Professor to Deliver Lecture Before Mark Twain Performance
September 14, 2012
UC Merced literature Professor Gregg Camfield will deliver a lecture about why Mark Twain's humor endures before "Mark Twain Tonight," a legendary one-man show by Hal Holbrook.
Camfield's talk is titled "How Mark Twain Has Outwitted Death." It will be at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Gallo Center for the Arts. Holbrook's performance will be at 8 p.m. Tickets for the lecture and performance are $15 with the special offer code, MARK2012. They can be purchased online at galloarts.org or at the campus bookstore.
In 1906, Twain wrote in his autobiography about finding a book of humorous writings that he called a "mortuary volume." In it, he found the works of "maybe two score" humorists "whose writings and sayings were once in everybody's mouth but are now heard of no more and are no longer mentioned." Twain wondered why his writings, to the contrary, were still alive. Camfield will try to answer Mark Twain's question, offering reasons why Twain's humor endures.
Holbrook has toured "Mark Twain Tonight!" in some part of every year since 1954, making 2012 the 58th consecutive year for this remarkable one-man show — perhaps the longest-running in theater history. Holbrook has no set program; he adds to his Twain material every year, editing and changing it to fit the times.
