European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 2, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Friedrich building serves As a backdrop for one of Heidelberg Castle s fountains on a sunny Spring Day. This did not mean hostility but Only armed  the chief purpose of the corps was fighting and Twain attended at least one of their duels in his words Quot in the interest of  the dueling place was a Public House on the opposite Side of the Neckar from the Schloss hotel. The fights took place twice a week eight months out of the year Twain recounts the fights he witnessed in vivid detail. He wrote that the corp members bodies were tightly bandaged for Protection but their headgear left Only their eyes and ears Safe from an opponent s curved Saber. The first Duel he saw was characteristically bloody. Quot they were led away drenched with Crimson from head to foot. That was a Good fight but it could not count partly because it did not last the lawful fifteen minutes of actual fighting and partly because neither Man was disabled by his wounds Quot. Another travel Book in the midst of his travels and observations Twain tried to jump Start his writing. He told his editor he planned to write a travel Book very similar to the innocents abroad. A gut the Book eventually would turn into what Twain called a gossipy volume of travel Quot it talks about anything and everything and always drops a subject the moment my interest in it begins to Slacken. It is As discursive As a conversation it has no More restraints or limitations than a fireside talk has. I have been Drifting around on an Idle easy going tramp a so to speak a. Stopping when i pleased moving on when i got ready. In a word it is a Book written by one Loafer for a brother Loafer to  despite his seemingly Carefree approach Twain s writing progressed very slowly. He wrote in june 1878 Quot my work Den is in the second Story of a Little Wirtschaft which stands at the base of the Tower on the Summit of the Konig Stuhl. I walk up there every morning at 10, write until three talk the most hopeless and uni provable German with the family till 5, then tramp Down to the hotel for the  Quot the awful German language Quot Twain claimed to have As much trouble with his German skills As his writing indeed Many of his. Frustrations and observations concerning the language Are As timeless As those about Germany. He wrote in his notebooks Quot in Early times some sufferer had to sit up with a Toothache and he put in the time inventing the German  Twain claimed three instructors died trying to teach him the language. Then there s the Story he told about the girl w Ith whom he tried to speak for several minutes in German. When he finally stopped she apologized and said politely Quot i understand Only German and  in an essay Call erf the awful German language Twain takes great pains to spell out in amusing detail problems and solutions regarding the German language. First he Felt the words were too Long. Quot some of the words Are so Long that they have a perspective. When one casts his glance along Down one of these it gradually tapers to a Point like the receding lines of a railway track Quot Twain also complained about the separation of German verbs the Many meanings for different pronouns and the random genders assigned to nouns. In Genera he asserted there was no other language Quot so Slipshod and  Quot one is washed about in it hither and thither in a most helpless Way Quot he wrote Quot and when at last he thinks he has captured a Rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on he turns Over the Page and roads let the Pupil make careful note of the following exceptions he runs his Eye dowry and finds that there Are More exceptions to the Rule than instances of  Twain did offer suggestions for improvement such As moving verbs closer to their subjects and cited some advantages to the language. However his compliments of course were few in number a a and backhanded Quot in German All the nouns begin with a capital loiter. Now that is a Good idea and a Good idea in this. Language is necessarily conspicuous from its loneliness. I consider this capitalizing of. Nouns a Good idea because a by reason of it you Are almost always Able to Tell a noun the minute you see . Quot a tramp abroad Quot Twain got the Chance to practice his German skills in travels throughout the Neckar Valley. His Lively accounts mention trips to the theater in Mannheim to Heilbronn bad Wimpfen Hirschhorn dil Borg Necka Steinach and on to the Black Forest. In August he and his family left Germany venturing on to Switzerland Italy France Belgium Holland and England. In the end it is said he tired of Europe and travel and returned Back to America in september of 1879. After what he described As a Quot life and death struggle Twain finally finished the account of his travels and a a tramp abroad was published in 1080. Twain called it a Quot troublesome  his biographers describe it As randomly engaging and reflective of his boredom and desire for the familiar comforts of the United Stales that he expressed in the notes and letters he wrote while in Europe. A a a a a Heidelberg an inspiration but Twain s biographers also believe the trip ultimately had a positive effect on the writer. The editors of Mark Twain s notebooks and journals assert the time spent in Europe aroused an appetite in him Quot for a return to those books derived from his Early  in 1802, Twain returned to the Mississippi. It seems Heidelberg in particular had reawakened some special memories for him. The former Steamboat Pilot was drawn to the Neckar River and claimed to stare at it from his Perch in the Schloss hotel for hours on end. One of his travelling companions in Germany wrote Quot Mark is a queer fellow. There is nothing he so delights in As a Swift Strong Stream. You can hardly get him to leave on once he is in the influence of its  in a tramp abroad Twain conjured up a raft trip he supposedly took with a Friend from Heidelberg to Heilbronn the trip was based on Twain s real round trip to Heilbronn during which he travelled Only part of the Way by boat. Yet some of Twain s biographers suggest this mythical journey Down the Neckar inspired him to write about a voyage Down the Mississippi River after returning from Europe Twain was Able to finish oae of the Many books he had started before his summer in Heidelberg then Laid aside. The Book was the adventures of Huckleberry finn one of the greatest novels in american literature. Theresa Bujnoch is a free Lance writer living in Mannheim Germany. June 2, 1304 stripes Magazine 11