I'm always very suspicious of reports of these very sober occasions when
large amounts of alcohol were apparently consumed. Eight to ten rounds of
toasts can mean that many sips or that many glasses, and put together with
wines and liqueurs before and after dinner, they add up to a substantial
volume of alcohol.
I'm reminded of many historical claims by the well-to-do that they never got
drunk; that was something folks of the lower ranks were prone to.
Now, my ignorance of Twain and his times is so extensive you have to
respect it, and maybe I'm doing him a terrible injustice, but surely it's
possible (if we approach the record with a critical, perhaps cynical, eye)
that reports of his sobriety are much exaggerated?
Rod Phillips
[log in to unmask]
Jon Stephen Miller writes:
>
> Actually, there are many references to drink in Twain's work but, as
> Lowell discovered, few references to cocktails. Also, from the late 1860s
> to the end of his life, Twain regularly dined out and was often the center
> of attention as master of ceremonies at stag dinners honoring eminent
> guests. These affairs usually included 8-10 rounds of toasts in addition
> to the wines and liquers drank with and after dinner. Toasts were
> primarily made with champagne. These evenings were more sober than they
> might sound. Paul Fatout describes them: "Although steady winebibbing was
> routine, a banquet did not degenerate to a boozy session of bawdy stories.
> Toasts, always paying compliments to the chief guest, were usually
> dignified, sometimes pedestrian, generally earnest, occasionally
> stirring." See Fatout ed., _Mark Twain Speaking_ (University of Iowa
> Press, 1976) for more on Twain's career as a toastmaster and a collection
> of almost 200 MT speeches.
>
> Jon
>
> ----------------------
> Jon Stephen Miller
> Assistant Editor
> Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
> Department of English
> The University of Iowa
> Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1492
> [log in to unmask]
> 1.319.335.0592
>
> On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, Lowell EDMUNDS wrote:
>
> > Twain's work contains few (I think) references to drink and he
> > himself, as far as I could tell, drank little - warm whisky in
> > the evening before bed (my source is some now forgotten biography).
> > The whole period of American Literary Realism is a disappointment
> > for one interested in the cocktail.
> > I hope that someone will jump all over this message and tell me
> > that Twain has 10 references to the Martini.
> >
> > Lowell Edmunds
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > "rci" is the family name for a group of servers. This message
> > may have come from "gandalf," "elbereth," or another server. Your reply
> > or answer command should work no matter which server this message came
> > from.
> >
> > 440 Grant Ave., Highland Park NJ 08904
> > http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~edmunds
> > 'Phone 732 846 3179 Fax 732 246 2682 (home)
> >
>
Roderick Phillips
Editor, Journal of Family History/
Professor, Department of History
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6
Tel: (613) 520-2600 ext 2824; fax: (613) 520-2819
Email address: [log in to unmask]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
