Hartford, Connecticut - The book named an era, and it is often cited for its startling application to our contemporary world: The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, published in 1873, is chillingly relevant.
And the stuff of punditry. Shortly before the 2008 crash of the financial system, economist, New York Times columnist and Nobel winner Paul Krugman pointed out that "income inequality -- which began rising at the same time that modern conservatism began gaining political power -- is now fully back to Gilded Age levels."
The Gilded Age is a tale of Washington lobbying, love and corruption, get-rich-quick schemes, exploitation of recently freed slaves and crooked land deals in the West. It features memorable Twain characters: the eternally speculating, eternally failing Colonel Beriah Sellers, whom Twain later turned into a successful stage act; and the beautiful, brilliant but flawed lobbyist Laura Hawkins.
On Wednesday, March 6, this classic will be the subject of discussion at The Mark Twain House & Museum in a session of the Nook Farm Book Club, the collaboration of The Mark Twain House & Museum and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Since 2010 the book club has introduced books by and about Twain and Stowe; examples of the literature of their time; and modern works exploring the issues that concerned these two opinionated, deeply influential authors.
The Gilded Age is readily available and for sale at The Mark Twain Museum Store (860-280-3136 or http://shop.marktwainhouse.org.) Having read the book is not necessary to enjoyment of the conversation, which is always wide-ranging. The discussion will be led by Steve Courtney, Publicist and Publications Editor at The Mark Twain House & Museum. He is the author of a study of Twain's contemporary and friend, the Rev. Joseph Hopkins Twichell, and his life in Gilded Age Hartford.
The Nook Farm Book Club discussion of The Gilded Age is in conjunction with an important new exhibition at The Mark Twain House & Museum, The Gilded Age of Hartford, opening March 15. The exhibition will explore the major cultural, social and economic trends of the era, and Hartford's pivotal role in those trends. Artwork and artifacts will include historic paintings of Hartford of that era, examples of the city's industrial strength such as a bicycle built by Hartford's Pope Manufacturing Co., and even a section of trolley car track that ran in front of the Mark Twain House, recently excavated in an MDC project.
The Nook Farm Book Club will meet at The Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday, March 6. A 5:00 p.m. reception will be followed by the 5:30 p.m. discussion. The event is free, but registration is encouraged at 860-522-9258, Ext. 317.
The novel was a collaboration of Twain and his neighbor Warner, the editor of the Hartford Courant, essayist, travel writer and novelist. Twain said the book was written as the result of a fireside challenge from the mens' wives when they denigrated contemporary fiction. It was both authors' first novel. "This provocative tale about Americans' obsession with getting rich -- greed and speculation in the financial markets and the influence of money and lobbyists in Congress-- remains a Tale of Today," says Donald Tiffany Bliss, Author of Mark Twain's Tale of Today, a major recent study of Twain's politics.
The Nook Farm Book Club is a collaboration between The Mark Twain House & Museum and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, and is supported in part by the Connecticut Humanities Council.
The Gilded Age of Hartford exhibition is sponsored by Tauck, The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation and Hartford Steam Boiler. Additional support is provided by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; and the Greater Hartford Arts Council.
About the Museums
The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author's Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. The museum's mission is to foster appreciation of the legacy of Mark Twain. Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and the Greater Hartford Arts Council. For more information, call 860-247-0998 or visit www.marktwainhouse.org.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center preserves and interprets Stowe's Hartford home and the Center's historic collections, promotes vibrant discussion of her life and work, and inspires commitment to social justice and positive change. For more information, call 860-522-9258, Ext. 317, or visit www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org.
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