| Description |
xxiii, 491 p., 32 p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 443-478) and index. |
| Summary |
Mark Twain, who was often photographed with a cigar, once remarked that he came into the world looking for a light. In this new biography, published on the centennial of the writer's death, the author focuses on Mark Twain, humorist and quipster, and sheds new light on the wit, pathos, and tragedy of the author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He follows Twain from Hannibal to Hawaii to the Holy Land, showing how the southerner transformed himself into a westerner and finally a New Englander. This re-examination of Twain's life is informed by newly discovered archival materials that provide the most complex view of the man and writer to date. |
| Contents |
I. Humorist in the West. Life on the Salt River -- Window to the West -- Orion -- Southwest humorist -- Tramp printer -- Cub pilot -- Death on the Mississippi -- Fetching Grant -- Lighting out -- A millionaire for ten days -- "Mark Twain" -- Governor of the Third House -- The jumping frog -- Vandal abroad -- Wild humorist of the Pacific slope -- II. Writer in the East. Westerner in the East -- Pilgrims on the loose -- Love in a locket -- The innocent at home -- False start in Buffalo -- Back on the lecture circuit -- Home in Hartford -- Sequel to a success -- A book about the English -- Colonel Sellers -- Mississippi memories -- The Riley book -- Banned in Boston -- The innocent abroad again -- Down and out in Paris and London -- III. The artist and the businessman. Associations new and old -- Return to the river and the lecture circuit -- Mark Twain and the phunny phellows -- Webster and Paige -- A romance of the white conscience -- Publishing Grant -- Brooding in King Arthur's Court -- Progress and poverty -- Europe on only dollars a day -- A dream sold down the river -- Family matters -- A friend at Standard Oil -- Broken twigs and found canoes -- Back home and overland -- Lost in the British Empire -- Mark Twain's daughter -- IV. The mysterious stranger. City of dreams -- Winter fantasies -- Weary sojourners -- Exile's return -- Homeless -- A death in Florence -- Appendix A : Clemens genealogy -- Appendix B : Books published by Charles L. Webster & Company. |
| Subject |
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.
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Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography.
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Humorists, American -- 19th century -- Biography.
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| Added Title |
Adventures of Samuel L. Clemens |
| ISBN |
9780520252578 (cloth : alk. paper) |
|
0520252578 (cloth : alk. paper) |
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