Twain scholar receives 2009 Curators Award for Scholarly Excellence

Professor Tom Quirk of the Department of English is the newest recipient of the Curators Award for Scholarly Excellence for his 2007 book Mark Twain and Human Nature. With this award, the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri System recognizes scholarly excellence among Missouri faculty for a book published by the University of Missouri Press.

Having researched and written about Mark Twain on and off for 20 years, it still took Quirk about five years of research to complete this work. The challenge came in ferreting out the information on the intellectual climate of Twain's time, which added considerably to the labor of writing the book.

When asked how he came to such an abiding interest in Twain, Quirk explained that when he arrived at MU in 1979, the professor who taught Twain was retiring, leaving that billet unfilled. "I thought, 'Here in Missouri? Someone's gotta do this.' It was a sense of . . . probably social obligation to teach Twain. Of course, he is an infinitely fascinating man. It was easy to sustain that interest over a long period of time."

Mark Twain and Human Nature was essentially launched by an e-mail conversation. Quirk and Louis Budd, a Mark Twain scholar who retired from Duke University, keep in contact regularly, and Quirk wrote one day, "Now Mark Twain and human nature: that's a subject I could get my teeth into." Five years' worth of research could probably be considered getting one's teeth into something.

Quirk explained that the book is not driven by a thesis per se - he sees it as a meditation on Twain's shifting sensibility. The things that Twain observed and learned over his lifetime were reflected in his writings, and they changed his perceptions of man, of human nature. These changed perceptions weren't just happenstance; Twain purposely re-examined his personal beliefs as a result of his travels and experiences. Quirk admires Twains curiosity and courage in doing so.

For those looking for a refreshing perspective on one of America's greatest authors, Mark Twain and Human Nature, which is part of the Mark Twain and His Circle Series edited by Quirk, offers just that.

by Melody Galen
College of Arts and Science

Links

Tom Quirk
Department of English

UM Curators' Award for Scholarly Excellence
University of Missouri Press

Mark Twain and Human Nature
Mark Twain and His Circle Series