“My Voice Is Still for Setchell”: A Background Study of “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog”

For the past fifteen years scholars have examined many facets of Mark Twain’s “Jumping Frog”: its narrative techniques and some of its textual history, its relation to folklore, American humor, and Clemens’ theory of humorous gravity, and its political, regional, and cultural bearings. ¹ This article, by focussing on the personal background to the tale, tries to cast light on the imagination that created the famous yarn. It first relates some of the tale’s narrative elements—episodes, characters, names—to Clemens’ prior experience, especially to some activities reflected in newly discovered examples of his San Francisco journalism of 1864 and 1865. Then it relates the tale to strong emotional currents in his life during the fall of 1865. Finally the article proposes a date of composition for the “Jumping Frog” and a reading of the tale that emphasizes the level of personal meaning.