Twain in His Own Time Book

Twain in His Own Time

  • Author : Gary Scharnhorst
  • Publisher : University of Iowa Press
  • Release Date : 2010-04-15
  • Genre: Biography & Autobiography
  • Pages : 348
  • ISBN 10 : 9781587299513
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Never one to suffer fools gladly, especially if they wore crinolines, Mark Twain lost as many friends as he made, and he targeted them all indiscriminately. The first major American writer born west of the Mississippi River, he enjoys a reputation unrivaled in American literary history, and from the beginning of his career he tried to control that reputation by fiercely protecting his public persona. Not a debunking account of Twain’s life but refreshingly immune from his relentless image making, Gary Scharnhorst’s Twain in His Own Time offers an anecdotal version of Twain’s life over which the master spin-doctor had virtually no control. The ninety-four recollections gathered in Twain in His Own Time form an unsanitized, collaborative biography designed to provide a multitude of perspectives on the iconic author. Opening with an interview with his mother that has never been reprinted, it includes memoirs by his daughters and by men who knew him when he was roughing it in Nevada and California, an interview with the pilot who taught him to navigate the Mississippi River, reminiscences from his illustrators E. M. Kemble and Dan Beard and two of his so-called adolescent angelfish, contributions from politicians and from such literary figures as Dan De Quille and George Bernard Shaw, and one of the most damning assessments of his character—by the author Frank Harris—ever published. Each entry is introduced by a brief explanation of its historical and cultural context; explanatory notes provide further information about people and places; and Scharnhorst’s introduction and chronology of Twain’s eventful life are comprehensive and detailed. Dozens of lively primary sources published incrementally over more than eighty years, most recorded after his death, illustrate the complexities of this flamboyant, outspoken personality in a way that no single biographer could.

Mark Twain And The South Book

Mark Twain And The South

  • Author : Arthur G. Pettit
  • Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
  • Release Date : 2021-05-11
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 236
  • ISBN 10 : 9780813182766
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The South was many things to Mark Twain: boyhood home, testing ground for manhood, and the principal source of creative inspiration. Although he left the South while a young man, seldom to return, it remained for him always a haunting presence, alternately loved and loathed. To follow his changing attitudes toward the South and its people is to observe the evolving opinions of many Americans during the era that bears the abusive name he gave it—the Gilded Age. This is the first book on a major yet largely ignored aspect of the private life of Samuel Clemens and one of the major themes in Mark Twain's writing from 1863 until his death. Mr. Pettit clearly demonstrates that Mark Twain's feelings on race and region moved in an intelligible direction. The son of a poor but proud slave-holding family in the border South, Samuel Clemens was a product of his time and place. His "retreat" in 1861 to the Nevada territory, a stronghold of Northern sentiment, resulted in a hasty shift to anti-Southern views, born more of social pressures than of a genuine change of heart. This shift became stronger after his move to New York in 1866. Yet the South continued to pull him emotionally, becoming in his tangled imagination both the mythical Eden of Tom Sawyer and the symbol of white racial guilt ultimately expressed in the paradoxical figure of Roxana in Pudd'nhead Wilson. At the same time, Mark Twain the humorist and jester to his age was slow to discard the racist jokes that were commonplace in his day. After his marriage into Eastern money and respectability, however, he gradually imposed a form of self-censorship that reflected his growing recognition of the horrors of white treatment of blacks. Mark Twain's return to the South in 1882 proved a deep disillusionment and a turning point in his thought and writings. The South was no longer Eden but Wasteland. The immediate results were Life on the Mississippi and Huckleberry Finn, both with strongly anti-Southern undercurrents. Ul

The Bible According to Mark Twain Book

The Bible According to Mark Twain

  • Author : Mark Twain
  • Publisher : University of Georgia Press
  • Release Date : 1995
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 413
  • ISBN 10 : 9780820316505
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This volume collects the most important writings by Mark Twain in which he used biblical settings, themes, and figures. Featuring Twain's singular portrayals of God, Adam, Eve, Satan, Methuselah, Shem, St. Peter, and others, the writings stand among Twain's most imaginative expressions of his views on human nature and humankind's relation to the Creator and the universe. Composed over four decades (1871-1910), the writings range from farce to fantasy to satire, each one bearing the mark of Twain's unmistakable wit and insight. Among the many delights in store for readers are Adam and Eve's divergent accounts of their domestic troubles; Methuselah's discussion of an ancient version of baseball, complete with a parody of baseball jargon; Shem's hand-wringing account of how material shortages and labor troubles were hampering the progress of the ark his father, Noah, was building; a description of the disruptive actions of the fire-and-brimstone evangelist Sam Jones upon arriving in heaven; Captain Stormfield's revelations of what heaven is really like; Satan's musings on our puerile concepts of the afterlife; and Twain's advice on how to dress and tip properly in heaven. Twain's humor, however, is never gratuitous. As readers laugh their way through this volume, they will find ample evidence of Twain's concerns about scriptural fallacies and inconsistencies, the Bible's rather flat portrayal of important characters, and our limited notions about the nature and meaning of our own--and God's--existence. Many of the pieces in this collection, even the most lighthearted, might still be considered controversial; of some of the darker pieces, Twain himself acknowledged that they would be heretical in any age. Moreover, these writings are valuable cultural artifacts of a time when, across the Western world, fundamental religious beliefs were being called into question by the precepts of Darwinism and the rapid advances of science and technology. Several of this volume's sele

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain Book

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain

  • Author : J. R. LeMaster
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release Date : 2011
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 882
  • ISBN 10 : 9780415890588
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This encyclopedia includes more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries that cover a full variety of topics on Mark Twain's life, intellectual milieu, literary career, and achievements.

The Mercurial Mark Twain s Book

The Mercurial Mark Twain s

  • Author : James L. Machor
  • Publisher : Taylor & Francis
  • Release Date : 2023-03-15
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 329
  • ISBN 10 : 9781000814200
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Who was Mark Twain? Was he the genial author of two beloved boys books, the white-haired and white-suited avuncular humorist, the realistic novelist, the exposer of shams, the author repressed by bourgeois values, or the social satirist whose later writings embody an increasingly dark view? In light of those and other conceptions, the question we need to ask is not who he was but how did we get so many Mark Twains? The Mercurial Mark Twains(s): Reception History and Iconic Authorship provides answers to that question by examining the way Twain, his texts, and his image have been constructed by his audiences. Drawing on archival records of responses from common readers, reviewer reactions, analyses by Twain scholars and critics, and film and television adaptations, this study provides the first wide-ranging, fine-grained historical analysis of Twain’s reception in both the public and private spheres, from the 1860s until the end of the twentieth century.

The Mark Twain Encyclopedia Book

The Mark Twain Encyclopedia

  • Author : J. R. LeMaster
  • Publisher : Taylor & Francis
  • Release Date : 1993
  • Genre: Authors, American
  • Pages : 952
  • ISBN 10 : 082407212X
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A reference guide to the great American author (1835-1910) for students and general readers. The approximately 740 entries, arranged alphabetically, are essentially a collection of articles, ranging significantly in length and covering a variety of topics pertaining to Twain's life, intellectual milieu, literary career, and achievements. Because so much of Twain's writing reflects Samuel Clemens's personal experience, particular attention is given to the interface between art and life, i.e., between imaginative reconstructions and their factual sources of inspiration. Each entry is accompanied by a selective bibliography to guide readers to sources of additional information. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

A Companion to Mark Twain Book

A Companion to Mark Twain

  • Author : Peter Messent
  • Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
  • Release Date : 2015-06-15
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 592
  • ISBN 10 : 9781119117919
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This broad-ranging companion brings together respected American and European critics and a number of up-and-coming scholars to provide an overview of Twain, his background, his writings, and his place in American literary history. One of the most broad-ranging volumes to appear on Mark Twain in recent years Brings together respected Twain critics and a number of younger scholars in the field to provide an overview of this central figure in American literature Places special emphasis on the ways in which Twain's works remain both relevant and important for a twenty-first century audience A concluding essay evaluates the changing landscape of Twain criticism

Mark Twain Book

Mark Twain

  • Author : Harold H. Kolb Jr.
  • Publisher : University Press of America
  • Release Date : 2014-10-29
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 518
  • ISBN 10 : 9780761864219
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Mark Twain is America’s—perhaps the world’s—best known humorous writer. Yet many commentators in his time and our own have thought of humor as merely an attractive surface feature rather than a crucial part of both the meaning and the structure of Twain’s writings. This book begins with a discussion of humor, and then demonstrates how Twain’s artistic strategies, his remarkable achievements, and even his philosophy were bound together in his conception of humor, and how this conception developed across a forty-five year career. Kolb shows that Twain is a writer whose lifelong mode of perception is essentially humorous, a writer who sees the world in the sharp clash of contrast, whose native language is exaggeration, and whose vision unravels and reorganizes our perceptions. Humor, in all its mercurial complexity, is at the center of Mark Twain’s talent, his successes, and his limitations. It is as a humorist—amiably comic, sharply satiric, grimly ironic, simultaneously humorous and serious—that he is best understood.

Mark Twain s Pudd nhead Wilson Book
Score: 5
From 1 Ratings

Mark Twain s Pudd nhead Wilson

  • Author : Susan Gillman
  • Publisher : Duke University Press
  • Release Date : 1990-07-20
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 280
  • ISBN 10 : 9780822381624
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This collection seeks to place Pudd’nhead Wilson—a neglected, textually fragmented work of Mark Twain’s—in the context of contemporary critical approaches to literary studies. The editors’ introduction argues the virtues of using Pudd’nhead Wilson as a teaching text, a case study in many of the issues presently occupying literary criticism: issues of history and the uses of history, of canon formation, of textual problematics, and finally of race, class, and gender. In a variety of ways the essays build arguments out of, not in spite of, the anomalies, inconsistencies, and dead ends in the text itself. Such wrinkles and gaps, the authors find, are the symptoms of an inconclusive, even evasive, but culturally illuminating struggle to confront and resolve difficult questions bearing on race and sex. Such fresh, intellectually enriching perspectives on the novel arise directly from the broad-based interdisciplinary foundations provided by the participating scholars. Drawing on a wide variety of critical methodologies, the essays place the novel in ways that illuminate the world in which it was produced and that further promise to stimulate further study. Contributors. Michael Cowan, James M. Cox, Susan Gillman, Myra Jehlen, Wilson Carey McWilliams, George E. Marcus, Carolyn Porter, Forrest Robinson, Michael Rogin, John Carlos Rowe, John Schaar, Eric Sundquist

Mark Twain and Money Book

Mark Twain and Money

  • Author : Henry B. Wonham
  • Publisher : University of Alabama Press
  • Release Date : 2017-08-15
  • Genre: Biography & Autobiography
  • Pages : 284
  • ISBN 10 : 9780817319441
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Explores the importance of economics and prosperity throughout Samuel Clemens's writing and personal life

Ira Fistell S Mark Twain Book

Ira Fistell S Mark Twain

  • Author : Ira Fistell
  • Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
  • Release Date : 2012-04-05
  • Genre: Fiction
  • Pages : 451
  • ISBN 10 : 9781469178721
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Ira Fistells Mark Twain: Three Encounters begins with a perceptive analysis of the authors major novels which will be a revelation to any reader of Twain. Ira proves that Tom Sawyer is anything but a kids book; explains why the ending of Huckleberry Finn, often dismissed as just cheating, is actually the most brilliant part of the book; makes sense of the confusing and difficult Connecticut Yankee; and discovers the tragedy in The Tragedy of Puddnhead Wilson. Then this book explores how the places Twain live affected what he wrote, and concludes with a stunning explanation of the authors terrible guilt in his later years. No other study of Twain and his work compares with this one: it is the essential book on this subject.

Mark Twain Book
Score: 4
From 4 Ratings

Mark Twain

  • Author : Geoffrey C. Ward
  • Publisher : Knopf
  • Release Date : 2001
  • Genre: Authors, American
  • Pages : 290
  • ISBN 10 : 9780375405617
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Here the master storytellers Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns, and Dayton Duncan give us the first fully illustrated biography of Mark Twain, American literature's touchstone, its funniest and most inventive figure.".

The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain Book

The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain

  • Author : Forrest G. Robinson
  • Publisher : Cambridge University Press
  • Release Date : 1995-05-26
  • Genre: Literary Criticism
  • Pages : 288
  • ISBN 10 : 0521445930
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The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain offers new and thought provoking essays on an author of enduring pre-eminence in the American canon. The book is a collaborative project, assembled by scholars who have played crucial roles in the recent explosion of Twain criticism. Accessible enough to interest both experienced specialists and students new to Twain criticism, the essays examine Twain from a wide variety of critical perspectives, and include timely reflections by major critics on the hotly debated dynamics of race and slavery perceptible throughout his writing. The volume includes a chronology of Twain's life and a list of suggestions for further reading, to provide the students or general reader with sources for background as well as additional information.

Mark Twain s Travel Literature Book

Mark Twain s Travel Literature

  • Author : Harold H. Hellwig
  • Publisher : McFarland
  • Release Date : 2008-02-29
  • Genre: History
  • Pages : 227
  • ISBN 10 : 9781476600024
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This critical study analyzes major concepts in the travel literature of Mark Twain and notes how his oeuvre (including his classic works of fiction) revolves around travel as a central issue. The book focuses especially on his representations of time, place, and identity in the travel works Roughing It, A Tramp Abroad, The Innocents Abroad, Life on The Mississippi, and Following the Equator. All receive an in-depth analysis, noting Twain’s strong sense of nostalgia for the disappearing American frontier, his growing concern over the assimilation of Native American cultures, and his continual search for a sense of personal and national identity. One appendix provides a complete list of the travel literature contained in Twain’s personal library.

Mark Twain at Your Fingertips Book

Mark Twain at Your Fingertips

  • Author : Mark Twain
  • Publisher : Courier Corporation
  • Release Date : 2012-07-12
  • Genre: Literary Collections
  • Pages : 576
  • ISBN 10 : 9780486123318
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Gathered from Twain's classic novels, diary entries, newspaper articles, and correspondence, this collection of wry quips and quotes offers the great humorist and storyteller's observations on animals, critics, politics, youth, and more.