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CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix INTRODUCTION The Essays: Form and Content 1 PART I. THREE POLEMICAL ESSAYS Mark Twain and the "Infernal Twoness": An Essay on the Comic 21 Mark Twain and the SickJoke: An Essay on Laughter 53 Sam Clemens and G. S. Weaver; Hank Morgan and Mark Twain: An Essay on Books and Reality 84 PART II. THE RIVER TRILOGY Tom Sawyer: An Essay on Romantic Folly 123 Huckleberry Finn: An Essay on the Dilemmas of Realism 144 Pudd'nhead Wilson: An Essay on Triumphant Reality 180 PART III. A LAsT, SPECULATIVE ESSAY Mark Twain and Melville: An Essay on the Metaphysics of Twinship 215 Melville and Mark Twain 216 A Theory of Twinning 218 The Practices of Twinning 237 Conclusion: April Fools! 258 SELECTED BIBUOGRAPHY 269 INDEX 279 ...

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