Mark Twain's Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows

Abstract

In this paper I am attempting a new approach to the body of Mark Twain's writings: an examination of the repeated confusions of dream and reality which occur in Twain's work. From this subject I have often branched out into other topics more or less related. I consider my approach valuable for two reasons: it provides a workable way of looking at Twain, and it yields some new discoveries about his relation to other important literary figures. A note on procedures is perhaps in order. Because of the nature of my project have been working mainly with primary sources; in quoting these, I have not cited page references. Other critics of Twain's well-known classics seem generally to have adopted such a practice, and I use their writings as precedent.