November 29, 1990
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Vol. 15 No. 13 November 29, 1990 Connecticut Yankee may have been plagiarized English Professor-unravels Mark Twain's secret English Department has thought so for read an article that noted similarities Twain's evasiveness in responding to four years and believes he's finally been between Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in the charge were part of a bigger picture. by Phil Moscovitch proven right. King Arthur's Court and "The Fortunate Fearing he would be accused of Island," a story by Max Adeler. plagiarism, Twain apparently went on Evidence was recently found to sub The author of the article assumed the offensive, claiming that Connecticut stantiate claims Ketterer has made since these similarities were coincidental, but Yankee anticipated current events. Was Mark Twain a plagiarist? editing The Science Fiction of Mark Twain. Ketterer thought there was more to it Professor David Ketterer of the While editing the anthology, Ketterer Ketterer noted that the story has now than that. grown beyond what he had originally "So ·I got a hold of 'The Fortunate envisioned. Kruse's article has added Island,"' he said. "There are so many credence to his own argument, he said, parallels, I really wondered why demonstrating "that there was quite an Jeri Brown finds another nobody had looked into this." elaborate cover-up and effort in Ketterer' s research left him convinced damage control in order to engineer a musical home at Concordia that Twain had, consciously or uncon particular response to the book." sciously, plagiarized crucial plot ele But Ketterer was quick to point out men ts from Adeler's work. He published those findings in 1986 in the that none of this means we should begin Mark Twain Journal . to doubt Mark Twain's talent. Ketterer showed that not only did "It is important to emphasize that Twain's novel and the story parallel Connecticut Yankee totally transcends each other in many ways, but that 'The Fortunate Island' as a piece of Twain himself had "come as close as literature. I don' t think the book is possible to condemning himself out of diminished by this," he said. his own mouth" while maintaining the Adeler, meanwhile, fell by the appearance of innocence. Ketterer was wayside. Very little is known about his only missing one vital piece of evidence life, and until recently, even Twain's lift to confirm his theory: Adeler' s original ing of his plot was unknown. "Adeler accusation of plagiarism against Twain. deserves a degree of credit, which he is In the latest round of what Ketterer now, belatedly, getting," Ketterer said. called a "mini-literary Watergate," To ensure that Adeler gets his fair share, Professor Horst Kruse of Westfalische Ketterer has obtained permission of the Wilhelms-Universitat, Munster, unear author's descendants to publish thed the original charge. Adeler' s autobiography, Family Memoir. Adeler said that the plagiarism and The book will be out within a year. Happy Holidays PHOTO : Diane Moon Jeri Brown performs tonight with her vocal jazz ensemble and Dave Turner's ensemble at the Concordia's Thursday R~port Concert Hall, 8 p.m. would like to wish all its readers safe and happy holidays. The next pressive. At 38, the Missouri-born issue will appear on January 10. singer has performed with Dizzy Gil by John Timmins lespie, George Shearing and Betty Carter, among others. December 6 commemoration page 5 "All of these musicians are highly Hard knocks is not the only school for energetic. They like energetic people and I'm just a crazed singer." Those who wish to mark the anniversary of the Polytechnique aspiring jazz musicians, says Jeri tragedy can find a listing of events organized by the Univer Brown, jazz vocalist and professor in Brown credits her undergraduate de sity. Concordia's Department of Music. gree in classical music and operatic per "Jazz is an evolutionary thing," she formances in providing her with a solid said. "It's part of the social and background. economic situation of the time." As a child, she lived in a house filled Library News pages 10-11 Until jazz was accepted as traditional with music: her grandfather played the American music, it was not performed saxophone; her uncle, the trumpet. She A special two-page spread before the holidays. in major concert halls, she said. · remembers seeing Gillespie, Clark "As people began to sense it wasn't Terry and Miles Davis rehearsing in her voodoo music, it started to become parents' basement. something that could be learned in an Brown came to Canada for the teach historical setting. Today, jazz has a bear ing position at Concordia. Montreal, ing on all the performing arts." she said, was easy to adopt as her home. his issue contains an 8 paa ull-out Training Schedule S ppl ent Brown's own musical resume is im- See BROWN on page 12 2 - Npvember 29, 1990 A rolling stone(fly) gathers no moss homemade stream to reveal some of the Kapoor wins Rolling stonefly larvae that he collects from a Laurentian stream. ''But more impor Stonefly award for tantly, the majority of nymphs (larvae) show fascinating morphological and physiological adaptations for a success wofk on aquatic insect ful life in water." Life is short on land by Bronwyn Chester Like many of the hundreds of thousands of species of aquatic insects (which include such apparent ter- restrials as blackflies, When Biology Professor Narinder mosquitoes and dragonflies), Kapoor was a professor at the Univer the stonefly spends most of its sity of Waterloo, a colleague suggested life under water, breathing he look at stoneflies instead of fish. "We oxygen through specially don't know much about their physiol developed gills. After three ogy," Kapoor remembers his colleague years, the adult walks out of saying. So, the young physiologist took PHOTO: Chartes Belanger the water, splits its cuticle and up the suggestion. Kapoor in his lab with stonefly and electron microscope (above) spreads its newly formed Twenty years later, Kapoor is still fas and (at right) magnified cluster of sense organs of a stonefly's wings to search for a mate. cinated by these aquatic insects. Last mouth parts. Within a few weeks, eggs are September, his efforts were rewarded functioning of the sensory organs of the size and released in the water and the with the Rolling Stonefly Award, given Paragnetina media's mouth parts. availability adults die. When the eggs every four years by the Plecoptera f of the prey. hatch in three to four weeks, "Quite a lot is known about the ap (Latin for stonefly) Society, for the five However, the cycle begins again. pearaijce and use of these organs," said most innovative scholarly papers on Kapoor One part of the process that Kapoor, "but little is known of the ac~ the insect. believed fascinates Kapoor is the tual fvnctioning." Kapoor' s prize-winning paper, one of that other drumming ritual used by 55 submissions, was first published in Other plecopterists, for instance, have factors male flies searching for a 1989, in the Canadian Journal of Zoology noted that the food habits of several governed the insect's choice of prey. mate. The .male hits his abdome_n and described his observations of the species of stonefly has been related to Using a scanning electron micro against a stone; only virgin females will scope1which both magnifies the subject respond and only to the beat of a male and shows it in three dimensions, of her own species. Kapoor identified some of the possible "It's their song," said Kapoor, adjust functions of the organs. ing the volume on the cassette player. "It takes a highly sensitive microphone Plecoptera gallery?! to pick up these sounds which _are in audible to the human ear. These species' Kapoor's laboratory is a veritable specific sounds can be used to identify plecopferist's art gallery. There's an egg some of the 3,000 species of plecoptera that resembles a golf ball gone punk found throughout the world." sensory organs that look like fluores Although Kapoor does not study the cent glowsticks. In previous years, ecology of stoneflies per se, he knows Kapoor has won international science from earlier research that they are sen Pallascio deserved defeat, says Jette awards for his electron micrographs sitive to changes in the temperature, (the proper name for photographs chemistry and acidity of their stream. A taken with the microscope, some of decrease in the stonefly population af which appeared in the winning article). fects the whole food chain, he said, and d by Bronwyn Chester Kapoor said his interest in the stonef "plecoptera is the trout's favourite ly is mainly scientific curiosity, though· food. Ston:eflies can be used as an in there' S also a practical comp0nent. d ica tor of pollution. Their disap Montreal Catholic School Commissioner Michel Pal/ascio, who had denounced "Stoneflies are easy and inexpensive pearance is one of the first signs of a to keep," he said, lifting a stone from his. dying stream." immigration of people of non-Judea-Christian background, was soundly defeated recently in the school board elections. Corinne Jette, Chair of Concordia's Task Force on Multiculturalism and a technical writing instructor in the Faculty of Engineer ing, applauds his defeat and hopes that institutions like Concordia will turn out SSHRC - New Joint Initiative community leaders who are less ignorant about different cultures. on Multiculturalism Research "The Task Force denounces Pallascio's suggestion that immigration should favour The Ministry of Multiculturalism and Citizenship and the Social Sciences and people having Judeo-Christian values. I think the key element in this is ignorance.