EXCLUSIVE: Twain Scholar Responds to Controversial Nevada Findings

My last post concerned the recent report by Robert Stewart that would seem to indicate Mark Twain did a lot of embellishing in his autobiography and in Roughing It when it came to describing his early travels in Nevada. Last night I received a correspondence from David Antonucci, author of the conflicting report which ran alongside Stewart's findings. Here's what Mr. Antonucci had to say:

Stewart’s article is fraught with errors and invalid assumptions. Most obviously, his distance, terrain description and final location do not agree with the Roughing It account and related letters. He also conflicts with Twain contemporary and biographer George Wharton James on the location of the timber claim. I am ready to debate Stewart anytime, anyplace. I am preparing a point-by-point analysis that will show these and other discrepancies and will seek to present this to the Nevada Historical Society. It’s worthwhile to note that when I confronted Stewart with my criticisms he had no reply other than to say, “we just disagree.” A documentary filmmaker has reviewed both accounts and choose mine for their upcoming Twain documentary. Finally, my paper was peer reviewed by Twain scholars in 2005 at Fifth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies.

Strong words from a man who is obviously passionate about his own evidence. Thanks to Mr. Antonucci for allowing me to reprint his words, and I hope he and Mr. Stewart will be able to air out their differences in the near future.

Roughing It Anthologized in True Crime Collection

Harold Schechter's new volume, Murder Ink: A Killer Collection, is a "celebration" of 350 years worth of true-crime writing. It's one of non-fiction's most popular genres, and one that wasn't left untouched by Twain. That is why Schechter has included an excerpt from the author's famous travel tome, Roughing It.

In particular, the editor has selected Twain's description of the frontier violence in the Wild West that he encountered while traveling to Nevada with his brother. Specifically, the young Clemens was taken by the propensity of would-be gold miners to seek retribution with a pistol.

Murder Ink: A Killer Collection is available now from the Library of America.

The Wild Humorist of the Western Slope

Actor MacAvoy Layne will be performing his one-man show "Wild Humorist of the Western Slope, Mark Twain" at Taylor Creek, Nevada's Lake of the Sky Amphitheater, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

Layne has impersonated Twain at Taylor Creek in a wide variety of shows over the past two decades. This one in particular covers the author's adventures out West, which made up the bulk of his 1872 memoir, Roughing It. Most Twain enthusiasts will recall that much of those adventures took place in the then-territory of Nevada, particularly in the fledgling Carson City.

For more information on the show, call the Taylor Creek Visitor Center at (530) 543-2674.

Unearthing the Town Where Sam Clemens Became Mark Twain

The old Nevada mining town of Virginia City, where a 20-something Samuel Clemens lived and worked as a newspaper reporter in the early 1860s, is currently the site of an archaeological dig being undertaken by the University of Nevada, according to NBC-TV affiliate KRNV.

The ultimate destination of the westward journey Clemens and his brother made, which formed the basis of the 1891 travelogue Roughing It, Virginia City had literally sprung up just a few short years before Clemens' arrival, thanks to the Comstock Lode silver strike.

A rough town of poor repute, Clemens made his journalistic bones there as a newspaper reporter for the Territorial Enterprise, who never let the truth get in the way of a good story. In fact, it was in Virginia City that he first took up his fictional pen name of "Mark Twain". He eventually left the town after getting mugged one night walking home from a bender at a friends' house.

A summer field school from the University's Department of Anthropology plans to dig for the next two weeks in what was once a particularly seedy area of the town known as the Barbary Coast. The purpose of the dig is to learn what life was like in the city during Twain's time.