Mark Twain, A Horse’s Tale

Abstract

Aside from its inclusion in anthologies, Mark Twain’s last published novella has been out of print since 1907. Charles C. Bradshaw rectifies that with a long overdue, and superbly executed, critical edition of A Horse’s Tale. First published in 1906, in response to a personal request Twain received from New York actress and animal rights activist Minnie Maddern Fiske for a story condemning Spanish bullfighting, A Horse’s Tale would spend the next century in obscurity because of its unabashed sentimentality. The University of Nebraska Press’s Bison Books edition marks the official end to that era of neglect. The volume includes an illuminating introduction by Bradshaw that places the novella in its historical and biographical contexts; the novella in its entirety, along with explanatory notes and original illustrations; an afterword by Shelley Fisher Fishkin highlighting the significance of the book in the scope of Twain’s animal writing and advocacy; and an array of relevant historical materials provided in the appendix. The result is a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, and students who wish to expand their understanding of Twain’s late-career animal advocacy writing and his complex treatment of frontier tropes and culture.Given the book’s inclusion in The Papers of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody Series, a substantial portion of Bradshaw’s introduction focuses on the connections between “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Twain as a major context for the novella. The Cody-Twain context is nuanced, and Bradshaw deftly outlines the cultural dynamics and tensions between the two iconic American personalities. While at first applauding the “Buffalo Bill” exhibition as a distinctly American cultural project when he saw it performed in Elmira in 1884, Twain would later come to recognize (and reject) the imperialistic spectacle of the frontier presented in the show. Bradshaw notes that “Twain’s last angry exit from Madison Square Garden where Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was being performed in 1901 … projects the beginnings of both Cody’s and Twain’s frontierism toward divergent trajectories and highlights how Twain saw his nationalistic ambitions distorted into imperialistic spectacles and the worst in human nature, even as Cody patriotically embraced them in his show” (xxxvi). As Bradshaw explains, despite his abhorrence of the nationalistic spectacle generated by the “Wild West” show, Twain appreciated the cultural appeal of Buffalo Bill, and especially of his horse, Soldier Boy, which he put to the service of the book’s animal welfare aspirations.Other themes and contexts addressed in Bradshaw’s introduction include Twain’s connection to the West, childhood, and gender roles in his writing and personal life, and his famous anti-imperialism. Indeed, a frontier adventure tale with an animal-loving little girl as the protagonist ties together key facets of Twain’s legacy. “Twain’s employment of these sensationalist western motifs [popularized by Cody] brings him full circle, at the end of his life, back to his literary roots by relying on not only the unbelievable stories that Tom Sawyer reveled in so innocently but also his own portrayal of children upon whom he had built so much of his early literary fame” (xxviii). While Twain’s own beloved daughter Susy Clemens, who died tragically at the age of twenty-four, was clearly the model for A Horse’s Tale’s Cathy Alison, Bradshaw also acknowledges the thornier context of Twain’s correspondence with young girls in his later years in his “Angelfish” club. The novella even features a couple of verbatim snippets from the author’s letters to the girls in his self-fashioned “club.” “While his writing about Cathy reflects a progressive intensity and charisma that enlivens turn-of-the-century feminine ideals and forges new literary space for young girls, Twain’s unfortunate mixing of childhood ideals with these old-age preoccupations presents a melancholy bookend to the last years of his life” (xxxv).Another apparent tension Bradshaw excavates, and one that is crucial to understanding the novella’s significance in the context of the author’s late career and life, is Twain’s negotiation between the nationalistic tropes of the frontier narrative and his passionate anti-imperialism and growing distrust of displays of patriotism. Bradshaw parses out the situational conditions and limitations of the frontier as it appears in A Horse’s Tale: “The performance of power, empire, and militarism was a trite exercise, suitable for children’s amusement, but in the wrong hands it propped up nations, killed the innocent, and numbed humans to the suffering of others” (xliii–xliv).The text of the novella follows the 1907 printing by Harper and Brothers and includes the original illustrations by Lucius Wolcott Hitchcock. Bradshaw’s explanatory notes are detailed yet accessible, shedding light on historical references that may be elusive even to many scholar readers. For those unfamiliar with A Horse’s Tale (likely many readers, given its relative obscurity until now), the story’s emotionally driven premise and tragic conclusion, affectionate characters, and clear-cut moral may seem to set the tale apart from the rest of Twain’s canon. But Shelley Fisher Fishkin’s afterword reminds us that Twain did not hesitate to employ sentimental conventions “in the service of opposing cruelty to animals,” and A Horse’s Tale “reprises a number of strategies Twain used to address this topic throughout his career” (87). Of the many examples of Twain’s animal writing, none is more relevant in this context than his 1904 anti-vivisection story “A Dog’s Tale,” which is included in its entirety, along with original illustrations by William Thomas Smedley, in the appendix to the edition. The chapters of A Horse’s Tale that are told from the perspective of Soldier-Boy will remind readers of mother dog Aileen Mavourneen’s narration of her own heartrending experience with loss and betrayal at the hands of humans.Rounding out the critical edition are additional appendices with historical materials from a range of relevant contexts: Twain’s involvement in animal welfare causes; the Clemens family children and Twain’s writing about childhood; performances of the American frontier abroad; and relevant responses to imperialism, including Twain’s 1901 essay “To the Person Sitting in Darkness.” A particular highlight in the appendix is Twain’s letter to Harper’s editor Frederick A. Duneka, in which he reveals that his beloved daughter Susy was his unintentional source for Cathy and shares a portrait of her as a child for the illustrator to “reproduce with photographic exactness the unsurpassable expression and all.” Indeed, this well-rounded edition provides essential tools for students, scholars, and fans to appreciate a lesser-known story that was unquestionably close to an aging Twain’s heart.