brahm Jr. and Forrest G. Robinson -- Twain and Freud / Forrest G. Robinson -- Twain and Marx / Catherine Carlstroem and Forrest G. Robinson -- Conclusion / Catherine Carlstroem. 330 8 $aThe Jester and the Sages approaches the life and work of Mark Twain by placing him in conversation with three eminent philosophers of his time-Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx. Unprecedented in Twain scholarship, this interdisciplinary analysis by Forrest G. Robinson, Gabriel Noah Brahm Jr., and Catherine Carlstroem rescues the American genius from his role as funny-man by exploring how his reflections on religion, politics, philosophy, morality, and social issues overlap the philosophers' developed thoughts on these subjects. Remarkably, they had much in common. During their lifetimes, Twain, Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx witnessed massive upheavals in Western constructions of religion, morality, history, political economy, and human nature. The foundations of reality had been shaken, and one did not need to be a philosopher-nor did one even need to read philosophy-to weigh in on what this all might mean. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary materials, the authors show that Twain was well attuned to debates of the time. Unlike his Continental contemporaries, however, he was not as systematic in developing his views. Brahm and Robinson's chapter on Nietzsche and Twain reveals their subjects' common defiance of the moral and religious truisms of their time. Both desired freedom, resented the constraints of Christian civilization, and saw punishing guilt as the disease of modern man. Pervasive moral evasion and bland conformity were the principal end result, they believed. In addition to a continuing focus on guilt, Robinson discovers in his chapter on Freud and Twain that the two men shared a lifelong fascination with the mysteries of the human mind. From the formative influence of childhood and repression, to dreams and the unconscious, the mind could free people or keep them in perpetual chains. The realm of the unconscious was of special interest to both men as it pertained to the creation of art. In the final chapter, Carlstroem and Robinson explain that, despite significant differences in their views of human nature, history, and progress, Twain and Marx were both profoundly disturbed by economic and social injustice in the world. Of particular concern was the gulf that industrial capitalism opened between the privileged elite property owners and the vast class of property-less workers. Moralists impatient with conventional morality, Twain and Marx wanted to free ordinary people from the illusions that enslaved them. Twain did not know the work's of Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx well, yet many of his thoughts cross those of his philosophical contemporaries. By focusing on the deeper aspects of Twain's intellectual makeup, Robinson, Brahm, and Carlstroem supplement the traditional appreciation of the forces that drove Twain's creativity and the dynamics of his humor.   410 0$aMark Twain and his circle series. 517 3 $aMark Twain in conversation with Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx 606 $aAmerican literature$xHistory and criticism 615 0$aAmerican literature$xHistory and criticism. 676 $a818/.409 686 $aHT 4705$2rvk 700 $aRobinson$b Forrest G$g(Forrest Glen),$f1940-$01808855 701 $aBrahm$b Gabriel$01808856 701 $aCarlstroem$b Catherine$01808857 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910955554903321 996 $aThe jester and the sages$94359336 997 $aUNINA