{"title":"Political Corruption and Mark Twain’s West","authors":"A. Hebard","doi":"10.5325/marktwaij.20.1.0174","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article argues that Mark Twain’s West was a bureaucratically managed space and that his depictions of western institutions reveal forms of political corruption that are not venal. Unlike the corruption that the Supreme Court has recently limited to quid pro quo exchanges of money for political favors by individuals, the corruption that Twain reveals through the lens of his western experiences is endemic to institutions and can often involve well-meaning individuals who are not acting in criminal ways.","PeriodicalId":41060,"journal":{"name":"Mark Twain Annual","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mark Twain Annual","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5325/marktwaij.20.1.0174","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE, AMERICAN","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:This article argues that Mark Twain’s West was a bureaucratically managed space and that his depictions of western institutions reveal forms of political corruption that are not venal. Unlike the corruption that the Supreme Court has recently limited to quid pro quo exchanges of money for political favors by individuals, the corruption that Twain reveals through the lens of his western experiences is endemic to institutions and can often involve well-meaning individuals who are not acting in criminal ways.
期刊介绍:
The Mark Twain Annual publishes articles related to Mark Twain and those who surrounded him and serves as an outlet for new scholarship as well as new pedagogical approaches. It is the official publication of the Mark Twain Circle of America, an international association of people interested in the life and work of Mark Twain. The Circle encourages interest in Mark Twain and fosters the formal presentation of ideas about the author and his work, as well as the informal exchange of information among its members.