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Douglas Anderson's new book is the best we have on Mark Twain's lifelong interest in consciousness and the motions of the mind. With graceful, thorough attention to the historical record, Anderson situates him convincingly in the era of William James and the birth of modern psychology. More important, Anderson shows us new and deeper connections between this powerful interest, this fascination with the inner life, and Mark Twain's narrative strategies, from early sketches all the way to the final works. * Bruce Michelson, Professor Emeritus of American Literature and Campus Honors Program Director Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and author of Mark Twain on the Loose and Printer's Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution * This book offers a radical rereading and reassessment of a major American writer. Arguing that in Mark Twain's end is his beginning, Douglas Anderson shows how one of the writer's last books, published anonymously towards the end of his life, helps us to understand his artistic aims and achievement. Fresh light is shed on the familiar, as Anderson examines Twain's entire career with close reference to the idea that a writer often seen as a celebrant of the material, the outer world, was in fact preoccupied with the inner and, in particular with the tortuous, labyrinthine nature of the human consciousness. The Introspective Art of Mark Twain represents a major intervention in Twain studies and, in my opinion, is likely to become required reading for anyone interested in and working on this author. Energetically argued, intellectually sophisticated and deeply informed, it also performs the rare feat of shifting the critical paradigms and making us realise that there is much more to Mark Twain and his work than we had ever imagined. * Richard Gray, Emeritus Professor of Literature, University of Essex, UK * Placing Mark Twain's 'What Is Man?' at the beginning of his perceptive reading of the author's oeuvre, Professor Anderson makes the dialogue between Old Man and Young Man immediately compelling. The 1906 text becomes relevant to this twenty-first century. We appreciate again what Anderson calls Twain's 'argumentative play;' we see, perhaps for the first time, how important are the autobiographical excerpts in the North American Review. An accurate, erudite and above all sympathetic study. * Linda Wagner-Martin, Frank Borden Hanes Professor of English, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA *

This book offers a radical rereading and reassessment of a major American writer. Arguing that in Mark Twain's end is his beginning, Douglas Anderson shows how one of the writer's last books, published anonymously towards the end of his life, helps us to understand his artistic aims and achievement. Fresh light is shed on the familiar, as Anderson examines Twain's entire career with close reference to the idea that a writer often seen as a celebrant of the material, the outer world, was in fact preoccupied with the inner and, in particular with the tortuous, labyrinthine nature of the human consciousness. The Introspective Art of Mark Twain represents a major intervention in Twain studies and, in my opinion, is likely to become required reading for anyone interested in and working on this author. Energetically argued, intellectually sophisticated and deeply informed, it also performs the rare feat of shifting the critical paradigms and making us realise that there is much more to Mark Twain and his work than we had ever imagined. Richard Gray, Emeritus Professor of Literature, University of Essex, UK Placing Mark Twain's 'What Is Man?' at the beginning of his perceptive reading of the author's oeuvre, Professor Anderson makes the dialogue between Old Man and Young Man immediately compelling. The 1906 text becomes relevant to this twenty-first century. We appreciate again what Anderson calls Twain's 'argumentative play;' we see, perhaps for the first time, how important are the autobiographical excerpts in the North American Review. An accurate, erudite and above all sympathetic study. Linda Wagner-Martin, Frank Borden Hanes Professor of English, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA Douglas Anderson's new book is the best we have on Mark Twain's lifelong interest in consciousness and the motions of the mind. With graceful, thorough attention to the historical record, Anderson situates him convincingly in the era of William James and the birth of modern psychology. More important, Anderson shows us new and deeper connections between this powerful interest, this fascination with the inner life, and Mark Twain's narrative strategies, from early sketches all the way to the final works. Bruce Michelson, Professor Emeritus of American Literature and Campus Honors Program Director Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and author of Mark Twain on the Loose and Printer's Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution

Douglas Anderson's new book is the best we have on Mark Twain's lifelong interest in consciousness and the motions of the mind. With graceful, thorough attention to the historical record, Anderson situates him convincingly in the era of William James and the birth of modern psychology. More important, Anderson shows us new and deeper connections between this powerful interest, this fascination with the inner life, and Mark Twain's narrative strategies, from early sketches all the way to the final works. Bruce Michelson, Professor Emeritus of American Literature and Campus Honors Program Director Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and author of Mark Twain on the Loose and Printer's Devil: Mark Twain and the American Publishing Revolution This book offers a radical rereading and reassessment of a major American writer. Arguing that in Mark Twain's end is his beginning, Douglas Anderson shows how one of the writer's last books, published anonymously towards the end of his life, helps us to understand his artistic aims and achievement. Fresh light is shed on the familiar, as Anderson examines Twain's entire career with close reference to the idea that a writer often seen as a celebrant of the material, the outer world, was in fact preoccupied with the inner and, in particular with the tortuous, labyrinthine nature of the human consciousness. The Introspective Art of Mark Twain represents a major intervention in Twain studies and, in my opinion, is likely to become required reading for anyone interested in and working on this author. Energetically argued, intellectually sophisticated and deeply informed, it also performs the rare feat of shifting the critical paradigms and making us realise that there is much more to Mark Twain and his work than we had ever imagined. Richard Gray, Emeritus Professor of Literature, University of Essex, UK Placing Mark Twain's 'What Is Man?' at the beginning of his perceptive reading of the author's oeuvre, Professor Anderson makes the dialogue between Old Man and Young Man immediately compelling. The 1906 text becomes relevant to this twenty-first century. We appreciate again what Anderson calls Twain's 'argumentative play;' we see, perhaps for the first time, how important are the autobiographical excerpts in the North American Review. An accurate, erudite and above all sympathetic study. Linda Wagner-Martin, Frank Borden Hanes Professor of English, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA

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Douglas Anderson is the Sterling-Goodman Professor of English at University of Georgia, USA. His previous books include A House Undivided: Domesticity and Community in American Literature (1990), The Radical Enlightenments of Benjamin Franklin (1997), William Bradford’s Books: Of Plimmoth Plantation and the Printed Word (2003), Pictures of Ascent in the Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe (2009), and The Unfinished Life of Benjamin Franklin (2012).

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