Customer Reviews

The Devil's Race-Track: Mark Twain's Great Dark Writings: The Best from Which Was the Dream? and Fables of Man

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As a lazy philosopher in search of a belief system, I found this book exceptionally provocative, if occaisionally irritating. I'm generally not a fan of compilations, particularly when many of the pieces are unfinished manuscripts. However, it was wonderful to see so many of my own half-formed questions given an eloquent voice. The beauty of these writings is that though Twain/Clemmens pokes fun at or denounces the futility of the human struggle and our attempts to understand, he never gives in to his own dark thoughts. Throughout it all there is an undercurrent of hope. Contradictory, yes, but well worth look.

... is his confounded OPTIMISM! The man seriously believed, it seems, that by making fun of humankind's dingiest superstitions and foibles he could make us properly reevaluate our place in the cosmos! What a Pollyanna! Every observant thinker from Diogenes to Vonnegut has learned that no amount of mockery can put a dent in humankind's indefensible self-satisfaction. Yet Twain continued to laugh at us well into his seventies, when a true pessimist would have been bawling bitter tears.

This is a compilation of Mark Twain's 'fugitive' writings, unfinished and/or unpublished, and much of it unpolished. But even Twain snatched from his wastebasket can be rib-tickling stuff. The two longest pieces are semi-finished verbal riffs on man's absurdity: "Three Thousand Years among the Microbes" & "The Refuge of the Derelicts". I don't think either piece is available in any other publication. Obviously, if you are not already a reader and fan of Mark Twain, you'd be ill advised to begin with this odd collection. But then, if you're not a fan of Mark Twain, any kind of advice is probably wasted on you.

Don't get this book and read it all at once, and then complain that it's not Twain at his best. Who cares? Put it by your arm chair or on your night table, and read a few pages when you need to be cheered up, when you need to be reminded that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." An accompanying cocktail of hemlock might enhance the reading.

Twain was one of the greatest writers of all time ,especialy if you compare him to other southern writers.the book is a beutiful interpritation of twains dark side. twain had a very cold side hidden away from most who knew him as americas leading humorist.twains dark side was brought on by family deaths and bad investments.i consider twain a realist and a true southerner, a man of his word but also a man of tall tales. all in all twains dark writings are as real as his humor ''some of them personal experiences''. it takes a l ot to believe twain could write such things because most people knew him as the humoristof such books as '' the notorious jumping frog & short stories such as curing a cold'. he let you see a different side of him in his dark writings. in the dark writings he showed the world the twain that greived & felt pain from his losses.

But not that good either. This book contains writings that were all attempted after Mark Twain was over 70 years old and after his daughter had died. The majority of the book is composed of incomplete manuscripts, some of which are highly amusing. Most of the stories here start out the same way . . . he tries to get a story going which is gloomy, defeatest, and which ends in disaster. But Twain's natural sense of vigour always gets in the way and st a critical point, the stories tend to take a different turn than he had intended, thus he abaondons them. There are some interesting stories here. One of them includes the story of a slave who, through craft, turns the tables on his white master (named George Harrison, oddly enough!) and enslaves him, which is a rather interesting thought for those modern critics who continually chastise Twain as a racist. A few polemical pieces are included which are bound to irritate the Christians -- not all of these are gloomy, however, as the editor seems to think Twain intended them -- he obviously enjoys his heretical antics a great deal. Although this collection did not really impress me that much, there are several pices of writing here in which Twain shines like he has in few other works. A social statement on the Natie Americans and on growing old are also included. Although not for everybody, fans of Samuel Clemens will find this book a rare treat.

Today's Twain is famous for Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Even worse, people seem to pick those books up only when another book burning is threatened. That is a shame on two levels. First, burning books, be it Rowling, Twain, even Mao's little red book, is a crime against nature. How can we study, learn, recall the past, with its ugly pimples and all without keeping that record?
Second, Twain wrote far more than those two books. His editorial writing, his short stories, and most importantly, these dark stories, show a fertile mind, regardless of age, a creative force that still entertains, amazes, and informs. To some extent, Twain can be viewed as the father of science fiction, because of his willingness to step out of his role as a human participant, and become a third party, semi-removed observer and commentator (not to mention his creativity which never grew stale or tired).

His dark stories are wonderful. Some of them will surprise, even shock a reader who never heard of them before. But that is not necessarily bad. I am glad these are in print again. I've been trying to replace my copy (lent out 20 yrs ago, and never returned) for some time.