Proper Mark Twain redefines the persona of the humorist to include this bounded Twain, who affirms the dominant values of Victorian America. Largely overlooked or sidestepped in critical commentaries, the proper Twain informs all of the writer's major works. He also appears in the early western writings, the personal courtship letters, and the final autobiographical dictations. The proper Twain confirms and upholds humorously what the transgressive Twain seems to subvert.

Krauth finds manifestations of the conventional in Twain's cultural imperialism, literary domesticity, sentimentality, commitment to progress, and even his humor. Further, he argues persuasively that the bounded Twain speaks not only to appease his culture but to express deeply held convictions. This meticulous study aims to determine just how orthodox Twain was and to what extent he was a product of the culture he seemed to oppose.

To see the proper Mark Twain, Krauth explains, is to understand how Twain saw himself and what he meant to convey to his audience. Throughout his career, Twain longed to be seen as more than a mere humorist, claiming, as his, qualities dear to the Victorian heart: seriousness, morality, and pathos. He contended that gravity and tender feeling are "absolutely essential" in a humorist. Upholding the elite culture he seemed to challenge, the proper Mark Twain even hoped to cultivate the masses.

Krauth's study uncovers a seldom-seen side of America's most important humorist.