Gender Play in Mark Twain: Cross-dressing and Transgression (Mark Twain and His Circle Series)

197 Pages·2007·1.61 MB·English

by  Linda A. Morris

GENDER PLAY in Mark Twain

Mark Twain and His Circle Series
Tom Quirk, Editor

GENDER PLAY
in Mark Twain
Cross-Dressing and Transgression
Linda A. Morris
University of Missouri Press Columbia and London
Copyright © 2007 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morris, Linda.
Gender play in Mark Twain : cross-dressing and transgression /
Linda A. Morris.
p. cm.
Summary: “Explores Mark Twain’s use of cross-dressing across
his career by exposing the cast of his characters who masqueraded
as members of the opposite sex or who otherwise defied gender
expectations. Morris grounds her study in an understanding of the
era’s theatrical cross-dressing and changing mores, and events in
Clemens’s own household”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-8262-1759-2 (alk. paper)
1. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Sex role in literature. 3. Twain, Mark, 1835–1910—
Characters. 4. American wit and humor—19th century—
History and criticism. I. Title.
PS1338.M67 2007
818(cid:2).409—dc22
2007017493
ø™ This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Kristie Lee
Typesetter: The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc.
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Typefaces: Galliard and Myriad
Frontispiece: Mark Twain in 1899. Courtesy of the Mark Twain
Project, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
(call no. 00222-1899)
For Kay

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
1. Misplaced Sex 1
2. Sarah Mary Williams George Elexander Peters 27
3. Beneath the Veil: Gender Play in Pudd’nhead Wilson 59
4. Troubling Gender: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc 89
5. Transvestite Tales 124
Works Cited 167
Index 177