"Littery man" : Mark Twain and modern authorship

This book reconstructs Samuel Clemens's performance as `Mark Twain' as a resonant moment in the emergence of the profession of the American writer. Lowry examines a range of Twain's major works to show how the writer strove to establish his authority over the course of his career, through publication of his novels, and in newspapers, magazines, book reviews, advertising, and his public performances and readings.