Clare Briggs

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.

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8 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    The original Hunger Games.Report

    • North in reply to Jaybird says:

      That rings really true to me. I’ve read in various places that Mark Twain was considered bottled lightning in his time. I’d disagree with that in only in that I’ve read a modest amount of Twain myself and I think he’s bottled lightning right fishing now as well!Report

  2. I guess I’ll be the dense guy and say I just don’t get the cartoon. Is the boy reading Tom Sawyer? If so, is it [ETA: I edited a typo here] because he’s interested or because he just doesn’t want to take a bath? Or is the boy another Tom Sawyer? (I read the book, but it was a long time ago and I’ve forgotten any bath scene, if there was one.)

    I’m also not sure about the “bottled lightning” analysis. When I was growing up (born early 1970s), the adults in my life generally considered Twain’s oeuvre as a sort of folksy children’s lit, full of adventures young boys could read before they grew up and got a job, or maybe started reading newspapers and watching the nightly news. (It was only when I read Huckleberry Finn in high school that I realized how acerbic Twain’s critique against his society was.)

    In 1924, when this cartoon was published, had Twain kept his “lightning” reputation, or had his work started to become associated with the “boys’ adventure lit” pigeonhole? I don’t know the answer, but Tom Sawyer, especially, lends itself to that pigeonhole in a way that others of Twain’s work doesn’t.Report