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The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain
The sustained popularity of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and especially The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has tended to obscure for the general reader Mark Twain's other novels, reminiscences, sketches, tales, and stories. This eclipse is not surprising, but even a cursory examination of Twain's lesser known works reveals a substantial body of literature well worthy of contemporary attention.
The tradition of Southwestern humor, which flourished in America from about 1835 to the Civil War, culminates in the writings of Mark Twain. That tradition is exemplified by many of the stories in this collection. They are representative of certain themes and techniques, such as the use of vernacular speech, the telling of tall tales, and realism, that were the hallmarks of that group of writers. However, Mark Twain leaves his own special stamp in the form of his probing, sometimes cynical, view of mankind. In these stories, it is possible to trace Twain's increasing skepticism about the validity of current social morality. It is this aspect of Twain which gives his humor a bitterness and a sting. It may perhaps be credited to Twain's piercing view that his works survive and are frequently read while other writers of that period have long since been relegated to the literary specialist.
The tradition of Southwestern humor, which flourished in America from about 1835 to the Civil War, culminates in the writings of Mark Twain. That tradition is exemplified by many of the stories in this collection. They are representative of certain themes and techniques, such as the use of vernacular speech, the telling of tall tales, and realism, that were the hallmarks of that group of writers. However, Mark Twain leaves his own special stamp in the form of his probing, sometimes cynical, view of mankind. In these stories, it is possible to trace Twain's increasing skepticism about the validity of current social morality. It is this aspect of Twain which gives his humor a bitterness and a sting. It may perhaps be credited to Twain's piercing view that his works survive and are frequently read while other writers of that period have long since been relegated to the literary specialist.
848 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 1984
About the author
Mark Twain
9,051 books17.9k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews
August 21, 2017
This book is featured on this week's 'Shabby Sunday' @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2017/...
Growing up in my grandparents home, we had books from wall to wall. My grandfather was a teacher and loved the written word. We had plenty of books to keep us busy. One of the only books that I have left in my collection that belonged to my grandfather is The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. I can still remember him reading it when I was just a young child.
To me, this is a must-have for any Mark Twain fan. Mine is the 1957 edition hardcover. A few of my favorites are- A Dying Man's Confession, A Day at Niagara, A Ghost Story, A Dog's Tale, and Luck. I'm happy to have it to share with my kids.
Definitely a keeper!
5*****
Growing up in my grandparents home, we had books from wall to wall. My grandfather was a teacher and loved the written word. We had plenty of books to keep us busy. One of the only books that I have left in my collection that belonged to my grandfather is The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. I can still remember him reading it when I was just a young child.
To me, this is a must-have for any Mark Twain fan. Mine is the 1957 edition hardcover. A few of my favorites are- A Dying Man's Confession, A Day at Niagara, A Ghost Story, A Dog's Tale, and Luck. I'm happy to have it to share with my kids.
Definitely a keeper!
5*****
July 18, 2021
I averaged all the stories to about 3 stars. Some were great, some were okay or boring, and some were not my cup of tea at all. Nonetheless, Twain remains one of the most clever and brilliant authors of all time.
December 2, 2019
The sixty stories in this comprehensive volume are honest-to-goodness cigar-chompin’ charmers, whether Twain’s in the mood for a frolic, for a scathing assault on the cruddiness of the human race, for a first-person ramblin’ monologue, for an examination on the brutalising effects of the American dollar on the American character, for a full-on blunderbussing of so-called incorruptible small towns, for an hilarious pastiche of Sherlock Holmes stories, for an epistolary yarn told from the perspective of a horse, for a slapdown of the hypocrisies of religious fussbudgets, for a pastiche of Wellsian sci-fi, for a peep into the diaries of Adam and Eve, for a sneering indictment on the barbarism of southerners to their slaves, to a scathing conclusion that the kindest fate for the living to is to be dead. Twain’s elegant wit and moral indignation is in evidence in each of these brilliant, timeless tales, the first writer we can call “the conscience of America” without appearing like a cheap hack. Read this man.
March 15, 2022
"Me gusta una buena historia bien contada. Por esa razón, a veces me veo obligado a contarlas yo mismo."
Con esta frase y lejos de considerarse soberbio, Samuel Longhorne Clemens, célebremente conocido como Mark Twain, supo transformarse rápidamente en uno de los mejores escritores norteamericanos de todos los tiempos y uno de los más respetados y admirados de la literatura.
Su capacidad innata para relatar historias y escribir novelas emblemáticas e inolvidables como "Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer", "Las aventuras de Huckleberry Finn" o "Príncipe y mendigo" le fue suficiente para ubicarlo entre los mejores.
Hemingway supo decir que la novela norteamericana empezó con Tom Sawyer.
Este volumen, como indica el título se compone de sus relatos completos y están ordenados en forma cronológica, y van de lo excelente a lo genial.
Desde el primer cuento "La célebre rana saltadora del condado de Calaveras" escrito en 1865 hasta "El forastero misterioso" que cierra el libro y es de 1916, podemos encontrar su estilo tan inteligente, mordaz, irónico, irreverente... "clever" como se dice en inglés.
Lo que más me atrae de sus cuentos es que usualmente distrae la atención del lector dentro de la historia que está contando para rematar el cuento con un final inesperado y que lo deja a uno maravillándose con su gran estilo narrativo.
Entre los sesenta cuentos que posee el libro los que más me gustaron fueron "Canibalismo en los vagones del tren", que casualmente posee ese quiebre increíble al final, "Un sueño extraño", que me remitió directamente al cuento "Bobok" de Fiódor Dostoievski pero con otro mensaje, "Cómo llegué a ser editor de un periódico agrícola", uno de los más hilarantes y divertidos, "Un cuento medieval", demostrando que podía escribir una pequeña historia trágica a lo Shakespeare y también con un final sorpresivo, "El robo del elefante blanco", que para mí es uno de los mejores del libro y en el que nos enseña cómo idear un argumento que sostenga el interés del lector durante todo el cuento como si se tratara de una novela, "Suerte", disparatado y que prueba que en la vida todo puede pasar, "El billete de un millón de libras", una auténtica genialidad acerca de cómo desarrollar la inteligencia en los momentos más difíciles, "El disco de la muerte", que encierra una hermosa alegoría y una profunda enseñanza de vida, "Un cuento de fantasma", tan divertido como "Un sueño extraño", "El cuento del niño bueno" y "El cuento del niño malo" ambos con sendas moralejas y también el esopiano "Una fábula", con moraleja incluida.
Cabe destacar que este libro también el que muchos consideran su mejor cuento, me refiero a "El diario de Adán y Eva".
Tanto en el diario que escribe Adán como cuando lo escribe Eva en ellos Twain utiliza lo mejor de la sagacidad, humor y fineza de manera realmente sobresaliente. Leí todo el cuento riéndome porque cada línea (sobre todo las de Adán) me causaba una hilaridad desbordante.
Otro cuento casi nouvelle de alta factura es "El hombre que corrompió Hadleyburg" con su moraleja sobre la moral, la corrupción, las buenas obras y el mal.
"Las cinco bendiciones de la vida" es simplemente maravilloso y edificante en su mensaje.
El último es un cuento fantástico (póstumo) llamado "El forastero misterioso" es una gran fábula con Satanás como personaje principal que me recuerda por un lado a otra historia de encuentro con el diablo, me refiero a "El joven Goodman Brown" de Nathaniel Hawthorne y por supuesto también a Edgar Allan Poe.
En él, Satanás va mostrándole a los demás personajes la debilidad de la naturaleza humana y por qué el hombre es codicioso, vive constantemente en búsqueda del poder y la riqueza sin importarle el prójimo.
El cuento posee una frase demasiado actual hoy que vemos a Rusia invadiendo Ucrania: "En todo momento vimos guerras, más guerras y siempre guerras, por Europa y por todo el mundo. Unas veces por el interés de familias reales, y otras para aplastar a alguna nación débil. Jamás ningún agresor inició una guerra con propósitos limpios. No existe algo así en la historia de la raza humana."
Más clarividente, imposible.
Espero que todo aquel lector que quiera descubrir a este escritor genial, tan particular y admirado tanto por escritores como lectores de todas las épocas lo haga y descubrirá a un autor verdaderamente maravilloso como lo fue el querido Mark Twain.
Con esta frase y lejos de considerarse soberbio, Samuel Longhorne Clemens, célebremente conocido como Mark Twain, supo transformarse rápidamente en uno de los mejores escritores norteamericanos de todos los tiempos y uno de los más respetados y admirados de la literatura.
Su capacidad innata para relatar historias y escribir novelas emblemáticas e inolvidables como "Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer", "Las aventuras de Huckleberry Finn" o "Príncipe y mendigo" le fue suficiente para ubicarlo entre los mejores.
Hemingway supo decir que la novela norteamericana empezó con Tom Sawyer.
Este volumen, como indica el título se compone de sus relatos completos y están ordenados en forma cronológica, y van de lo excelente a lo genial.
Desde el primer cuento "La célebre rana saltadora del condado de Calaveras" escrito en 1865 hasta "El forastero misterioso" que cierra el libro y es de 1916, podemos encontrar su estilo tan inteligente, mordaz, irónico, irreverente... "clever" como se dice en inglés.
Lo que más me atrae de sus cuentos es que usualmente distrae la atención del lector dentro de la historia que está contando para rematar el cuento con un final inesperado y que lo deja a uno maravillándose con su gran estilo narrativo.
Entre los sesenta cuentos que posee el libro los que más me gustaron fueron "Canibalismo en los vagones del tren", que casualmente posee ese quiebre increíble al final, "Un sueño extraño", que me remitió directamente al cuento "Bobok" de Fiódor Dostoievski pero con otro mensaje, "Cómo llegué a ser editor de un periódico agrícola", uno de los más hilarantes y divertidos, "Un cuento medieval", demostrando que podía escribir una pequeña historia trágica a lo Shakespeare y también con un final sorpresivo, "El robo del elefante blanco", que para mí es uno de los mejores del libro y en el que nos enseña cómo idear un argumento que sostenga el interés del lector durante todo el cuento como si se tratara de una novela, "Suerte", disparatado y que prueba que en la vida todo puede pasar, "El billete de un millón de libras", una auténtica genialidad acerca de cómo desarrollar la inteligencia en los momentos más difíciles, "El disco de la muerte", que encierra una hermosa alegoría y una profunda enseñanza de vida, "Un cuento de fantasma", tan divertido como "Un sueño extraño", "El cuento del niño bueno" y "El cuento del niño malo" ambos con sendas moralejas y también el esopiano "Una fábula", con moraleja incluida.
Cabe destacar que este libro también el que muchos consideran su mejor cuento, me refiero a "El diario de Adán y Eva".
Tanto en el diario que escribe Adán como cuando lo escribe Eva en ellos Twain utiliza lo mejor de la sagacidad, humor y fineza de manera realmente sobresaliente. Leí todo el cuento riéndome porque cada línea (sobre todo las de Adán) me causaba una hilaridad desbordante.
Otro cuento casi nouvelle de alta factura es "El hombre que corrompió Hadleyburg" con su moraleja sobre la moral, la corrupción, las buenas obras y el mal.
"Las cinco bendiciones de la vida" es simplemente maravilloso y edificante en su mensaje.
El último es un cuento fantástico (póstumo) llamado "El forastero misterioso" es una gran fábula con Satanás como personaje principal que me recuerda por un lado a otra historia de encuentro con el diablo, me refiero a "El joven Goodman Brown" de Nathaniel Hawthorne y por supuesto también a Edgar Allan Poe.
En él, Satanás va mostrándole a los demás personajes la debilidad de la naturaleza humana y por qué el hombre es codicioso, vive constantemente en búsqueda del poder y la riqueza sin importarle el prójimo.
El cuento posee una frase demasiado actual hoy que vemos a Rusia invadiendo Ucrania: "En todo momento vimos guerras, más guerras y siempre guerras, por Europa y por todo el mundo. Unas veces por el interés de familias reales, y otras para aplastar a alguna nación débil. Jamás ningún agresor inició una guerra con propósitos limpios. No existe algo así en la historia de la raza humana."
Más clarividente, imposible.
Espero que todo aquel lector que quiera descubrir a este escritor genial, tan particular y admirado tanto por escritores como lectores de todas las épocas lo haga y descubrirá a un autor verdaderamente maravilloso como lo fue el querido Mark Twain.
August 10, 2024
Assembling a complete collection of Mark Twain’s short stories begs for quotation marks around that word “complete.” The man was always telling stories. He composed some pieces distinctly as short stories; such tales as The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, The Stolen White Elephant, and The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg come to mind. But he also wrote essays and personal sketches where he expanded on the facts with enough humorous hyperbole that whether to call it short story or essay remains a judgement call, and not an easy one. Then there are his speeches, where, of course, he often couldn’t forbear including some whoppers that could make them eligible for a collection of short stories. Even within his non-fiction travel books and posthumously published autobiography he reeled off many tongue in cheek tall tales that easily merit inclusion in a “complete” collection. There are fragments and unfinished documents published decades after his death that could qualify. And all that’s before you even get to whether you classify a longish shorter work like The Mysterious Stranger as a longish short story or a shortish novel.
So, no, this isn’t really a “complete” collection of Mark Twain’s stories — too many judgment calls involved for that to even be possible. But it is a large collection. I count 156 stories, ranging from The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County at the front of Mark Twain’s career, to The War Prayer, published posthumously because he feared public reaction to its bitter honesty. Not everyone of these stories is a peach, but with Mark Twain, even his rotten apples make good cider.
Listing all the stories in this volume would be tedious, so below are ones I enjoyed the most:
*General Washington’s Negro Body Servant
*A Burlesque Autobiography
*My Watch
*Political Economy
*Journalism in Tennessee
*Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup
*The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract
*A Medieval Romance
*The Siamese Twins
*How I Edited an Agricultural Paper
*Cannibalism in the Cars
*The Killing of Julius Caesar
*The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connect
*Punch Brothers Punch
*Conversation as it was the Fireside in the Time of the Tudors
*The Stolen White Elephant
*The £1,000,000 Bank-Note
*The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
*A Double-Barreled Detective Story
*The Private History of a Campaign that failed
*A Dog’s Tale
*Extracts from Adam’s Diary
*Eve’s Diary
*The War Prayer
*Was it Heaven? or Hell?
*The Five Boons of Life
*A Burlesque Biography
*How To Tell A Story
*An Entertaining Article
*Advise to Little Girls
*The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm
So, no, this isn’t really a “complete” collection of Mark Twain’s stories — too many judgment calls involved for that to even be possible. But it is a large collection. I count 156 stories, ranging from The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County at the front of Mark Twain’s career, to The War Prayer, published posthumously because he feared public reaction to its bitter honesty. Not everyone of these stories is a peach, but with Mark Twain, even his rotten apples make good cider.
Listing all the stories in this volume would be tedious, so below are ones I enjoyed the most:
*General Washington’s Negro Body Servant
*A Burlesque Autobiography
*My Watch
*Political Economy
*Journalism in Tennessee
*Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup
*The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract
*A Medieval Romance
*The Siamese Twins
*How I Edited an Agricultural Paper
*Cannibalism in the Cars
*The Killing of Julius Caesar
*The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connect
*Punch Brothers Punch
*Conversation as it was the Fireside in the Time of the Tudors
*The Stolen White Elephant
*The £1,000,000 Bank-Note
*The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
*A Double-Barreled Detective Story
*The Private History of a Campaign that failed
*A Dog’s Tale
*Extracts from Adam’s Diary
*Eve’s Diary
*The War Prayer
*Was it Heaven? or Hell?
*The Five Boons of Life
*A Burlesque Biography
*How To Tell A Story
*An Entertaining Article
*Advise to Little Girls
*The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm
December 5, 2008
To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.
At three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this edition was that it was over 600 pages long with small type; it was very compact.
Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.
I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.
I was sorry when I came to the end of the book. It won't be long before I read it again.
At three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this edition was that it was over 600 pages long with small type; it was very compact.
Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.
I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.
I was sorry when I came to the end of the book. It won't be long before I read it again.
October 8, 2008
I was one of those rare people that had somehow never read an actual Twain book. I remember there was a man dressed as Twain who came to our school and did his one man show, that was about the length of my knowledge. My high school AP english teacher got me addicted to finding quotations and I started a binder for them after years of collecting and noticed quite a few were from Twain. So, finally, when my son was born, I went out and bought Huckberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer, but grabbed this book for myself since I knew I'd have a way to ease into Twain since my son was a few years away from appreciating the stories of Tom and Huck. Each short story was cleverly written and only made me realize all the more how funny, highly intelligent, and honest to the core Mark Twain was. He had that ability to size up a man quickly and tell a story well enough that you fully met their character and it would not leave you what the story was about. In truth, I'm not finished with this book, I have the last few stories at the back that are longer than those in the beginning, but I've put it on the shelve, still bookmarked where I left off so I can read it a later time, kinda like starting a tub of ice cream and saving the rest for later. You know it's good, and you want it, but just saving some for later, you know you'll enjoy it all the more and probably need it.
April 1, 2017
Loved it! I only need read 3 more books and I'd have read his complete works! Woot!
Now I leave you with a harmless lyric:
--------------------------------------
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS
Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
Now I leave you with a harmless lyric:
--------------------------------------
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS
Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
March 23, 2011
All of Mark Twain's stories read all at once was a bit too much. He is so sarcastic that after reading one story after another you begin to feel this negative vibe for the world. Some of his short stories standing on their own were excellent. I enjoyed, A Day at Niagara, Journalism in Tennessee, A Medieval Romance and Buck Fanshaw's Funeral to name a few. Most of the ones I enjoyed, were written early on in Mark Twain's career. My least favorites came at the end when he seemed to become so negative that the stories really weren't funny anymore. Anyways, I'd recommend this collection if you take a few stories at a time, but it's definitely not something to be read straight through.
January 30, 2013
For anyone who’s grown up in the United States, you’ve more than likely been exposed to Mark Twain in one form or another, whether it’s having read one or more of his books in high school, seeing a biographical story about him on TV, or hearing one of the many hundreds of references about him; to many his is the quintessential “Great American Author.” And just a little over a century after his passing, Everyman’s Library has released a beautiful hardcover edition collecting all of his short stories. What makes these different stories compared to his novels? Twain is freer and seems to have more fun with his short stories, being more uproarious, satirical and rollicking in the short prose than with the long. This is the Twain that many may not be as familiar with, but it is well worth the read.
There is the strange tale of “The Facts in the Great Beef Contract” about a debt owed to a family by the US government for beef, and how as each family member passes without the payment being fulfilled, the next member ventures forth to try and get back what was owed. There is the famous “Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” set in the familiar Northern Californian “Angel’s Camp.” “Journalism in Tennessee” is about a journalist taking on the agriculture section of a local newspaper, even though he knows nothing about farming, and proceeds to spew complete lies and fiction, incurring the ire of the local farmers.
Collectingall of Mark Twain’s sixty short stories, this collection shows the great author’s full breath from writing entertaining fiction, to travel pieces, to contemplative nonfiction; the only problem is that at times the line between fiction and reality becomes somewhat blurred. But with Twain’s conversational and comforting voice, readers will be welcomed and taken on a truly great adventure.
Originally written on September 13, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out Bookbanter.
There is the strange tale of “The Facts in the Great Beef Contract” about a debt owed to a family by the US government for beef, and how as each family member passes without the payment being fulfilled, the next member ventures forth to try and get back what was owed. There is the famous “Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” set in the familiar Northern Californian “Angel’s Camp.” “Journalism in Tennessee” is about a journalist taking on the agriculture section of a local newspaper, even though he knows nothing about farming, and proceeds to spew complete lies and fiction, incurring the ire of the local farmers.
Collectingall of Mark Twain’s sixty short stories, this collection shows the great author’s full breath from writing entertaining fiction, to travel pieces, to contemplative nonfiction; the only problem is that at times the line between fiction and reality becomes somewhat blurred. But with Twain’s conversational and comforting voice, readers will be welcomed and taken on a truly great adventure.
Originally written on September 13, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out Bookbanter.
July 27, 2024
Masterful !
April 10, 2014
**This is a review for the Everyman's Library hardcover edition, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik.
I don't know if it's because I'm Canadian and Mark Twain is more an American staple, but I'd never really been exposed to his work. I know of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but by name only. So I figured reading this collection of short stories would give me a good idea of Mark Twain as a writer.
That said, the 60 stories collected are mostly of the comedy genre, some being downright irreverent. Some stories were written in late 19th century, others in early 20th century, and they seem to be collected in the order in which they were written. Most of the stories I enjoyed, though there were a few that I couldn't get into and couldn't wait to finish (just to get to the next one).
Of course some stories stood out more than others, my favourites being:
The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County
Cannibalism In The Cars
Journalism In Tennessee
A Medieval Romance
A Trial
Experience Of The McWilliamses With The Membranous Croup
The Canvasser's Tale
Mrs. McWilliams And The Lightning
The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm
The Diary Of Adam And Eve
The Esquimau Maiden's Romance
The £1,000,000 Bank Note
The Death Disk
Two Little Tales
The Five Boons Of Life
A Dog's Tale
The Mysterious Stranger
Which is not to say that the rest aren't any good, far from it, but these are the ones that I enjoyed reading most (even more so the ones in bold), The Death Disk getting top honours.
It was a great pleasure for me to discover Mark Twain, as well as his very accurate insight into human nature. If you haven't read Mark Twain yet (or much, aside from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or even The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), you should give this book a look. Because its contents are so varied, you are sure to find something to your liking in this collection. I myself will be looking into Pudd'nhead Wilson, then possibly into the two classics mentioned above.
I don't know if it's because I'm Canadian and Mark Twain is more an American staple, but I'd never really been exposed to his work. I know of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but by name only. So I figured reading this collection of short stories would give me a good idea of Mark Twain as a writer.
That said, the 60 stories collected are mostly of the comedy genre, some being downright irreverent. Some stories were written in late 19th century, others in early 20th century, and they seem to be collected in the order in which they were written. Most of the stories I enjoyed, though there were a few that I couldn't get into and couldn't wait to finish (just to get to the next one).
Of course some stories stood out more than others, my favourites being:
The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County
Cannibalism In The Cars
Journalism In Tennessee
A Medieval Romance
A Trial
Experience Of The McWilliamses With The Membranous Croup
The Canvasser's Tale
Mrs. McWilliams And The Lightning
The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm
The Diary Of Adam And Eve
The Esquimau Maiden's Romance
The £1,000,000 Bank Note
The Death Disk
Two Little Tales
The Five Boons Of Life
A Dog's Tale
The Mysterious Stranger
Which is not to say that the rest aren't any good, far from it, but these are the ones that I enjoyed reading most (even more so the ones in bold), The Death Disk getting top honours.
It was a great pleasure for me to discover Mark Twain, as well as his very accurate insight into human nature. If you haven't read Mark Twain yet (or much, aside from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or even The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), you should give this book a look. Because its contents are so varied, you are sure to find something to your liking in this collection. I myself will be looking into Pudd'nhead Wilson, then possibly into the two classics mentioned above.
February 22, 2012
I started reading this collection as my bedtime reading just after the start of the new year; it took me this long to read the book because Mark Twain wrote a lot of short fiction. I very much enjoyed my reading, and only wish that Twain had not become somewhat bitter as he grew older.
The Introduction to the volume, by Charles Neider, is rather dated (written in 1957), but a good preface to Twain’s writing. The stories begin, of course, with “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, and continue with such gems as “My Watch”, “The Story of the Old Ram, ” “Playing Courier”, “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note”, ”A Horse’s Tale,” and “Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven”.
Twain suffered a great deal of pain in his later years, from repeated bankruptcies and the death of his daughter; and this pain shows in his latter stories, which, to put it mildly, are not as lighthearted as the earlier works. They are still good stories, but with a very definite darkness, as shown especially in “The $30,000 Bequest”, “A Dog’s Tale”, “The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg,”, and “Was it Heaven? Or Hell?”.
I loved reading all of these stories, even the dark ones, and can say without reservation that this collection of Twain short stories was dandy bedtime reading.
The Introduction to the volume, by Charles Neider, is rather dated (written in 1957), but a good preface to Twain’s writing. The stories begin, of course, with “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, and continue with such gems as “My Watch”, “The Story of the Old Ram, ” “Playing Courier”, “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note”, ”A Horse’s Tale,” and “Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven”.
Twain suffered a great deal of pain in his later years, from repeated bankruptcies and the death of his daughter; and this pain shows in his latter stories, which, to put it mildly, are not as lighthearted as the earlier works. They are still good stories, but with a very definite darkness, as shown especially in “The $30,000 Bequest”, “A Dog’s Tale”, “The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg,”, and “Was it Heaven? Or Hell?”.
I loved reading all of these stories, even the dark ones, and can say without reservation that this collection of Twain short stories was dandy bedtime reading.
May 18, 2013
I've read this cheap collection so long that the paper has yellowed. And I shall probably pick it up from time to time, still seeking some wheat among the chaff. But It's mostly chaff.
In fact, Twain wasn't that good. He was hailed in his day as insightful and witty, but mostly he was cynical--and we have that in spades today. He did adept at spotting curious or potentially informative situations, but--I assume he was paid by word count--extends the telling so long as to ruin the effect.
I would encourage the Twain reader to seek The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Beyond the stories drawn from his youth, Twain was a bitter man.
It was only okay.
In fact, Twain wasn't that good. He was hailed in his day as insightful and witty, but mostly he was cynical--and we have that in spades today. He did adept at spotting curious or potentially informative situations, but--I assume he was paid by word count--extends the telling so long as to ruin the effect.
I would encourage the Twain reader to seek The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Beyond the stories drawn from his youth, Twain was a bitter man.
It was only okay.
July 16, 2020
Unless you are a Twain completist, sampling a few of these stories over the course of their publication should be sufficient. These stories are mostly humorous sketches and are not particularly ambitious. Several of the stories were excerpted from the travel books as representing self-sufficient episodes.
Of course Twain's exuberance, skill for capturing dialect, and his disdain for hypocrites is well represented.
Some of the later stories towards the end of his life are quite cynical. As an older man he had suffered financial problems and the death of close family members. Some of these stories are grim and uncompromising in their view of humanity.
Of course Twain's exuberance, skill for capturing dialect, and his disdain for hypocrites is well represented.
Some of the later stories towards the end of his life are quite cynical. As an older man he had suffered financial problems and the death of close family members. Some of these stories are grim and uncompromising in their view of humanity.
September 23, 2018
How much Mark Twain is too much? Eight hundred and fourteen pages is not too much. I have decided that of Satan-meddling-with-the-world-stories, I prefer "The Mysterious Stranger" to _The Master and Margarita_.
March 8, 2024
Even “mediocre” Mark Twain is great.
April 18, 2016
لن أدفع سنتا واحدا على نظام التنبيه ضد السرقة، وسأشرح لك السبب. كنت قد ادخرت مبلغا من المال بنية التبرع لحملات هداية الظالين، ولكن زوجتي اقترحت شراء إنذار ضد السرقة، فوافقت على ذلك. وهذا مانسميه تسوية. عندما أريد شيئا وتريد زوجتي غيره، نفعل ماترغب هي به وندعوها تسوية.
المهم، استدعينا خبيرا من نيويورك لتركيب الجهاز، وتقاضى مايربو على الثلاثمائة دولار. وأكد لنا أننا سننام في أمان من ذلك اليوم فصاعدا. وذلك ماحدث لبضعة أشهر حتى استيقظنا في أحد الليالي على رائحة دخان تبدو صادرة من الدور الأول. أشعلت شمعة ونزلت فلمحت شخصا خارجا من إحدى الغرف، بفمه غليون ويحمل إناء من القصدير ظنا منه أنه من الفضة.
"لو سمحت ياسيد، نحن لانسمح بالتدخين في هذا المنزل"
توقف لحظة ورمقني باستنكار وإجاب:
- "كيف لي أن أعلم بهذا القانون وأنا لم أزر هذا البيت من قبل؟ لقد دخلت بيوتا أرقى من بيتكم بكثير ولم أجدهم يطبقون هذا النظام بتاتا. ثم إن هذه القوانين -إن وجدت- لا تنطبق على اللصوص"
-"إذا كان الأمر كذلك، فلا بأس. استمر بالتدخين. ولكن كيف سولت لك نفسك اقتحام البيت دون إن تمتلك اللباقة الكافية لقرع جرس الإنذار؟"
أطرق اللص خجلا.
- "أنها فعلة مخزية حقا. ارجو أن تسامحني، لم أكن اعلم بوجود جرس إنذار وإلا لقرعته. أتوسل إليك ألا تذكر ذلك في أي مكان يتواجد به والداي. فهما شيخان كبيران وضعيفان. لن يتحملان مثل هذا الخرق الصريح لتقاليدنا المتوارثة في حضارتنا المسيحية. هلا تكرمت علي بعود ثقاب؟"
أعلاه اقتباس بسيط من إحدى قصص هذه المجموعة. ترجمته بتصرف لتقف-عزيزي القارئ- على سخرية توين اللاذعة ونقده الحاد، وحسه الفكاهي البارع. ففي النص اعلاه، استل الكاتب قلمه ليسخر من المبشرين، الزوجات، والتدين الظاهري وتفاهة بعض الاختراعات. بعض هذه المواضيع متكررة بشكل عام في كتاباته.
ستجد بعضا من قصصه ساخرا جدا، ليس له مغزى اجتماعي. كقصة السيد سمايلي والضفدع النطاط. وهناك قصص تزخر بمعان إنسانية عميقة. عندك مثلا رائعته: الرجل الذي أفسد هايدلبيرج، التي تناقش إغراء المال وضعف النفس البشرية من حيث ميلها لارتكاب الخطيئة طالما ضمنت عدم انكشافها على الملأ.
توين متعدد المواهب. يمكنه أن يضحكك وأن يبكيك، وأن يكتب عن مواضيع غريبة كمذكرات آدم وحواء وقصة المتحري الأحمق في سرقة الفيل الأبيض. إليك اقتباس من مذكرات آدم:
"مازالت حواء مثابرة على إطلاق الأسماء على كل شيء وأي شيء. تسمي هذا جبلا وذاك نهرا...لا أعلم فائدة تسمية أشياء لا علاقة لنا ��ها. كما أنها تطلق الأسماء جزافا، فتقول أن النمر نمر لأنه يبد ك(نمر) وأن الشجرة شجرة لأنها تبدو كشجرة. وقالت أنها تدعو البني بنيا لأنه بني، رغم أني لا أراه يبدو ك(بني) أكثر مني! ....قبل عدة أيام عادت من الأحراش المتاخمة لكوخنا ومعها كائن غريب. كان يبدو مختلفا عن الحيوانات التي دأبت على جلبها للبيت لتلعب وتنام معها. كان تضمه بعاطفة وتداعبه فيصدر أصواتا غريبة. سألتها فقالت أنه مثلنا، ولكنني أعتقد بأنه سمكة. فقررت اختبار فرضيتي وأخذته إلى النبع. ألقيته هناك فعجز عن الحركة وبدا أنه يتألم. أي سمكة هذه التي لا تحسن السباحة؟ سارعت حواء بالتقاطه من الماء حتى قبل أن أتمكن من إثبات أو نفي فرضيتي. لا إعلم لماذا ولكنها فقدت حماسها للتجارب منذ مجيء هذا المخلوق. كما أنها نهرتني على رميه في الماء كما لم تنهرني من قبل."
لقلم الكاتب أيضا ريشة رومانسية وحساسة. اختم بهذا الاقتباس الجميل ولكم الحكم:
" لم استطع نبذ الفكرة، ولا نزعها من رأسي. قتل نفس بغير حق بدت لي أمرا فظيعا. بدا وكأن تلك خلاصة الحرب، وأن كل الحروب تتشابه في ذلك- قتل غرباء لا تكن لهم عداوة شخصية، غرباء قد -في ظروف أخرى- تمد لهم يد العون لو وجدتهم في مأزق، وقد ينجدونك هم إن احتجت المساعدة"
اقرأوا لمارك توين.
المهم، استدعينا خبيرا من نيويورك لتركيب الجهاز، وتقاضى مايربو على الثلاثمائة دولار. وأكد لنا أننا سننام في أمان من ذلك اليوم فصاعدا. وذلك ماحدث لبضعة أشهر حتى استيقظنا في أحد الليالي على رائحة دخان تبدو صادرة من الدور الأول. أشعلت شمعة ونزلت فلمحت شخصا خارجا من إحدى الغرف، بفمه غليون ويحمل إناء من القصدير ظنا منه أنه من الفضة.
"لو سمحت ياسيد، نحن لانسمح بالتدخين في هذا المنزل"
توقف لحظة ورمقني باستنكار وإجاب:
- "كيف لي أن أعلم بهذا القانون وأنا لم أزر هذا البيت من قبل؟ لقد دخلت بيوتا أرقى من بيتكم بكثير ولم أجدهم يطبقون هذا النظام بتاتا. ثم إن هذه القوانين -إن وجدت- لا تنطبق على اللصوص"
-"إذا كان الأمر كذلك، فلا بأس. استمر بالتدخين. ولكن كيف سولت لك نفسك اقتحام البيت دون إن تمتلك اللباقة الكافية لقرع جرس الإنذار؟"
أطرق اللص خجلا.
- "أنها فعلة مخزية حقا. ارجو أن تسامحني، لم أكن اعلم بوجود جرس إنذار وإلا لقرعته. أتوسل إليك ألا تذكر ذلك في أي مكان يتواجد به والداي. فهما شيخان كبيران وضعيفان. لن يتحملان مثل هذا الخرق الصريح لتقاليدنا المتوارثة في حضارتنا المسيحية. هلا تكرمت علي بعود ثقاب؟"
أعلاه اقتباس بسيط من إحدى قصص هذه المجموعة. ترجمته بتصرف لتقف-عزيزي القارئ- على سخرية توين اللاذعة ونقده الحاد، وحسه الفكاهي البارع. ففي النص اعلاه، استل الكاتب قلمه ليسخر من المبشرين، الزوجات، والتدين الظاهري وتفاهة بعض الاختراعات. بعض هذه المواضيع متكررة بشكل عام في كتاباته.
ستجد بعضا من قصصه ساخرا جدا، ليس له مغزى اجتماعي. كقصة السيد سمايلي والضفدع النطاط. وهناك قصص تزخر بمعان إنسانية عميقة. عندك مثلا رائعته: الرجل الذي أفسد هايدلبيرج، التي تناقش إغراء المال وضعف النفس البشرية من حيث ميلها لارتكاب الخطيئة طالما ضمنت عدم انكشافها على الملأ.
توين متعدد المواهب. يمكنه أن يضحكك وأن يبكيك، وأن يكتب عن مواضيع غريبة كمذكرات آدم وحواء وقصة المتحري الأحمق في سرقة الفيل الأبيض. إليك اقتباس من مذكرات آدم:
"مازالت حواء مثابرة على إطلاق الأسماء على كل شيء وأي شيء. تسمي هذا جبلا وذاك نهرا...لا أعلم فائدة تسمية أشياء لا علاقة لنا ��ها. كما أنها تطلق الأسماء جزافا، فتقول أن النمر نمر لأنه يبد ك(نمر) وأن الشجرة شجرة لأنها تبدو كشجرة. وقالت أنها تدعو البني بنيا لأنه بني، رغم أني لا أراه يبدو ك(بني) أكثر مني! ....قبل عدة أيام عادت من الأحراش المتاخمة لكوخنا ومعها كائن غريب. كان يبدو مختلفا عن الحيوانات التي دأبت على جلبها للبيت لتلعب وتنام معها. كان تضمه بعاطفة وتداعبه فيصدر أصواتا غريبة. سألتها فقالت أنه مثلنا، ولكنني أعتقد بأنه سمكة. فقررت اختبار فرضيتي وأخذته إلى النبع. ألقيته هناك فعجز عن الحركة وبدا أنه يتألم. أي سمكة هذه التي لا تحسن السباحة؟ سارعت حواء بالتقاطه من الماء حتى قبل أن أتمكن من إثبات أو نفي فرضيتي. لا إعلم لماذا ولكنها فقدت حماسها للتجارب منذ مجيء هذا المخلوق. كما أنها نهرتني على رميه في الماء كما لم تنهرني من قبل."
لقلم الكاتب أيضا ريشة رومانسية وحساسة. اختم بهذا الاقتباس الجميل ولكم الحكم:
" لم استطع نبذ الفكرة، ولا نزعها من رأسي. قتل نفس بغير حق بدت لي أمرا فظيعا. بدا وكأن تلك خلاصة الحرب، وأن كل الحروب تتشابه في ذلك- قتل غرباء لا تكن لهم عداوة شخصية، غرباء قد -في ظروف أخرى- تمد لهم يد العون لو وجدتهم في مأزق، وقد ينجدونك هم إن احتجت المساعدة"
اقرأوا لمارك توين.
December 31, 2015
Last January I made a list of books I wanted to read this year. I came to the realization that I was pretty much in the dark when it came to Twain's short stories. December rolled around and I had still not tackled this 814 page tome. Well, I finally did it!
This collection is conveniently arranged by date of publication, from 1865 through 1916, 6 years after his death. Haley's comet was visible from earth in 1835 when Samuel Clemens was born. It was next visible in 1910, the year he died. Some say that his life was characterized by the orbit of a comet. In his lifetime he saw the advent of the Transcontinental RR, completion of the Suez Canal, the Civil War, the transatlantic telegraph, the telephone, electric lights, the phonograph, the typewriter, the dictaphone, motion pictures and the airplane. He incorporated many of these technologies into his novels and short stories ,and he used most of them in the writing process. The telephone was invented in 1874, and just two years later he wrote "The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rossanah Ethelton". He imagined a long distance romance between New York and California, and eventually Hawaii. A jealous rival wiretaps the phone lines and listens in on conversations and sends fake messages, foreshadowing many of the events of today. Transcontinental phone calls were not possible until nearly 40 years later, well after Twain's death.
His stories use a great variety of time, place, and points of view. We can read a story that takes place in ancient Rome, Renaissance Europe, or current day in Heaven. He writes from the point of view of a dog, a horse, or a dead man.
He is known for capturing all the foibles of man. We see greed, jealousy, lying, theft, murder, and just plain foolishness. We see Twain, as he is in his final years, becoming more bitter and pessimistic about the future of mankind. He questions the existence of God, and the concepts of Heaven and Hell that go along with it."The Mysterious Stranger", published posthumously in 1916, is his last short story. It touches on metaphysics, God, and a bit of science fiction.
I have read the short stories of Guy de Maupassant, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Chekhov, and Hemingway. None can compare with Twain in variety, scope and humor.
July 12, 2011
It took months, and I read a few books in between, but I finally finished this one. It amazes me how different today's short stories are compared to those of the past. In some ways, I'm glad for the change, and in others--I'm tending to agree with Bradbury more and more: Many are simply slice-of-life garbage.
Twain knew how to tell a story--I would've loved to HEAR him do so. His voice is so strong, yet he can change it with the drop of a hat. He can make you laugh and cry within the same page, and his food for thought is much deeper and more profound than much of what I've been reading from contemporary authors.
I never really wanted to read Twain, then I finally took a chance on Huckleberry Finn. Since then, he's quickly becoming one of my favorites. If you haven't read Twain, do yourself a favor, get over your bias and read him. It is good.
Twain knew how to tell a story--I would've loved to HEAR him do so. His voice is so strong, yet he can change it with the drop of a hat. He can make you laugh and cry within the same page, and his food for thought is much deeper and more profound than much of what I've been reading from contemporary authors.
I never really wanted to read Twain, then I finally took a chance on Huckleberry Finn. Since then, he's quickly becoming one of my favorites. If you haven't read Twain, do yourself a favor, get over your bias and read him. It is good.
August 14, 2022
" . . . I will impress those sparkling fields on my memory, so that by and by when theya re taken away I can by my fancy restore those lovely myriads to the black sky and make them sparkle again, and double them by the blue of my tears."
I've read the required Mark Twain (Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer) but not much of his other work, so when I found this lovely little edition in a local used bookshop, I felt I just had to pick it up.
And boy, was this book a wild one — Twain covers all kinds of genres, plays all kinds of farces, and takes the reader on all kinds of journeys in ways I was not expecting. His creativity and his sense of humor, as well as his career as a journalist, are really evidenced here, far more than in his most famous works.
I'll be honest — some of the stories did begin to get repetitive and not all of them were of particular interest to me. But there were several gems in here that really stuck out to me and will perhaps continue to stay with me. I also understand that this is a collection spanning Twain's whole career and that certain idiosyncrasies will inevitably arise. Reading through this has certainly given me a much more thorough sense of him as a writer and perhaps also as a human being.
Since this is a compilation of stories, this is a collective review. Each story is individually rated. Overall rating is based on the average of the individual ratings.
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County — ★★★★
The Story of the Bad Little Boy — ★★★
Cannibalism in the Cars — ★★★★
A Day at Niagara — ★★★
Legend of the Capitoline Venus — ★★★★
Journalism in Tennessee — ★★★
A Curious Dream — ★★★
The Facts in the Great Beef Contract — ★★★★
How I Edited an Agricultural Paper — ★★
A Medieval Romance — ★★★★
My Watch — ★★★
Political Economy — ★★★
Science vs Luck — ★★★★
The Story of the Good Little Boy — ★★★★
Buck Farnshaw's Funeral — ★★★★
The Story of the Old Ram — ★★★★
Tom Quartz — ★★★
A Trial — ★★★
The Trials of Simon Erickson — ★★★
A True Story — ★★
Experience of the McWilliamses with Membraneous Croup — ★★★
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls — ★★★★★
The Canvasser's Tale — ★★★
The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton — ★★★★
Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale — ★★★
The Man Who Put Up at Gadsby's — ★★★
Mrs McWilliams and the Lightening — ★★★
What Stumped the Bluejays — ★★
A Curious Experience — ★★★
The Invalid's Story — ★★★
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm — ★★★★
The Stolen White Elephant — ★★★
A Burning Brand — ★★★★
A Dying Man's Confession — ★★★★
The Professor's Yarn — ★★★
A Ghost Story — ★★★★
Luck — ★★★
Playing Courier — ★★★★
The Californian's Tale — ★★★★
The Diary of Adam and Eve — ★★★★
The Esquimai Maiden's Romance — ★★★★
Is He Living or is He Dead? — ★★★
The £1,000,000 Bank Note — ★★★★
Cecil Rhodes and the Shark — ★★★
The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune — ★★★
A Story Without an End — ★★★
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg — ★★★★
The Death Disk — ★★★★
Two Little Tales — ★★★
The Belated Russian Passport — ★★★
A Double-Barreled Detective Story — ★★★★
The Five Boons of Life — ★★★
Was It Heaven? Or Hell? — ★★★
A Dog's Tale — ★★★★★
The $30,000 Bequest — ★★★
A Horse's Tale — ★★★★
Hunting the Deceitful Turkey — ★★★
Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven — ★★★
A Fable — ★★★
The Mysterious Stranger — ★★★
Average rating comes out at 3.4, which rounds down to three stars.
September 8, 2021
So, I read this big volume of Twain's short stories one at a time (except the really short ones), over the last three months. Like all collections, of course some of the stories were great and some were just ok - but overall, the collection is simply superb. A few of the tales were part of my childhood (like The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), some I've read as an adult (like The Diary of Adam and Eve), but many of them were new to me - and had the same magic as Twain's other writings. Yes, there is some cultural anachronism (they were written in the latter part of the 19th and earliest 20th centuries), but the social and political commentary on the developing American society, as well as the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the character (and characters) of the evolving West, are brilliant and filled with humor. A delightful read. Thanks, Mom!
July 12, 2021
Rounded up to three stars, because my collection concluded with “the mysterious stranger” in its entirety, which I had not read before. This is a masterpiece of darkness and dread. The other stories in the book may have been funny in another time, but I did not find them so. Guaranteed if there was an animal narrator, he or she was going to die, and die horribly. The deaths seemed like a cheap I-don’t-know-how-to-finish-this shortcut.
Otherwise, the best entries were excerpts from his travel writings.
Otherwise, the best entries were excerpts from his travel writings.
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November 14, 2020These were an interesting read, but I'm not sure how to rate them. They felt surprisingly modern in comparison to early 1900s work I've read. Many of the stories are highly topical, in the sense that they're heavily about issues of Twain's day, which means they feel dated now. I probably would have enjoyed reading his column if we were contemporaneous.
June 12, 2021
The funniest, sweetest, truest book ever written.
November 2, 2018
"You can find in a text whatever you bring, if you will stand between it and the mirror of your imagination."
December 13, 2021
It took forever to read this book! I would read one story slow like, so I could savor it. I love everything about Mark Twain. The style of his writing captures my heart, even the long and convoluted sentences that seem almost taped together using semi colons are perfect. Twain’s humor is so inventive and fun, and his imagination is first rate. Mark Twain is one of my absolute favorite writers.
July 12, 2023
I read this edition, though not this copy, in high school. I think we bought the original at the Mark Twain House biokstore in Hannibal on a family camping trip.
The introduction is a tedious waste of space. Twain inserted short fiction into his travelogues. This book presumably pulls them out, but it doesn't tell which books they came from or whether the selection is complete. Normally, I'd assume it's complete, but the book's title is patently inaccurate: 4 out of 6 of the definite stories in "Editorial Wild Oats" are missing. In their place is the ponderous novella, "The Mysterious Stranger."
Without a complete Twain bibliography, it's impossible to tell what else the editor whimsically omitted. This is called "making time-consuming work for the reader," especially since the book was published in 1958, about 40 years before the internet. But if you don't care about completeness, it's a good reading edition.
The introduction is a tedious waste of space. Twain inserted short fiction into his travelogues. This book presumably pulls them out, but it doesn't tell which books they came from or whether the selection is complete. Normally, I'd assume it's complete, but the book's title is patently inaccurate: 4 out of 6 of the definite stories in "Editorial Wild Oats" are missing. In their place is the ponderous novella, "The Mysterious Stranger."
Without a complete Twain bibliography, it's impossible to tell what else the editor whimsically omitted. This is called "making time-consuming work for the reader," especially since the book was published in 1958, about 40 years before the internet. But if you don't care about completeness, it's a good reading edition.
January 7, 2012
This was a lot of fun to read, although many of the stories I had already read in "The Mysterious Stranger and Other Tales" and "The Bible According to Mark Twain."
My only complaint about this is that the stories are presented as chronologically as possible - which is all well and good, but as Twain got older and his writing progressed, he also got more and more bitter. So, as a read, it starts off hilarious and fun and light-hearted and then, about halfway through, the stories start getting more and more depressing.
Possibly the best (or the worst, depending on how you look at it) are "A Dog's Tale" and "A Horses Tale" which start off so magnificently, but end in such a crushing depression. Just when you think a happy ending is coming, nope! Death and dismay. Still, you can't love Mark Twain without appreciating his dark side as well, so I still loved reading this. :)
My only complaint about this is that the stories are presented as chronologically as possible - which is all well and good, but as Twain got older and his writing progressed, he also got more and more bitter. So, as a read, it starts off hilarious and fun and light-hearted and then, about halfway through, the stories start getting more and more depressing.
Possibly the best (or the worst, depending on how you look at it) are "A Dog's Tale" and "A Horses Tale" which start off so magnificently, but end in such a crushing depression. Just when you think a happy ending is coming, nope! Death and dismay. Still, you can't love Mark Twain without appreciating his dark side as well, so I still loved reading this. :)
April 6, 2007
One of the shames of literature in our era is that Mark Twain is primarily taught as and known for his novels, especially Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Now, I'll tell you straight, I found Tom Sawyer boring and Huck Finn almost unreadable. Twain was a decent novelist. His travel nonfiction books are better. He was an amazing short story writer. If you haven't read Twain's short stories you are missing out on his true brilliance, insight, wit, and ability. "Some Learned Fables, For Good Old Boys And Girls" and "Captain Stormfield's visit to Heaven" are a couple of my favorites, though there are a good many others I can read again and again.
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