Diaries of Adam and Eve [Hardcover]

Mark Twain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1962

These witty and whimsical diaries reflect both Twain's belief in women's equality and his irreverent views of conventional religion. Extracts from Adam's Diary was published first, in 1904 with Fred Strothmann's humorous cartoons of supposedly ancient stone carvings on every left-hand page. Here Twain has a field day with the story of Adam and Eve, playfully placing the Garden of Eden at Niagara Falls, "the honeymoon capital of the world." A companion piece, Eve's Diary was published in 1906, accompanied by the stunning line drawings of Lester Ralph; it was banned in Worcester, Massachusetts, because of its supposedly pornographic illustrations of a prelapsarian Eve. Eve's Diary is both a love story and Clemens' loving eulogy to his deceased wife: "Wheresoever she was, there was Eden." The two diaries never appeared in one volume during Twain's lifetime, despite Twain's desire that they be republished together someday, as they are here, in their entirety, for the first time. Now readers can delight in comparing the decidedly different takes Adam and Eve have on the same memorable events.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Professor of American Studies, University of Texas, Austin. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Coronado Pr (June 1962)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872910121
• ISBN-13: 978-0872910126
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,654,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short, Funny and Original, November 15, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Wolf "postgraduate" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Literary Classics) (Paperback)

Apparently this version of the text is not the expanded version. I recommend getting the expanded edition ('translated' by Mark Twain). But if you get this one, here's what I think:

Retelling the famous story of Adam and Eve is always an exciting venture. There are so many cultural, religious and political overtones to the original story (or stories?) in the Bible that any retelling is bound to spark contention.

Milton's Paradise Lost is a great example of this. Even better are the stories by the long forgotten Gnostic Christians (See Elaine Pagels) who thought that the serpent was the hero of the story.

Twain has his own take on the matter. Adam is a boring, conceited man (at first) who is annoyed by Eve and her curiosity about everything. Eve is wonderful; she names everything (like Adam in the original story) and has an abundance of scientific wonder of the world. The only thing odd in this story was its avoidance of the temptation of Eve by the serpent--it was only mentioned in passing. Personally, I find that the most interesting part (see Milton) and i would haved loved to see Twain's thoughts on it.

Nevertheless, this is a short, funny (isn't Twain always?) and lively book that you can get through in an hour. If for no other reason, read it for its redemption of Eve from the sexist (and confusing) story of the OT.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL!!!, July 20, 2004

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Literary Classics) (Paperback)

If there is a shorter, funnier, more delightful book on the planet, I have yet to find it. The genius that was Twain's is in abundant evidence here. And there is no longer version, this is it. Twain only wrote "extracts from" to make it seem more believable. Notice the "translated" also? I own the PBS version with David and Meredith Baxter Birney and have watched it many times, but I still laughed out loud when I finally got around to reading this short little gem. And the illustrations are at least half of the fun. I suspect this can re-read many times, especially when one is in need of a pick-me-up. Because, as always with Twain, much wisdom is interspersed with the humor. And beautifully written passages as well. DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Twain's Adam & Eve, but not the whole story..., August 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Literary Classics) (Paperback)

I recently bought this "Literary Classics" edition of "The Diaries of Adam & Eve" expecting it to be the text of the wonderful audiobook version of Twain's stories, as read by Betty Buckley and Mandy Patinkin, only to find that it is not the same at all. This version is just a replica of the original books and does not include the full text as heard on the audiobook. Then I found the version I wanted, subtitled "Translated by Mark Twain" and it, like the audiobook version, is really something special. To anyone interested in these wonderful "first family" stories, I recommend searching for the Fair Oaks Press edition.