Dimensions
132 x 204 x 19mm
Who is Mark Twain?
Most of us know Twain as a distant figure in American literary history (first published by Harper Brothers in 1895) and the author of Huck Finn. But Twain was also a daring humorist' an insecure writer' and a searing cultural critic. Who Is Mark Twain? is a collection of twenty four pieces never before published by Twain. In "Whenever I am About to Publish a Book" Twain explains how' before he publishes a book' he always reads the manuscript to "a private group of friends' composed as follows:
Man and woman with no sense of humor.
Man and woman with medium sense of humor.
Man and woman with prodigious sense of humor.
An intensely practical person.
A sentimental person.
A person who must have a moral in' and purpose.
Hypercritical person.
Enthusiast.
Person who watches the others' and applauds or condemns with the majority.
Half a dozen bright young girls and boys' unclassified.
Person who relishes slang' and familiar flippancy.
Person who detest them.
Person of evenly balanced judicial mind.
Man who always goes to sleep.
In "Jane Austen" Twain wonders if Austen's goal is to "make the reader detest her people up to the middle of the book and like them in the rest of the chapters?" "Conversations with Satan" is a hilarious meditation on religion' while "Happy Memoires of the Dental Chair" will make you appreciate modern dentistry.
Idiosyncratic' steeped in politics and a sense of the absurd' these twenty four wickedly funny pieces shine new light on one of America's most beloved literary icons-a man who was well ahead of his time.
