Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
University of California Press (2013), Edition: First Edition, 776 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML: Mark Twain's complete, uncensored Autobiography was an instant bestseller when the first volume was published in 2010, on the centennial of the author's death, as he requested. Published to rave reviews, the Autobiography was hailed as the capstone of Twain's career. It captures his authentic and unsuppressed voice, speaking clearly from the grave and brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions. The eagerly awaited second volume delves deeper into Twain's life, uncovering the many roles he played in his private and public worlds. Filled with his characteristic blend of humor and ire, the narrative ranges effortlessly across the contemporary scene. He shares his views on writing and speaking, his preoccupation with money, and his contempt for the politics and politicians of his day. Affectionate and scathing by turns, his intractable curiosity and candor are everywhere on view..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
More stream of consciousness than standard autobiography, this was dictated by Twain a few years before he died. It includes his reaction to news items of the day, memories of his adventures and of the people he had known, philosophical musings, and excerpts from the biography his young daughter
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worked on for a few years. Twain is blunt and humorous, though some of his musings would not fit well in the political correctness of our time. Still, there is nothing here that is unkind, and Twain is as hard on himself as on nearly anyone else (with the possible exception of a couple of politicians). Overall a good read, prepare to laugh, and be forewarned: Twain planned for this to not be published until 100 years after his death, so he took off the gloves on a couple of things he was usually a bit gentler on, such as religion. His description of the Old Testament God could have been written by Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens. Reading Twain, in fact, is like reading Hitchens, Vonnegut, Will Rogers, and James Thurber all rolled into one. Show Less
LibraryThing member DonnaMarieMerritt
Wow. Many of Twain's observations, particularly about politics and human nature, still hold true today. His sense of humor is even more playful, satirical, and sarcastic than the books he published during his lifetime because he is free to say anything he likes about anyone, knowing his words won't
Anxiously awaiting volume 3.
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be published until 100 years after his death. (And kudos to the publishing world for respecting his wishes!)Anxiously awaiting volume 3.
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LibraryThing member annbury
This is not as bad as volume one, in that less of the book is taken up by idiots from the literary establishment. Twain still refuses to sit down and write an autobiography; his conceit is that he will spend several sessions dictating this garbage and he will stop when he feels like it and discuss
kind. The idea is that this book would not get published until Twain had been dead 100 years, but there is not much commentary that he should worry about.
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something that just occurs to him. The saving grace is that Mark Twain is someone who has worthwhile ideas; his dissection of Bret Harte and Stanford White are wonderful, as is his commentary on churches of anykind. The idea is that this book would not get published until Twain had been dead 100 years, but there is not much commentary that he should worry about.
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LibraryThing member SamSattler
Mark Twain had a mouth on him, no doubt about it – and that is why it is still so much fun to read the man’s writing today. But even Twain knew that the world was not quite ready for the unexpurgated version of his thoughts that comprises the first two volumes (a third volume is yet to follow)
Close to half of the material contained in the autobiography has never been published before, and readers have the Mark Twain Project (of the University of California, Berkeley) to thank for making it available now. The previously published material has been published several times in the past, but always in an abridged form guaranteed not to offend. But even the unrestricted version of Twain’s manuscripts is not what readers have come to expect from an autobiography.
Rather than tell the story of his life in chronological order, Twain decided early on that he would dictate his thoughts to a stenographer as they occurred to him – regardless of where they might fit into the story of his life. And, because he wanted them published in the order that he dictated them, reading the two books is more like having a conversation with Twain than anything else. It is as if the man were sitting across the room and telling random stories from his life as they cross his mind.
And what stories they are! They range all the way from his thoughts on rather trivial newspaper stories that may have caught his eye over breakfast to wonderful remembrances of things that happened in the first decade or two of his life. We learn of the villains in Twain’s world, some of whom personally crippled him with huge financial losses and scams, and others who were simply the villains of their times, men like Jay Gould and Belgium’s King Leopold II. We learn much about his brother, a man full of dreams but without the ability to make any of them come true. And most touchingly, Twain shares his deep love for Susy, the daughter who was snatched from the family so suddenly, by quoting liberally from the biography she wrote about her father. (My own favorite sections of the book deal with Twain’s relationship with the U.S. Grant family and publication of the former president’s memoirs.)
Twain, though, never passes up the opportunity for a little personal vengeance. As he often reminds his readers, he is speaking from the grave now, so what does he care about offending anyone? He just wants to set the record straight – at least as he sees that record. So rather unfortunately, the reader will have to wade through what seems like countless pages about the copyright laws of the day and biting commentary about an Italian landlady who drove Twain nuts for several months.
Intimidating as the two books may first appear, the author’s charm and rascality make reading them a pleasure that Twain fans will not want to miss.
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of his autobiography, so he stipulated that the complete biography was not to be published until 100 years after his death – which occurred on April 21, 1910. For those of us lucky enough to be around for the unveiling of the uncensored version of the manuscripts, it was well worth the wait.Close to half of the material contained in the autobiography has never been published before, and readers have the Mark Twain Project (of the University of California, Berkeley) to thank for making it available now. The previously published material has been published several times in the past, but always in an abridged form guaranteed not to offend. But even the unrestricted version of Twain’s manuscripts is not what readers have come to expect from an autobiography.
Rather than tell the story of his life in chronological order, Twain decided early on that he would dictate his thoughts to a stenographer as they occurred to him – regardless of where they might fit into the story of his life. And, because he wanted them published in the order that he dictated them, reading the two books is more like having a conversation with Twain than anything else. It is as if the man were sitting across the room and telling random stories from his life as they cross his mind.
And what stories they are! They range all the way from his thoughts on rather trivial newspaper stories that may have caught his eye over breakfast to wonderful remembrances of things that happened in the first decade or two of his life. We learn of the villains in Twain’s world, some of whom personally crippled him with huge financial losses and scams, and others who were simply the villains of their times, men like Jay Gould and Belgium’s King Leopold II. We learn much about his brother, a man full of dreams but without the ability to make any of them come true. And most touchingly, Twain shares his deep love for Susy, the daughter who was snatched from the family so suddenly, by quoting liberally from the biography she wrote about her father. (My own favorite sections of the book deal with Twain’s relationship with the U.S. Grant family and publication of the former president’s memoirs.)
Twain, though, never passes up the opportunity for a little personal vengeance. As he often reminds his readers, he is speaking from the grave now, so what does he care about offending anyone? He just wants to set the record straight – at least as he sees that record. So rather unfortunately, the reader will have to wade through what seems like countless pages about the copyright laws of the day and biting commentary about an Italian landlady who drove Twain nuts for several months.
Intimidating as the two books may first appear, the author’s charm and rascality make reading them a pleasure that Twain fans will not want to miss.
Show Less
Awards
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2013)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2013)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
776 p.; 10 inches
ISBN
0520272781 / 9780520272781