“The treatment of Mark Twain, James Russell Lowell, George W. Harris, George Herriman, and other humorists impresses me as being brilliant, original, and important. This study reveals a mind at work and a genuine fascination with the problems of literature and culture. In an area strewn with the whitening bones of earlier explorers who have set out to explain comedy and especially American humor, Mr. Schmitz shows a high degree of self-confidence, wide and catholic reading, and a sense of obligation to make himself clear. This book amply exemplifies an interdisciplinary approach to American studies and will be much discussed from that standpoint.” --Henry Nash Smith

“I think that Neil Schmitz has written a dazzling book. It has scope, originality, and a glittering subtle intelligence. The work on Gertrude Stein is some of the best criticism she has ever received.” --Catherine R. Stimpson, Rutgers University