Innocents Abroad

We begin our study of American travel literature with a few short excerpts from Mark Twain's bestselling travel book Innocents Abroad (1869) Rather than assign Twain's text, I'm simply asking you to read through a hypertext map of Innocents created by students at the University of Virginia. 

Start by clicking here Follow the link "Hypertext Map of Innocents." You are responsible for the introduction provided on this page.

Next click on "To Map." Each of the Yellow links or locations opens an excerpt from Innocents Abroad. Your are responsible for all of these excerpts. (It's not a lot of reading and Twain is irreverent, witty, and smart as hell). Twain was a critic of American slavery and racism, but this doesn't mean he was as enlightened about cultural differences as we might presently believe ourselves to be. Nevertheless, before condemning Twain, ask yourself whether he's having a laugh at his audience's expense. What is the relationship between an author, his narrator, a book, and its readers?

Don't be too quick to assume you know what "Mark Twain" is thinking. In Twain's world certainty is the mark of a certain fool.