The Mercurial Mark Twain(s)

by James L. Machor
The Mercurial Mark Twain(s)
Author: James L. Machor
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-03-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000814203
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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.

Mark Twain

by Harold H. Kolb
Mark Twain
Author: Harold H. Kolb
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 518
Release: 2014-10-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0761864210
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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

by Ron Powers
Mark Twain
Author: Ron Powers
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2005-09-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 074327475X
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Ron Powers’s tour de force has been widely acclaimed as the best life and times, filled with Mark Twain’s voice, and as a great American story. Samuel Clemens, the man known as Mark Twain, invented the American voice and became one of our greatest celebrities. His life mirrored his country's, as he grew from a Mississippi River boyhood in the days of the frontier, to a Wild-West journalist during the Gold Rush, to become the king of the eastern establishment and a global celebrity as America became an international power. Along the way, Mark Twain keenly observed the characters and voices that filled the growing country, and left us our first authentically American literature. Ron Powers's magnificent biography offers the definitive life of the founding father of our culture.

Twain's End

by Lynn Cullen
Twain's End
Author: Lynn Cullen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2016-06-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1476758972
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"In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both, wrote a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, and then --with his daughter, Clara Clemens--slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family."--Page 4 of cover

Mark Twain and the Novel

by Lawrence Howe
Mark Twain and the Novel
Author: Lawrence Howe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 1998-10-13
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780521561686
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This book provides a fresh look at Twain's major novels such as Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Mark Twain

by Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Canterbury Classics
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781607103165
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No library's complete without the classics! This new, enhanced leather-bound edition collects some of the most popular works of legendary humorist and novelist Mark Twain. Mark Twain wrote his greatest works more than one hundred years ago, but he's never far from the minds of Americans. Whether it's the new, complete, and uncensored version of his autobiography hitting bestseller lists or the removal of certain controversial language from one of his novels, his name and his legacy remain a topic of conversation--and undoubtedly will for years to come. There's no better time to appreciate his stories, or read them for the very first time. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson are collected in this timeless and elegant book. Part of the Canterbury Classics series, Mark Twain features a beautiful cover, a ribbon bookmark, and other elements to enhance the reading experience, along with an introduction by a renowned Twain scholar that will enlighten new and familiar readers alike. This edition of Mark Twain is a treasure to enjoy forever--just like the writing of Twain himself!

A Companion to Mark Twain

by Peter Messent
A Companion to Mark Twain
Author: Peter Messent
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 597
Release: 2015-06-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1119117917
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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