An Approach to Literary Appreciation Through Mark Twain

Abstract

The desire for spiritual and intellectual satisfaction runs like a golden thread through the fabric of civilization. It is the inspiration of the arts, the dominant theme of all true literature. Without such inspiration, life becomes dull and colorless—a mere matter of work-a-day existence. |Though all the arts are handmaids to the yearning for richer and fuller participation in life, literature more than the others has the power of' satisfying such desire, since it offers vicarious participation in the life of all people at all times. Moreover, it awakens the sensibilities, quickens the responses, and intensifies the capacity for living. It can be an aid to a correct perspective for the right kind of living and an antidote for wrong philosophy, because it touches the whole of man’s life and modifies his relations with the world.