No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger | Essays and Criticism

  • Critical Essay on No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger

    Brent holds a Ph.D. in American culture from the University of Michigan. In this essay, Brent discusses Twain’s use of print shop terminology in ‘‘No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger.’’

  • Terrible Dreams of Creative Power: The Question of No. 44

    In the following essay, Royal examines the enigmatic nature of the character of No. 44, finding him ‘‘neither ominous nor upbeat, but an unstable mixture of both that is representative of many of Twain’s later figures.’’

  • Epilogue: The Dream of Mark Twain

    In the following essay excerpt, Kahn uses the ideas of seventeenth-century, French philosopher René Descartes to explicate the meaning of Twain’s ‘‘The Mysterious Stranger’’ manuscripts.