DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers

Literature, Humor, and Faddish Phrenology

Stanley Finger author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:6th Apr '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers cover

A study of Mark Twain's and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's interests in phrenology, as revealed, often humorously, in their writings.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes had lifelong interests in phrenology. Their writings, often humorous, reflect their negative opinions of the head readers and craniology, but not phrenology's other tenets. This book shows how great literature can shed light on the science and medicine of the past.Having a phrenological 'head reading' was one of the most significant fads of the nineteenth century – a means for better knowing oneself and a guide for self-improvement. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had a lifelong yet long overlooked interest in phrenology, the pseudoscience claiming to correlate skull features with specialized brain areas and higher mental traits. Twain's books are laced with phrenological terms and concepts, and he lampooned the head readers in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He was influenced by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, who also used his humor to assail head readers and educate the public. Finger shows that both humorists accepted certain features of phrenology, but not their skull-based ideas. By examining a fascinating topic at the intersection of literature and the history of neuroscience, this engaging study will appeal to readers interested in phrenology, science, medicine, American history, and the lives and works of Twain and Holmes.

'The book contains valuable additions to knowledge … This carefully researched, meticulously documented study will be of interest to students of literary and cultural history as well as to scholars of the history of science … Highly recommended.' J. D. Vann, Choice

ISBN: 9781009301299

Dimensions: 235mm x 160mm x 26mm

Weight: 650g

332 pages