How Nancy Jackson Married Kate Wilson and Other Tales of Rebellious Girls and Daring Young Women (Paperback)

~ (Author), John Cooley (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Editor Cooley, who published Mark Twain's Aquarium: The Samuel Clemens-Angelfish Correspondence, 1905-1910 (which revealed that, in the last five years of his life, Twain surrounded himself with a gaggle of prepubescent, stainless, middle-class girls), here gathers a dozen minor Twain pieces to show how Twain used some of his slight fictions to idealize his daughters Clara and Suzy Clemens as romantic, rebellious, and daring adolescents in the decades that glorified the sassy Gibson Girl. Twain probably considered his stories of transvestites, lesbian relationships, and sexual oddities almost scandalous, and he must have viewed "Little Bessie," in which a child questions her mother about God, as dangerously blasphemous. The heroines themselves set a high moral standard, all the while remaining ignorant/innocent of everything improper. To all but the Twain scholar, the bulk of these pieces, most retrieved from such periodicals as the Californian (1864) and Cosmopolitan Magazine (1892), will be new and welcome particularly "Eve's Diary" and a prose summary of what Twain considered his best novel, St. Joan of Arc. Recommended as an optional purchase for all public libraries. Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Cooley's collection of Twain's stories featuring independent young women tracks the writer's conflicted acknowledgment of women's changing role in society. This facet of Twain's work has never been explored in depth before, and it's a pleasure to read these sly, entertaining stories of unconventional, bold, and resourceful heroines, which include unusual variations on Eve and Saint Joan of Arc. Cooley provides background for each tale and credits Twain's progressive wife and three daughters as the inspiration for his intrepid women characters. In discussing the title story, for instance, a good yarn with a lurid twist, he notes that Twain never published it (too controversial), and suggests that it was inspired by Twain's discomfort with his daughter Susy's involvement in a lesbian relationship. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803294425
• ISBN-13: 978-0803294424
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,525,152 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)