Synopsis
Was Mark Twain an anti-Semite? For a couple of decades now Mark Twain (1835-1910) has been on trial for harboring anti-Semitic tendencies. From the late 1850s on to the year of his death, Mark Twain mentioned Jews dozens of times in notebook entries and autobiographical recollections; in newspaper articles and personal letters; in sketches and essays, culminating in the publication of "Concerning the Jews," his major statement about anti-Semitism in 1899. In his own day, some Jewish readers saw it as a well-intentioned essay, but diminished by misinformation about Jewish history and character; others read it as a welcome sympathetic analysis of anti-Semitism and its amelioration. In ensuing generations, however, some scholars read the same essay as indicating that Twain was indeed not guiltless of anti-Semitism. This study tries to set the record straight by considering nearly every mention of "Jew" in Mark Twain's canon, with analyses by the author and other commentators.