Victor Doyno to Lead Mark "Twainiacs"

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Victor Doyno, professor of English at the University at Buffalo and one of the country's foremost Mark Twain scholars, will be installed this month as president of the Mark Twain Circle during the annual meeting of the American Literature Association in San Diego. He will hold the position until May, 1996.

The Mark Twain Circle was founded in 1986 and now numbers 400 "Twainiacs" or "Twainians," whom Doyno describes as scholars and non-academic Twain enthusiasts from throughout the United States.

The group publishes the quarterly Mark Twain Circular, encourages Twain research and scholarship, and cooperates with other Twain organizations, including those associated with sites important in the author's life.

During its meeting, the Twain Circle will make a presentation to Robert Hirst, general editor of the Twain Project at the University of California at Berkeley, a long-term, cumulative project to publish definitive versions of the author's work and correspondence. The group has called upon scholars to raise funds for the project, which has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other sources.

Doyno is the author of three books, including "Writing 'Huck Finn': Mark Twain's Creative Process" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991) and "Mark Twain: Selected Writings of an American Skeptic" (1993), plus articles and essays in refereed journals.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mark Twain Center at Quarry Farm, the hilltop home of Twain's sister-in-law in Elmira, N.Y., where the author summered for more than two decades. Doyno also has long been active in the Modern Language Association.

Doyno holds a master's degree from Harvard and a doctorate from Indiana University. Besides Twain, his areas of specialization, research and teaching include medieval and renaissance English literature, the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, pedagogy and evaluation, and the study of manuscripts and the creative process.

Doyno resides in Williamsville, N.Y.