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The Author-Cat: Clemens's Life in Fiction

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Forrest G. Robinson (Professor of American Studies, University of California) presents The Author-Cat: Clemens's Life in Fiction, a bold claim that renowned American author Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain reveals himself most fully, if at times inadvertently, through his fiction writing. Even though Clemens left behind a wealth of autobiographical dictations at the close of his life, The Author-Cat reveals the Clemens' most powerful emotions permeated his writing, most notably his guilt; he could not forgive himself for the deaths of those closest to him, including his siblings and his own children, his role in the Civil War, his involvement in the duel that caused him to leave Virginia City in 1864, and his sense of moral complicity in the crime of slavery. A revealing insight into Clemens' personal torments, which dares to challenge conventional assumptions on the celebrated humorist's personality, The Author-Cat (named after Clemens' own confession that he is like the cat who labors vainly to bury the waste he has left behind) is enthusiastically recommended for lay readers and literary scholars alike seeking to better understand Samuel Clemens and his works.