Gary Scharnhorst

General Reference Works

This year a modest reversal of recent trends in the publication of reference works occurred, particularly a revival in specialized literary histories. Such trade presses as Greenwood, Wiley, McFarland, and Cambridge—especially the appearance of new Cambridge Companions and Cambridge Histories—dominate this market niche. While these analytical volumes and chronicles are valuable teaching tools because they consolidate research in emerging fields, they break little new ground, unlike bibliographies, once a standard type of reference work and today a species of scholarship as endangered as the snail darter.

Mark Twain's Interviews: Supplement Three

“The Departure of Bayard Taylor and Mark Twain,” Baltimore Sun, 13 April 1878, 3. A large crowd of friends witnessed the departure, at new York, on Thursday, of Bayard Taylor and Mark Twain, on the Holsatia, for Bremen. At the leave taking on the steamship there were many witty and sentimental sayings. [. . .] Mark Twain observed that there was a difference between himself and Mr. Taylor: ‘Mr. Taylor goes abroad with a purpose, I with none. Mr. Taylor goes to represent his country, I to represent myself. Mr. Taylor goes to do business, I to loaf. how long shall I stay? I can’t tell. I left my house in hartford just as it is, so I can come back at any time. Perhaps that is the best way to do if you want to stay a good while. If you rent your house for a year or so, you know, you want to come back in three months. I am going to write something when I get settled. I can’t write when I am interrupted—burn three pages out of every four, and begin over again. In Germany, where I can’t understand a word they say, I can settle down and write it off.”

Howells and W. R. Alger: An Overlooked Review

(1990). Howells and W. R. Alger: An Overlooked Review. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews: Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 171-174.