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Literary Past and Contemporary Present: Ne'er the Twain Shall Meet?

© Kathleen D. Anderson

Summer days. White picket fences. Canoes downstream. Fishing. And the hot sun beckoning one to indulge in adventure.

Which great American author comes to mind?

Mark Twain, of course!

When I look back at the nineteenth century in literature, I see how Twain’s writings brought the century of his birth into the decade of his death—--the 20th century! In the process, he would give more than a glimpse of the centuries to come.

Now stay with me for a minute in the 20th century: Picture a cool theater with old movies, or maybe a family room viewing of re-runs on a hot summer day. Some popcorn and jujubees. A little science fiction classic in the dark: Star Trek.

Which great science fiction king do you think of?

Gene Roddenberry.

You may now be wondering what Mark Twain, a writer of classic standing, and Gene Roddenberry, a contemporary film and television writer, possibly have in common?

Just as Twain took us into the twentieth century with his adventures down the Mississippi, then finally into time travel in his final Mysterious Stranger novellas, no one moved us into the 21st century with such flair and forward thinking as Gene Roddenberry in his stories of space travel.

Indulge me a little more on my literary digression---oops, I mean historical “journey”:

While in graduate school, I read everything that the great American author Mark Twain ever wrote! During my reading, I came across the novella called the Mysterious Stranger (the last piece Twain ever wrote that was never completed, nor published till much later---a time travel piece) and the main character reminded me so much of the character “Q” from Star Trek that I thought I would find out if Gene Roddenberry ever read any Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Twain).

Now, being the literary sleuth that I am, and knowing that Gene Roddenberry had been deceased for several years, I wrote to his wife, Majel Roddenberry, to find out what type of lterary material Gene Roddenberry read.

Here is what the lovely Majel Roddenberry wrote back to me on March 23, 1995:

********************************************** Kathleen:

Thank you for writing. I am pleased and flattered that you would consider Gene as the subject of one of your papers. Let me see if I can help.

Science fiction, of course, was a major component of Gene's reading habits. He also kept up to date with many scientific journals and periodicals. And, over the years, Isaac, Arthur and Ray became, not only favorite writers, but also close friends.