The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain

by Mark Twain

Other authorsCharles Neider (Editor)
Paperback, 1978

Status

Available

Call number

813.4

Collection

Publication

Bantam (1978), Mass Market Paperback, 679 pages

Description

For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain's inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years.Every one of his sixty stories is here- ranging from the frontier humor of 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,' to the bitter vision of humankind in 'The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,' to the delightful hilarity of 'Is He Living or Is He Dead?' Surging with Twain's ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of - in the words of H. L. Mencken - 'the father of our national literature.'… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member sgerbic
Reviewed March - August 2000

As the title tells us this is Mark Twain’s entire collection of short stories written between 1865 and 1916. Some of his stories are wonderfully funny and witty. “Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightening,” “A Stolen White Elephant,” “The Diary of Adam and Eve,”
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“The Joke that Made Ed’s Fortune,” and the one story that made me cry, “A Dogs Tale.” A few more stunk, “The Mysterious Stranger,” and “A Horse’s Tale.” Several themes seem to run through Twain’s stories...the common man and the trouble he can get into, as well as, “let me tell you about a friend of mine...” He also spends a lot of time with Christian themes, odd because he was an atheist, maybe these stories were commissioned, but if I read with keen eye I notice that he pokes fun at the humor of the ideals of religious people as in, “Was it Heaven? Or Hell?,” or “Extract from Cpt. Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven.” Twain much have spent much time sitting around and listening to people tell stories about themselves, all the while thinking of how he was going to immortalize him into a story some day. I think Twain would have been a political humorist in our time constantly ridiculing our government’s red tape. Who knows? Twain seems to be an insightful clever man who I think privately laughed at all of us.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
Some of these are absolutely hysterical. They're not all great, but the vast majority are.
LibraryThing member Czrbr
Book Description: New York: Double Day & Co, 1957. Hard Cover. Very Fine/Very Fine Pictorial. GHBpp676 glossy and pictorial dj. Not a book club edition.
In very impressive condition! Tight binding; clean, crisp pages; DJ clean, bright
LibraryThing member blake.rosser
A lot of material, and I chose to tackle it in chunks over a couple months because otherwise the stories got monotonous. There are some real gems among these 60: a hilarious lambast of Niagara tourism in "A Day at Niagara;" poking fun at feminine hysterics in "Experience of the McWilliamses with
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Membranous Croup;" a parody of justice and fairness in "Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale;" and a comic dismantling of military honor in "Luck." I was particularly pleased with his later stories, as his pessimism and hostility toward mankind increased exponentially. "A Dog's Tale," "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," and the absolutely scathing "A Mysterious Stranger" are perhaps the best in the book, in large part because they stretch the bounds of Twain's traditional style.
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LibraryThing member DanielSTJ
This was a great collection. Mark Twain's prowess with the written word is unparalleled during his period in American literature. The stories resonate with meaning, at times simplicity, power, originality, and perfected description and dialogue. Although there is certain padding in some, and others
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miss their mark, the overall collection is very strong and worth reading. The Mysterious Stranger, the final story in the collection, is my favorite.

4 stars-- well worth the read.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
They are all here, and of varying quality, but necessary for the enjoyment of the master.

Language

Original publication date

1957

Local notes

Bantam Classics
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