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Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

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Q: If you are writing a biography of a famous author, using recycled material, what can you add to make it sell anyway? A: Claim that the author was gay! (Some people say that you could add insight, but Mr. Hoffman disagrees). Hoffman bases his assumption of homosexuality on the following "evidence": 1. Mark Twain had very close male friends. 2. Mark Twain lived with his male friends. 3. Mark Twain went on road trips with his male friends. (Fraternity brothers beware, Hoffman is coming after you next!) This is just another example of people who don't want to do their research. I'm sure Hoffman looked a lot at the life of Samuel Clemens, but it seems he didn't do his background material. Many, many people from this era are assumed gay because of the extremely affectionate letters they wrote to their same-sex friends. Guess what? That's just the way they wrote. There are better biographies out there, and they're not too hard to find.

Hoffman offers an excellent, readable life of America's greatest writer. In its pages, Hoffman reveals the tragedy of Clemens' life; the family problems, the death of his brother, and the loss of his children. With this Hoffman shows a man living a life of great pain and sadness, one who faced a seemingly neverending series of personal crises.

Yet this is also the life of a great humorist, and Hoffman shows the reader the man who created Mark Twain, both Clemens' great savior and his unending curse. Hoffman does a great job of showing the links between Clemens' life and the works of Twain, how the pain and tragedy could produce some of the greatest literature in the English language. Though suffering somewhat from scholastic voguishness (his suggestion of Clemens' possible homosexual relationship in Nevada is rather strained), this is definitely a book that people should read to understand both a great American writer and a great American.

Mark Twain is an American treasure desparately in need of being rescued from the moth balls of high school English. In a new biography, INVENTING MARK TWAIN (William Morrow and Company, 1997; 572 pages), scholar Andrew Hoffman attempts to do just that, with somewhat mixed results.

The premise of Hoffman's biography is exciting: "Mark Twain," according to Hoffman, is not Samuel Clemens' alter-ego so much as he is his creation; a creation that, at times, becomes as much a monster as Victor Frankenstein's. Indeed, much of the tension in the book (as it must have been in Clemens' life) is derived from the battle between the maker and his famous but taxing "other self." In a sense, then, Clemens' life--as told by Hoffman--becomes a life-and-death struggle between the quiet homebody "Jekyll" and his boistrous, irreverent "Hyde." The best parts of the book deal with this struggle, including the recounting of Clemens' bankrupcy (and the necessity of reviving the "killed off" Mark Twain to deal with it).

Positive, too, are the appreciations Hoffman provides of Mark Twain's work, and the stories behind it (I was particularly tickled by the tales about how his books were sold by door-to-door solicitations), as well as the extensive research which includes publication of some of Clemens' private letters for the first time. For information value alone, the book is well worth the time.

A major problem with the work, however, is its lack of "dazzle." True, biographies generally aren't read for their literary value, but a subject such as Clemens almost requires a larger-than-life style, even when certain myths are debunked. This is not to say that Hoffman lacks talent; the narrative is arranged and told clearly, and the massive amount of research is woven in unobtrusively. Yet, a certain panache is missing; while the book is never dull, it lacks the fire it could have had if, say, a Mark Twain had written it.

However, this is compensated for by the book's detail, the previously unpublished material, and the author's affection for the subject. In all, then, INVENTING MARK TWAIN should be considered our generation's definitive biography of a literary legend.

Andrew Hoffman is to Mark Twain what Albert Goldman was to Lenny Bruce, John Lennon and Elvis Presley-- which is to say a parasitical graverobber who projects his own weirdness onto his subject.

There are way too many legitimate biographies of Clemens for this book to be taken seriously.

This is a terrific book that helps us understand the energy behind Mark Twain's genius. Hoffman shows a profound respect for his subject, but doesn't shy away from painting a full portrait of the man behind the icon. If you're looking for a glossy love letter to Twain, read something else. But if you really want to understand how a scrappy young kid grows up to be a world-renowned talent, this is a great place to start.

This book is captivating from cover to cover. I highly recomend it not only for the subject matter but also for serious students of social history of the 19th Century. The author really did his research.