91黑料专区

February 16, 2023

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. 鈦犫�� While living at Mark Twain鈥檚 summer home, 91黑料专区 Professor and R. Forrest Colwell Endowed Chair of English James Plath will explore the potential connections between the works of American authors Mark Twain and John Updike as a 2023 Quarry Farm Fellow.

Located in Elmira, New York, Quarry Farm was owned by the family of Twain鈥檚 wife, Olivia Langdon. The Farm served as the backdrop for many milestones in Twain鈥檚 life 鈥� the births of three of his daughters and the compositions of several of his literary works, including 鈥淭he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.鈥� 

Plath senses that the Farm will also allow him to be productive while he works on his fellowship project; highlighting the ways Twain inspired Updike鈥檚 experience as a writer. The fellowship is sponsored and administered by the . 

"In 2002, Updike wrote the foreword to the Hesperus Press publication of 'The Diary of Adam and Eve,' and what he said about Twain reveals much about himself and a connection with Twain that has yet to be explored," Plath said. "Not so much as a literary influence as it is a literary kinship, a connection with a past literary figure who modeled attitudes and behaviors that spoke to Updike generations later."

Before Plath鈥檚 travels take him to New York in October to study the connection between Twain and Updike鈥檚 works, they will take him across the country for various endeavors. 

In May, Plath will travel to Boston, Massachusetts, to participate in a panel on 鈥淭he Centaur at Sixty: Revisiting John Updike鈥檚 Ulysses鈥� at the American Literature Association conference. 

Then in September, Plath will take part in the 7th Biennial John Updike Society Conference held in Tucson, Arizona. As president of the John Updike Society, Plath has led the effort to restore Updike鈥檚 childhood home and convert it into a museum. Following the conference and just before he travels to Quarry Farm, Plath will have the opportunity to stay in the condos that Updike owned and spent time in every year.

Plath is excited by the novelty of the opportunity 鈦犫�� 鈥渢he kismet of writing a comparative essay on Twain and Updike while getting to live and work at places where they both lived and worked.鈥� 

However, he is most excited by 鈥渢he prospect of discovery and surprise.鈥�

鈥淛ust poking around the house and the property, imagining Twain doing the same, and looking through the Quarry Farm Twain materials and nearby archives with the ever-present feeling that I could find something others may have overlooked. A book, a page, a small detail鈥�,鈥� said Plath.

Plath's previous experience staying at the home of an author was in the early days of restoring the Updike house in Shillington, Pennsylvania.

鈥淪taying in the house alone, you get to notice all sorts of things. I was able to pick up on a plumbing problem just by leaning over the sink to brush my teeth. That turned out to be a big job for the local plumber the following day,鈥� Plath said. 

In the process of restoring what needed to be fixed, Plath also made smaller discoveries, like a group of marbles 鈥渃lumped together like a little beaded nest鈥� under a loose floorboard. Plath consulted Updike鈥檚 childhood friend Harlan Boyer, who speculated that Updike was probably using a slingshot to shoot marbles out the back window and 鈥渕ay have hit something he wasn鈥檛 supposed to, panicked, and hid them under the loose floorboard.鈥� 

The fact that the window provided a perfect view of Updike鈥檚 childhood school made the story easy to believe, according to Plath. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what experiences I鈥檒l have in Tucson or Elmira, but it鈥檚 the surprise factor and the possibility of small discoveries that excite me every bit as much as the planned project鈦� 鈥� not that I鈥檒l be looking for loose floorboards in either place,鈥� he said.

By Maria Harmon '23