I liked Steve Krause’s article, “Twain is met in Swampscott” (The Daily Item, March 15). It advertised a lecture about Mark Twain to be given by Izzi Abrams on March 21 at Swampscott Library. I am adding some additional interesting information about Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) that I would describe as “Mark Twain on Jewish stuff.”
Mark Twain was a very prolific, world-famous writer and also a world traveler. A whole Daily Item newspaper could be filled with great news about Samuel Langhorne Clemens and there would still be interesting material left out for lack of space. Please, therefore, do not regard my additional information on Mark Twain as any indication that the article was remiss for not including it.
I have heard and read many comparisons between the contemporary classical writers, Sholem Aleichem and Mark Twain. A Jewish writer, Aleichem wrote humorous stories in Yiddish about Jewish characters and Jewish life in czarist Russia. The hit musical and movie, “Fiddler on the Roof,” is based on the adventures of Sholem Aleichem’s character, “Tevye the Dairyman.”
In his time, Aleichem, (whose popular work had been translated into English and other languages) was referred to as “the Jewish Mark Twain.” Mark Twain, who was a fan of Aleichem said of himself, “I am the American Sholem Aleichem.” Both writers were famous for the unpretentious, natural, earthy language and character types that enriched the humor of their stories.
Izzy Abrams points out that in the story “Huckleberry Finn,” the boy has to struggle with his conscience whether or not to turn in the fugitive slave, Jim. Izzy asks “Isn’t that powerful?”
Yes. It is powerful. However, if it were intended as a lesson against racist oppression (and it probably was) it is an oblique and very indirect lesson. It is a fictional thought of a fictional boy in a fictional story about a particular fictional Negro. What lesson should we derive about Indians from the character of “Injun Joe” in the same story? “Huckleberry Finn” is a profoundly thought-provoking story but it is still a story. It is intended more for entertainment than for a sermon. When Louis B. Mayer, owner of MGM Studios, (famous for upbeat musicals) was urged to use a certain script because he would be sending a powerful message he replied, “When I want to send a message I’ll use Western Union.”
When Mark Twain wanted to send a message against racism he was able to do so directly and speaking for himself without hiding behind any characterization or storytelling. In September 1899, Harper’s Magazine published Mark Twain’s news article, “Concerning the Jews.” The article can be called up on internet and the readers can see for themselves the favorable words Samuel Clemens has for Jews. He puzzles over the ongoing, unjust and pervasive persecution that Jews seem to have been suffering since the beginning of their history. Mark Twain concludes that the real underlying reason for anti-Semitism is rooted more in economy than in religion. His essay ends with awe and admiration for Jews: “What is the secret of his (i.e. the Jew’s) immortality?”
Hersh Goldman
Swampscott
