Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:47:59.751Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Mr. Clemens and Dr. Holmes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2023

Stanley Finger
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
Get access

Summary

The extent to which Holmes opened Clemens’s eyes about the head readers as frauds, served as his leading guide into the pseudo-science of phrenology, and provided a template for him to lampoon the head readers is addressed in this chapter. Three questions are asked. First, was Clemens familiar with Holmess writings? Second, did he meet Holmes? And third, is there evidence to suggest that Clemens “borrowed” some of Holmess ideas and humorous ways of presenting his thoughts about the head readers and their so-called science? Each of these questions is answered in the affirmative using the letters they exchanged, showing when they met, and by examining their writings. Most notable is how Mark Twain used the same two-column structure that Holmes had used in 1859 to present what the head reader was telling a client but really thinking. This chapter is particularly important because Holmes has not been recognized for having such an influence on Clemens/Twain. Nor had it been shown how Mark Twain borrowed rather freely from Holmes. Then again, scant little has been published on Clemens’s/Mark Twain’s forays into phrenology and there is nothing on Holmes and the head readers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
Literature, Humor, and Faddish Phrenology
, pp. 257 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Mr. Clemens and Dr. Holmes
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Mr. Clemens and Dr. Holmes
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.014
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Mr. Clemens and Dr. Holmes
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.014
Available formats
×