belated answer to Mark Twain Q

[Mark Kohut]

Page,

Very little close Twain influence traced in most of the best books on TRP's work that I've read. Just the general great comic talents.....hey, he does the Jumping Frog on stereoids; on surreal over-the-topness.....

Curious to me: Tony Tanner at the end of his seminal monograph [his ideas were seminal before this summary monograph] of 1981, mentions a long list of writers who Pynchon has absorbed in his opinion.  Twain and James are
mentioned.  
However, early in the monograph, when he has mentioned writers who have influenced TRP and quoted Barthes on "mixing words", meaning other writers' words, neither Twain nor James are on that list.

I don't know Twain well but as with James, I do not myself see much direct influence as we can point to with so many others.