{"title":"通往出口的这条路:巴纳姆和吐温的骗子","authors":"Christine Dixon","doi":"10.5325/MARKTWAIJ.16.1.0047","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:When P. T. Barnum needed to move dawdling spectators out of his museum, he posted signs over the exits that read, “This Way to the Egress.” Standing suddenly on the street, Barnum’s gullible patrons were left with two choices: pay for reentry or choose to see the world as the grand spectacle, the ultimate humbug. Barnum’s sly redirection of his audience is re-created in Mark Twain’s writing. Like Barnum, Twain challenges the boundaries of the joke, the fiction, the text. What begins as a romantic spectacle of fiction bleeds into the more inscrutable (and participatory) spectacle of its context: reality. This article examines this literary tactic in three texts: Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins, The Mysterious Stranger, and Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Here, the humbugs of society, self, and celebrity stand under close scrutiny. The exhibition of the Barnumesque real-or-manufactured marvels forces us to the exit without ever admitting that the show is over.","PeriodicalId":41060,"journal":{"name":"Mark Twain Annual","volume":"16 1","pages":"47 - 63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2018-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"This Way to the Egress: The Humbug of Barnum and Twain\",\"authors\":\"Christine Dixon\",\"doi\":\"10.5325/MARKTWAIJ.16.1.0047\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Abstract:When P. T. Barnum needed to move dawdling spectators out of his museum, he posted signs over the exits that read, “This Way to the Egress.” Standing suddenly on the street, Barnum’s gullible patrons were left with two choices: pay for reentry or choose to see the world as the grand spectacle, the ultimate humbug. Barnum’s sly redirection of his audience is re-created in Mark Twain’s writing. Like Barnum, Twain challenges the boundaries of the joke, the fiction, the text. What begins as a romantic spectacle of fiction bleeds into the more inscrutable (and participatory) spectacle of its context: reality. This article examines this literary tactic in three texts: Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins, The Mysterious Stranger, and Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Here, the humbugs of society, self, and celebrity stand under close scrutiny. The exhibition of the Barnumesque real-or-manufactured marvels forces us to the exit without ever admitting that the show is over.\",\"PeriodicalId\":41060,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Mark Twain Annual\",\"volume\":\"16 1\",\"pages\":\"47 - 63\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2018-09-20\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"1\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Mark Twain Annual\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.5325/MARKTWAIJ.16.1.0047\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"LITERATURE, AMERICAN\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mark Twain Annual","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5325/MARKTWAIJ.16.1.0047","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE, AMERICAN","Score":null,"Total":0}
This Way to the Egress: The Humbug of Barnum and Twain
Abstract:When P. T. Barnum needed to move dawdling spectators out of his museum, he posted signs over the exits that read, “This Way to the Egress.” Standing suddenly on the street, Barnum’s gullible patrons were left with two choices: pay for reentry or choose to see the world as the grand spectacle, the ultimate humbug. Barnum’s sly redirection of his audience is re-created in Mark Twain’s writing. Like Barnum, Twain challenges the boundaries of the joke, the fiction, the text. What begins as a romantic spectacle of fiction bleeds into the more inscrutable (and participatory) spectacle of its context: reality. This article examines this literary tactic in three texts: Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins, The Mysterious Stranger, and Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Here, the humbugs of society, self, and celebrity stand under close scrutiny. The exhibition of the Barnumesque real-or-manufactured marvels forces us to the exit without ever admitting that the show is over.
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.