> I wonder if Twain would classify current forms of written discourse as "literate" Why wouldn't he? You may be succumbing to survivorship bias. Twain was in

> I wonder if Twain would classify current forms of written discourse as "literate" Why wouldn't he? You may be succumbing to survivorship bias. Twain was in his own time an outlier, and much written discourse wasn't particularly distinguishable from the dreck one finds in partisan outlets today, except in the most superficial ways. Twain's own style was often rather "folksy" rather than "literate" (but you would have to call it "alliterate" or "vernacular" rather than "illiterate") to get his more radical opinions past people's defenses. It is worth noting that in his attempts to be seen as a more serious writer rather than "just" a humorist, he did also write in a more formal style, but those are his least known works today.