The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark TwainPassionate readers both, Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain courted through books, spelling out their expectations through literary references as they corresponded during their frequent separations. Surprisingly, in the process Olivia Langdon reveals herself not as a hypochondriacal hysteric, as many twentieth-century critics have portrayed her, but as a thoughtful intellectual, widely read in literature, history and modern science. Not so surprisingly, Samuel Clemens reveals himself as a critic and a sceptic, lampooning Langdon's physics lessons and her literary heroines. He also shows himself as an astute strategist, carefully manipulating Langdon and her parents. At the same time, Clemens's letters exhibit his own conservatism about women's nature and women's roles, while Langdon's show her carefully choosing from her culture's array of possible role models. |
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Alice Hooker American Aurora Leigh baby Beecher Buffalo characters Charles Chemung County Historical Christian Clem Clemens's commonplace book contemporaries County Historical Journal County Historical Society courtship letters cultural culture's daughter discourse Dombey Dombey and Son don's Elmira College Elmira Daily Advertiser especially fiction friends gender Harriet Beecher Stowe Hartford husband intellectual interest Isabella Beecher Hooker Isabella Hooker January Jervis Langdon Langdon and Clemens Langdon Clemens Langdon copied Langdon family Langdon wrote Langdon's letters Lilly Warner literary Literature live Livy Mark Twain Archives Mark Twain House marriage married moral mother night nineteenth-century noted novel November Olivia Langdon Olivia Langdon Clemens Olivia Lewis Olivia Lewis Langdon Olivia Lewis's diary parents passages Quarry Farm readers references relationship rhetorical Samuel Clemens Saturday Evening Review scientific sexual social struggle suggests Susan texts told Langdon values Victorian wedding wife woman women writing York