Mark Twain Raising the Devil

Abstract

<p>In the space of eleven years (1897-1908), Twain worked intermittently on three different portrayals of a devilish stranger in unfinished stories which are known collectively as the Mysterious Stranger manuscripts. In this thesis I will examine these different devilish strangers, taking as my starting point an examination of Hank Morgan in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), whom I feel is their precursor. I will conclude the thesis by illustrating Twain's continued interest in the devilish stranger figure after his abandonment of the Mysterious Stranger manuscripts, in "Letters from the Earth."</p>