Really? I've read everything I could get my hands on about Twain and I've never had the impression that he was a "genteel Victorian". My impression of him is exactly the opposite..... and that is one of the things I like about him.
Amen!!!
I agree. Working on Mississippi steamboats is not a traditional training ground for Victorian gentlemen. I don’t doubt that Twain was quite earthy.
Everything I’ve read about the Victorians painted them as a bunch of kinky freaks. Clemens was an American — for all the good and bad that entails.