Michael Torregrossa (Bristol Community College)
Carl Sell (University of Pittsburgh)
This session is sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of America.
American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1935-1910) achieved lasting fame as Mark Twain, an identity that served as both his pen name and the persona he cultivated for the public. Twain’s writings and his distinctive character have dispersed across time and space, and the resulting Twainian tradition incorporates these elements in many ways.
Importantly, his works and iconography have long been the focus of adaptation. This process begins with the illustrations commissioned for the initial publication of his texts, Twain’s own attempts to rework and expand his stories, and contemporary caricatures of his person, and it continues with retellings of Twain’s stories, linked texts (such as prequels, midquels, and sequels) connected to his work, recastings and restagings of his tales, and new adventures for Twain himself. These adaptations, appropriations, and transformations of Twain appear in diverse forms and formats including anime series, artworks, cartoons, comics, films, games, historical fiction texts, home video releases, graphic novels, illustrations, memorials, musical theater productions, mysteries, performances, plays, radio broadcasts, science fiction works, sculptures, song lyrics, stamps, television programming, theme park attractions, and tourist sites.
Each adaptation regenerates aspects of Twain for new audiences revealing fresh insights into the reception of his works, life, and legacy. They also highlight both the timelessness of Twain as well as his timeliness for the present of each new text that his writings and his person have inspired.
This session is sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of America.
American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1935-1910) achieved lasting fame as Mark Twain; Twain’s writings and his distinctive character have dispersed across time and space, and the resulting Twainian tradition incorporates these elements in many ways, especially through adaptations of his works and iconography. We seek proposals that engage with these texts in the belief that each adaptation regenerates aspects of Twain for new audiences revealing fresh insights into the reception of his works, life, and legacy and highlighting both the timelessness of Twain as well as his timeliness for the present of each new text that his writings and his person have inspired.