Recordpub.com - One for the Books: Mark Twain -- After a century of waiting, his autobiography appears

Beloved American author Mark Twain died in 1910. He had written his autobiography, but he stipulated that it should not be published until 100 years after his death.

And here we are, a century later, and “Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1” is now available. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, this is the first of three planned volumes. The entire oeuvre, with even more material than what is published in print form, will eventually be available online at www.marktwainproject.org.

But the print form is nothing to sneeze at. With 738 pages, plus 19 in the front matter, this volume alone weighs more than four pounds. It’s really heavy to hold, with tiny type — not good for taking with you as light reading. But it is available for e-readers, and that’s a good option.

The book has an index, introduction and preliminary manuscripts, explanatory notes, appendixes, and a full bibliography — a must for scholars. It also contains a section of black and white photos, as well as images of Twain’s handwritten pages and notes.

There are references to settings and characters from some of his more famous works, including “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” “The Innocents Abroad,” “Life on the Mississippi,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” and more.

The preliminary manuscripts and dictations were written from 1870 to 1905, and the “Autobiography” itself was dictated in more than 250 daily sessions with a stenographer from 1906 to 1909. His instruction that it should not be published until he had been dead 100 years came from his intention “to tell the whole truth, without reservation,” writes the editor. Twain wrote, “In these conditions you can draw a man without prejudice exactly as you knew him and yet have no fear of hurting his feelings or those of his sons or grandsons.”

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born Nov. 30, 1835, “in the almost invisible village of Florida, Monroe county, Missouri,” he wrote in a piece about his early years. “At first my father owned slaves, but by and by he sold them, and hired others by the year from the farmers,” added Twain.

He wrote about his childhood (“It was a heavenly place for a boy, that farm of my uncle John’s”), his family, his writing career, his travels, being in London for the Queen’s Jubilee (Victoria, that is), current events, and some of his business dealings.

The book includes biographical portraits of Twain’s friends and acquaintances, from politicians (“Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most impulsive men in existence”) to poets, from the inventor of an automatic typesetting machine to cab drivers around the world.

There are excerpts of correspondence to and from him, excerpts from the biography of her father written by his daughter, Suzy Clemens, and, of course, Twain’s trademark anecdotes, many of which will make you smile.

In these random musings, Twain’s wit and humor are in evidence, and his writing style is still accessible and reader-friendly.

His character portraits are marvelous. Here’s just one: “The other maid, Wuthering Heights (which is not her name), is about forty and looks considerably younger. She is quick, smart, active, energetic, breezy, good-natured, has a high-keyed voice and a loud one, talks thirteen to the dozen, talks all the time, talks in her sleep, will talk when she is dead; is here, there, and everywhere all at the same time, and is consumingly interested in every devilish thing that is going on. Particularly if it is not her affair. … The family are always training her, always caulking her, but it does not make me uneasy any more, now, for I know that as fast as they stop one leak she will spring another. Her talk is my circus, my menagerie, my fireworks, my spiritual refreshment. When she is at it I would rather be there than at a fire.”

Twain wrote about his struggle to put his life on paper: “Finally, in Florence in 1904, I hit upon the right way to do an Autobiography: start at it in no particular time of your life; wander at your free will all over your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale, and turn your talk upon the new and more interesting thing that has intruded itself into your mind meantime. Also, make the narrative a combined Diary and Autobiography. In this way you have the vivid things of the present to make a contrast with memories of like things in the past, and these contrasts have a charm which is all their own.”

He wrote that life “starts out with good confidence, but suffers the fate of its brethren — is presently abandoned for some other and newer interest. This is not to be wondered at, for its plan is the old, old, old unflexible and difficult one — the plan that starts you at the cradle and drives you straight for the grave, with no side-excursions permitted on the way. Whereas the side-excursions are the life of our life-voyage, and should be, also, of its history.”

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For best-seller lists and more book news, go to:

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4917202

------

Here are links to other recent One for the Books columns. More links are available on my blog at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/one-for-the-books-2010/

Finding a Good Book Can Be Murder: http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4802440

Bonnet Books: Fictional Comfort Food -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4799031

True tales of man’s best friend -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4775270

Living in and Loving the Great Lakes Area -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4811814

Reading Just for a Good Time -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4872010

Books for Teens and Tweens -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4873342

Making the World a Better Place -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4835710

Graphic Novels--Not just comic books for grownups -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4868765

Prize-Winning Fiction -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4803780

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Thanks for reading One for the Books. Please let us know what kind of book news you’d like to see on this page. Send e-mail to Books@recordpub.com. Send other mail to Mary Louise Ruehr, Books Editor, Record-Courier, 126 N. Chestnut St. (P.O. Box 1201), Ravenna, OH 44266.

“One for the Books” now appears on Saturdays (approximately the second and fourth of each month) on the Books page in the Arts & Entertainment section of the Record-Courier: http://www.recordpub.com/news/section/1377

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Home \| Back One for the Books: Mark Twain -- After a century of waiting, his autobiography appears Print Story \| Comments \| Mary Louise Ruehr November 6, 2010 Beloved American author Mark Twain died in 1910. He had written his autobiography, but he stipulated that it should not be published until 100 years after his death. And here we are, a century later, and “Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1” is now available. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, this is the first of three planned volumes. The entire oeuvre, with even more material than what is published in print form, will eventually be available online at www.marktwainproject.org. But the print form is nothing to sneeze at. With 738 pages, plus 19 in the front matter, this volume alone weighs more than four pounds. It’s really heavy to hold, with tiny type — not good for taking with you as light reading. But it is available for e-readers, and that’s a good option. The book has an index, introduction and preliminary manuscripts, explanatory notes, appendixes, and a full bibliography — a must for scholars. It also contains a section of black and white photos, as well as images of Twain’s handwritten pages and notes. There are references to settings and characters from some of his more famous works, including “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” “The Innocents Abroad,” “Life on the Mississippi,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” and more. The preliminary manuscripts and dictations were written from 1870 to 1905, and the “Autobiography” itself was dictated in more than 250 daily sessions with a stenographer from 1906 to 1909. His instruction that it should not be published until he had been dead 100 years came from his intention “to tell the whole truth, without reservation,” writes the editor. Twain wrote, “In these conditions you can draw a man without prejudice exactly as you knew him and yet have no fear of hurting his feelings or those of his sons or grandsons.” Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born Nov. 30, 1835, “in the almost invisible village of Florida, Monroe county, Missouri,” he wrote in a piece about his early years. “At first my father owned slaves, but by and by he sold them, and hired others by the year from the farmers,” added Twain. He wrote about his childhood (“It was a heavenly place for a boy, that farm of my uncle John’s”), his family, his writing career, his travels, being in London for the Queen’s Jubilee (Victoria, that is), current events, and some of his business dealings. The book includes biographical portraits of Twain’s friends and acquaintances, from politicians (“Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most impulsive men in existence”) to poets, from the inventor of an automatic typesetting machine to cab drivers around the world. There are excerpts of correspondence to and from him, excerpts from the biography of her father written by his daughter, Suzy Clemens, and, of course, Twain’s trademark anecdotes, many of which will make you smile. In these random musings, Twain’s wit and humor are in evidence, and his writing style is still accessible and reader-friendly. His character portraits are marvelous. Here’s just one: “The other maid, Wuthering Heights (which is not her name), is about forty and looks considerably younger. She is quick, smart, active, energetic, breezy, good-natured, has a high-keyed voice and a loud one, talks thirteen to the dozen, talks all the time, talks in her sleep, will talk when she is dead; is here, there, and everywhere all at the same time, and is consumingly interested in every devilish thing that is going on. Particularly if it is not her affair. … The family are always training her, always caulking her, but it does not make me uneasy any more, now, for I know that as fast as they stop one leak she will spring another. Her talk is my circus, my menagerie, my fireworks, my spiritual refreshment. When she is at it I would rather be there than at a fire.” Twain wrote about his struggle to put his life on paper: “Finally, in Florence in 1904, I hit upon the right way to do an Autobiography: start at it in no particular time of your life; wander at your free will all over your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale, and turn your talk upon the new and more interesting thing that has intruded itself into your mind meantime. Also, make the narrative a combined Diary and Autobiography. In this way you have the vivid things of the present to make a contrast with memories of like things in the past, and these contrasts have a charm which is all their own.” He wrote that life “starts out with good confidence, but suffers the fate of its brethren — is presently abandoned for some other and newer interest. This is not to be wondered at, for its plan is the old, old, old unflexible and difficult one — the plan that starts you at the cradle and drives you straight for the grave, with no side-excursions permitted on the way. Whereas the side-excursions are the life of our life-voyage, and should be, also, of its history.” Copyright © 2010 Mary Louise Ruehr ------ For best-seller lists and more book news, go to: http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4917202 ------ Here are links to other recent One for the Books columns. More links are available on my blog at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/one-for-the-books-2010/ Finding a Good Book Can Be Murder: http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4802440 Bonnet Books: Fictional Comfort Food -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4799031 True tales of man’s best friend -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4775270 Living in and Loving the Great Lakes Area -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4811814 Reading Just for a Good Time -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4872010 Books for Teens and Tweens -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4873342 Making the World a Better Place -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4835710 Graphic Novels--Not just comic books for grownups -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4868765 Prize-Winning Fiction -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4803780 ------ Thanks for reading One for the Books. Please let us know what kind of book news you’d like to see on this page. Send e-mail to Books@recordpub.com. Send other mail to Mary Louise Ruehr, Books Editor, Record-Courier, 126 N. Chestnut St. (P.O. Box 1201), Ravenna, OH 44266. “One for the Books” now appears on Saturdays (approximately the second and fourth of each month) on the Books page in the Arts & Entertainment section of the Record-Courier: http://www.recordpub.com/news/section/1377 Comments By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Login above or Register to comment. 0 Total Comments Home \| Back
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