From Billfinger to Ferguson: Tourism and Travel in Mark Twain.

This paper articulates two divergent models of encountering the other drawn from Mark Twain's travel writing. The first, found in Twain's writing on Europe and Asia, is the model of the tourist. Twain's tourists maintain a concrete outsidedness, exemplified in their naming each of their guides the familiar "Ferguson," as they are unwilling to acknowledge their individual names. The second, found in Twain's writing on America, is the model of a traveler interested in and capable of engaging with others on their own terms. The traveler -- unlike the tourist -- encounters others through a lens shaped by his or her new experiences away from home. These two competing models illustrate the tensions inherent in encountering others. Understanding such tensions -- I argue -- helps illuminate the psychology and practices necessary for democratic citizens to meaningfully understand and engage with members of cultures different from their own. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]