antw. twain & cooper (was: Re: Pynchon mention)

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

joe schrieb:

> I'm curious as to the opinions of our European friends. Was Twain presented
> to them as something quintessentially American? Or ignored altogether?


  according to my experience, otto is right on this one: both, twain and cooper, 
  are (outside of academia) labeled as "adventure literature" and their 
  american origin is not stressed. i read them in illustrated youth-editions at 
  the age of eleven. neither of them played a role at high school. there the 
  only early american author to appear was edgar allan poe. peace! kai 

  ps. cooper, however, always had fans among european intellectuals: goethe, 
  balzac, or arno schmidt who wrote several radio essays ("siebzehn sind 
  zuviel!"; "cooper, der lederstrumpf und europa"; amerika, du hast es besser"; 
  "nachwort zu coopers 'conanchet'; "das amerika der pioniere"; "100 sind zu 
  viel!": cf. das essayistische werk zur angelsächsischen literatur in 3 bänden. 
  sämtliche nachtprogramme und aufsätze. band 1. zürich 1994: haffmans verlag, 
  pp. 25-110) on jfc. 

  pps. "or may the maledictions of lousyfear fall like nettlerash on the white 
  friar's father that converted from moonshine the fostermother of the first 
  nancyfree that ran off after the trumpadour that mangled moore's melodies and 
  so upturned the tubshead of the stardaft journalwriter to inspire the prime 
  finisher to fellhim the firtree out of which cooper funnymore planed the flat 
  of the beerbarrel on which my grandydad's lustiest sat his seat of unwisdom 
  with my tante's petted sister for the cause of his joy!" (jj: fw, p. 439)