Editor’s Re: Marks

Last December, Twain faithful were both irritated and intrigued by the news that the fifteen-pound bronze Mark Twain plaque had been stolen from atop the two-fathoms-tall granite obelisk marking the Langdon/Clemens burial plot in Elmira, New York’s Woodlawn Cemetery. Further news of the stolen plaque’s eventual recovery soon followed in early February, as did the bizarre details of its short-lived disappearance, as reported in the Elmira Star-Gazette.

Apparently, a local Elmiran was the ostensible mastermind. Among the strange details that surfaced were these: the plaque had ridden in the back of a Cadillac; the thief had planned to wash the plaque in bleach to remove his fingerprints; and for a time the plaque was hidden in the snow before friends of the thief returned it, mainly unharmed, to Elmira police. A $10.000 reward, unclaimed, had been offered by local authorities for its safe recovery.

Listen: Mark Twain is chortling from his grave.

Bryce Cuyle, Woodlawn Cemetery superintendent, was quoted in the Gazette as stating, “I think it was taken because of who it was.”

Yes, who it was.

Likely, this wannabe thief knew very little about who Twain was, really. But what he knew least was that Twain’s image and legacy are for all intents and purposes irremovable.

In fact, 105 years since his death, his image and legacy have grown exponentially, so that Twain’s visage remains a fixture of modern culture. And we are still trying to own it.

Listen: Mark Twain is chortling from his grave.

As scholars and literary enthusiasts, we claim to know who Twain is. But do we?

Here’s what we know for sure.

He is quoted (and misquoted) regularly.

His image is constantly being co-opted, appearing regularly in the media—Time can’t resist putting him on its cover with this headline: “The Dangerous Mind of Mark Twain.”

Hollywood and pop-culture writers can’t get enough of him.

Twain biographies (and some really good ones) continue to pour from the pens of talented scholars.

His well-received official autobiography is steaming toward three volumes.

Annual, biennial, quadrennial, centennial, and sesquicentennial celebrations of his life and legacy have been celebrated, are being planned, or await celebration.

Scholarly articles, books, journals, newsletters, and e-forums continue to document and explore his versatility, relevance, prescience, skill, and genius.

Conferences on, about, and around the legacy of Twain and his cohort abound: MLA, ALA, AHSA, SAMLA, and WLA are some of the usual capital-lettered suspects. This past July many of us gathered for the second quadrennial Hannibal Clemens conference. And we’ll mobilize and gather again in August 2017 for the quadrennial Twain pilgrimage to Elmira, better known as the State of Mark Twain Studies conference (aka Elmira Unplugged).

We crave these opportunities to write about, rethink, and share Twain’s words.

In short, we remain fascinated by Twain’s staying power, evidenced by the growing number of Twain societies across the world, and by the healthy variety of approaches (domestic and international) to his work and life, some of which are represented in Volume 13 of the Annual.

Twain pilgrims who visit Woodlawn Cemetery to enjoy its beauty and to pay homage know well that temporarily misappropriated Twain plaque (and Ossip Gabrilowitsch’s)—as we know well the order and position of the entire Langdon/Clemens plot. We also know the exact color of the leaves of that plot’s majestic oak and maple trees in the fall and the sound made when the wind rustles those very same leaves. In an odd yet pleasing way, that patch of earth is ours, too.

Because many of us have come to know Twain and his family, friends, and associates so intimately, we can’t resist thinking what Twain himself would have written about this bungled burglary, if he had the chance.

So, here goes …

As a youngster, working slavishly for Orion’s Hannibal Western Union, he may have mischievously written the following headlines: “Ghastly Find! ‘Beheading’ in Local Cemetery Has Locals Scared and Baffled.” The following week: “Missing ‘Head’ Found in Snowdrift: Locals...