There is No Humor in Heaven

Mark Twain and Religious Liberalism

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

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More than a century after his death in 1910, Mark Twain remains a lightning rod for controversy. Especially in matters of race, class, and gender, the volatile views this iconic American author expressed in classics like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continue to provoke heated debate among antagonistic culture-war factions. However, when citing his withering attacks on religion, believers and atheists alike are often united in concluding that Twain was either a mocking skeptic or a hostile atheist.In There is No Humor in Heaven, Dwayne Eutsey challenges the persistent view of Twain as a hostile critic of religion by placing him within the prevailing liberal religious ethos of his time. From Hannibal to the western frontier and from Hartford to the wider world, Eutsey contends Twain’s vocation as a humorist was rooted in his frustrated youthful ambition to become a preacher of the Gospel. Throughout his life, his friendships with several influential liberal ministers, each of them espousing various forms of the era’s diverse progressive theology, informed not only Twain’s evolving religious worldview but his lecture performances and literary output.There is No Humor in Heaven traces unconventional theological influences on Twain ranging from African-American spirituality, Freemasonry, and frontier Unitarianism to devout Liberal Christianity, radical Free Religion, and esoteric Hinduism. Drawing from Twain’s writings, documents, personal notes, and more, There is No Humor in Heaven offers readers a radical re-examination of the spiritually creative vitality of a controversial literary giant.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-06-18
Mått152 x 229 x 38 mm
Vikt767 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieMark Twain and His Circle
Antal sidor420
FörlagUniversity of Missouri Press
ISBN9780826223265

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After earning a B.A. in English at the University of Maryland and a certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University, Dwayne Eutsey completed his master’s thesis on Mark Twain’s unconventional religious views at Georgetown University and has since established himself as an independent scholar in Twain Studies. The author of several scholarly articles on Twain and numerous freelance pieces on humor, religion, politics, and popular culture, Eutsey also is the co-author of The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski.

"Since 1962, when the darkest thoughts of Mark Twain about the universe and God emerged from the publication of his Letters from the Earth, revealing that he was more than just a funnyman, scholars have labored to plumb his religious, or anti-religious, views. Dwayne Eutsey has clarified much of this issue soundly and eloquently in “There is No Humor in Heaven.” He puts Twain wholly in the context of his era, when American Christianity was regularly in the news and on the debate stage, playing the same role that politics and celebrity-worship do in our time. Before Eutsey, no one has explicated so clearly the author’s relation to what were then regarded as revolutionary movements such as Unitarianism; the “liberal religion” of his closest friend, a New England minister; and even – and here Eutsey really breaks ground – the influence of Hinduism, by way of the religious radical Moncure Conway and the Hindu reformer Protap Mazoomdar, on his later, darker works, in which Eutsey finds unexpected faith and optimism." —Steve Courtney, author of Joseph Hopkins Twichell: The Life and Times of Mark Twain's Closest Friend