The Confidence-Man

This novel portrays a group of steamboat passengers whose interlocking stories are told as they travel down the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. The work includes several satires of 19th century literary figures: Mark Winsome is based on Ralph Waldo Emerson while his "practical disciple" Egbert is Henry David Thoreau; Charlie Noble is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne; Edgar Allan Poe inspired a beggar in the story.