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Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography

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Like the comet that heralded his arrival and, 74 years later, signaled his passing, Mark Twain was a man in nearly constant motion. Either his pen was racing across the page, or he was racing across the world, gathering the raw material of experience for his stories, es­says, letters, novels, invest­ments and inventions. He was a writing machine, turning out so much copy that we haven't yet found the bottom to this gold mine.

Part of Twain's greatness is that he was a man of enormous talent and en­ergy who was in the right places at the right times. It was the perfect combination that made him a uniquely American artist. Talent without energy would not have given him the ability to write so much. Ener­gy without talent would not have made him, as Russel Banks' words, a wise guy who was wise. American letters is full of humorists who are now footnotes. In Twain's time, there is P.V. Nasby, and Josh Billings, Bret Harte and Arte­mus Ward. What makes Twain so different?

First, Twain saw himself as more than a humorist. He was a moralist. He was perfect­ly capable of writing funny without a point, whether it be about a trick played with a jumping frog, or the stories about Tom Sawyer. But he also used Huck Finn to rage against slavery. He berated Commo­dore Vanderbilt for not using his millions to help the poor (he later hob­nobbed with the rich, one of those contradictions that en­riches his character). Later in life, embittered by the death of his children, he abandoned hu­mor to rail against imperial­ism, lynching and even God.

Written by Burns' collabora­tors Dayton Duncan and Geof­frey C. Ward, "Mark Twain" is crammed full of stories that show us the man behind the penname. Twain boiled with mirth, resentment, anger and passion, both on and off the page. When a button was found missing from one of his freshly-laundered shirts, he cursed and threw the whole stack out of the window of his home. On the lecture circuit, he gloried in leaving his audiences helpless with laughter.

But his sorrow was equally powerful. When he lost the love of his life, his wife, Livy, he wrote, "There is no God and no universe; . . . there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And . . . I am that thought."

But as Twain helped define the nation with his writings, the nation also defined him. He planted him­self deep into the rich soil of the South, the West and the East, and drew upon all those sources for his work. He grew up in Hannibal, Mis­souri, on the stories told by whites and blacks. His became a riverboat pilot, intimately aware of the power and beauty of the Mississippi River. He avoided fighting in the Civil War - for which he was never chastised, partly because he was so willing to make fun of himself over it - and worked as a newspaperman and failed silver miner in Nevada and San Francisco. Seeking success as a writer, he went East where the publishers were, and settled in Hartford, Conn. As his fame grew and he traveled world­wide, he brought home more tales to tell, but they all had a source in common: humanity in all its rich glories and taw­dry foibles.

"Mark Twain" briskly charts Twain's incredible life, and in­cludes essays by writers like Banks and Jocelyn Chadwick and an interview with Twain impersonator Hal Holbrook that are entertaining and illu­minating. Interwoven in the text are Twain's own words, so many that he should have re­ceived co-author credit.

But the book's crowning glory are in its photo­graphs, many of them never published. This is the strongest rea­son any Twain fan should look at the book. It's an incredible selection. Here he is at the breakfast table during his round-the-world lecture tour he took at age 60, looking like he just got out of bed (which he did). There, he's on the stage, "lending tone" to a lecture by Booker T. Washington.

And one of the saddest ap­proaches art. It was taken in 1900, and after several deaths (a son in infancy, one daughter four years before), and the family is down to his daughters Jean, Clara and his wife, Livy. Jean was away, so the picture only shows Twain, Livy and Clara. They're there, but they're not part of the picture; they look in different directions as if they can't bear to be there. He's looking at the camera, in soft focus, unable to stand still for a moment. As if their grief had a physical presence, the glass photo is cracked. It is a portrait of a family slowly colliding with tragedy.

By the end of his life, Twain had had enough. He was ready to go out with the return of Ha­ley's Comet in 1910. At his fu­neral, his unique stature in lit­erature was recognized by his good friend, Joe Twitchell, who called him, "the Lincoln of our literature."

"I am not an American, I am the American," Twain said, and "Mark Twain" shows how he became our most American writer.

If you only read one biography in the next year, I suggest that you make it this one.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) was “torn between fame and family, between humor and bitterness, bottomless hunger for success and haunting fears of failure.”

His own writing makes this volume sparkle. “I am only human -- although I regret it.” “Aw well, I am a great and sublime fool.” “The secret source of humor itself is not joy, but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.” “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” His ability to capture the American vernacular on paper has never been equaled.

Much of his best-known writing was based on Hannibal, Missouri where he lived from age 4 to 17, and visited only 5 times thereafter. The benefit of an illustrated biography for Mark Twain is that you can see the people and places he was describing, which adds to your enjoyment of those works and to a greater understanding of his craft. Tom Blankenship was a model for Huck Finn and Laura Hawkes inspired Becky Thatcher. Constantly on the move, Twain wrote about the places he visited to earn his living and you will learn a great deal from seeing contemporary photographs and illustrations of these sights from the western United States and Hawaii through to Europe and the Middle East. He also did a world-wide lecture tour in 1895 that is captured here.

“Livy” (Olivia Langdon) was the great love of his life, and you will be enchanted and touched by their letters. You will also enjoy learning about her role as editor (helping him avoid expressions that would offend almost everyone) and as muse (he wanted her to be proud of him).

You will come away with many new impressions of Mark Twain. Perhaps no one in the 19th century changed and expanded his views as much as Twain did. Born in slave-holding Missouri, he quickly developed an appreciation for the fine qualities of the slaves he knew and wrote about them with sympathy as fellow human beings (Huck Finn and Pudd’n Head Wilson). He mastered three different and difficult careers (river pilot on the Mississippi, novelist, and lecturer). Married into a teetotaling, Abolitionist family, he learned to operate in genteel, Eastern social circles (with lots of clues from his adoring wife). Inspired by the potential of technology, he bankrupted himself investing in an improved way to set type that never became commercially feasible. Later in life, he was toasted by great writers and royalty throughout Europe, lived in enormous luxury, and found himself scrambling to earn a living to pay the mounting debts of his business failures. Perhaps no greater irony can come than having been the publisher for Grant’s memoirs.

His own life was filled with enormous happiness and sadness. His wife and all but one of his children died before him. Ill health dogged his wife and children.

I was fascinated to learn that Halley’s comet was blazing in the evening skies both when he was born and when he died. That seems like an appropriate symbol for this most unique man who characterized himself as follows, “I am the American.”

The book contains many excerpts from his writing, letters, newspaper texts of his lectures, and letters to him (especially from his wife). The narrative in the book is often watery by comparison. The book does feature a number of essays that I found enjoyable. One was Ms. Jocelyn Chadwick’s thoughts on “The Six-Letter Word” that begins with “n” and is used by some to derogate African-Americans. She points out that although Twain often used the word in his writing, he was “not sanctioning the use of the slur.” To the opposite, he used the word to show the moral and social backwardness of those who did, such as Huck’s father in Huckleberry Finn. Hal Holbrook describes his one-man show, and I was surprised to learn that “Mark Twain Tonight” is quite different from the lectures that Mark Twain actually gave. Those were usually readings, rather than one-liners, and were frequently rewritten since newspapers often reported on what had been said in these lectures. He also wore a dark suit, and did not smoke on stage.

I came away from this book with a strong desire to read more of Mark Twain’s writing, and to see the PBS series for which this book is a companion. I am sure you will, too!

Turn your sadness and setbacks into fertile soil for imagination and humor! Listen to all those around you, and share their lessons with the world!

Finally! A "coffee table" book that has top-quality photos and an excellent text.

MARK TWAIN: AN ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY is a companion to a two-part, four-hour documentary film, directed by Ken Burns, on the life and work of Samuel Langhorne Clemens and his "famously, irrepressibly rambunctious alter ego Mark Twain."

Ernest Hemingway once said that Twain is "the headwater of American fiction" and called THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN "the best book we've ever had. There was nothing before. There's been nothing as good since."

George Bernard Shaw referred to Twain as "America's Voltaire."

William Dean Howells described Twain as "incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature."

Susy Clemens once wrote of her father: "He is known to the public as a humorist, but he has much more in him that is earnest than that is humorous. He is as much of a Philosopher as anything, I think."

In this reviewer's considered judgment, Twain is the greatest literary genius America has produced, a thinker of remarkable depth and substance.

Twain's life was filled with many travels, adventures ... and tragedies. Born in 1835, when Halley's comet made its appearance, he lived for 75 years, until 1910, when Halley's comet returned. He survived, and suffered, the death of his beloved wife "Livy" (Olivia Louise Langdon), and three of their children: Langdon, who died in infancy; Susy, who died of spinal meningitis at age 24; and Jean, who died of a heart attack evidently brought on by an epileptic seizure.

"The secret source of humor itself," wrote Twain, "is not joy, but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven. ... [Our] race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon--laughter. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."

Laughter and sorrow: Twain was well acquainted with both. Known superficially to many admirers as merely a humorist or funny man, Twain was essentially, as he described himself, "a moralist in disguise" who preached sermons to "the damned human race."

Twain's literary corpus abounds with excoriating criticisms of racism, anti-Semitism, religious hypocrisy, governmental arrogance and imperialism, petty tyrants, and Philistine culture. His often deadpan humor bristles with barbed satire and withering sarcasm.

In addition to its narrative text, this volume includes five bonus essays: "Hannibal's Sam Clemens," by Ron Powers; "Hartford's Mark Twain," by John Boyer; "The Six-Letter Word," by Jocelyn Chadwick; "Out at the Edges," by Russell Banks; and an interview with Hal Holbrook, "Aren't We Funny Animals?"

MARK TWAIN: AN ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY is a rich and rewarding book.

This illustrated biography of one of America's most memorable and beloved authors holds quite a few surprises for the unsuspecting reader. Anticipating anecdotes from Mark Twain's life that would portray him as a kind, altruistic, and loving man, I was shocked to learn he was also an irrascible, guilt-ridden, tight-fisted lover of alcohol and cigars who was often looking for ways to get rich.

He was born in 19th century Missouri and raised during a time when major political, economic, social, and cultural issues were forging America's identity. The rugged 19th century also molded Twain into an outspoken critic of those forces, providing him with an unending stream of material for his cogent and waggish observations.

Amid a collection of excerpts from his novels and speeches, articles and essays, as well as numerous pictures and illustrations, the authors present an insightful analysis of the man best known for writing TOM SAWYER and HUCKLEBERRY FINN. What becomes obvious is the relevance, creativity and importance of all his work, not just the books we were assigned in high school.

This book is a treasure; the kind of book that can be referred to often. It can give food for thought for hours of reflection. It is Highly Recommended.

After having the privilege to listen to Ken Burns introduce his new documentary on Mark Twain, I am even more awed by Twain's humble greatness both as the pre-eminent American author and a contemplative human being. Through this biography I noticed how similar Mark Twain's own development was to that of maturing America. In most cases Twain was ahead of his time.

I was moved by the story of his cook's experience as a slave and Twain's own progressive thoughts on race. The research that
this groups did into Twain's life and all the wonderful photos make him even more real and timeless. Mark Twain's humor is as
relevant today as it was almost 100 years ago. And that he is probably the greatest American novelist just makes Twain even
appealing.

I plan on staying glued to my TV during the two nights in January when the series is played on PBS.

Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography is an informative survey of Twain's life which gathers material from a variety of published and unpublished sources, from his novels and lectures to his letters and photos. Students and fans of Twain thus receive much more illustration than in competing titles, in the form of vintage photos and color ads and drawings, along with a lively biographical sketch surveying Twain's life and times. Highly recommended; much more accessible than most.

This is an excellent biography for many reasons.It is written in very simple language and makes a fast paced read.There are a multitude of excellent and relevant photos of Twain,all the members of his family and at many stages of their lives.There are numerous pictures of where Twain lived and homes he had.Also, many pictures of family life.He lived such an interesting life ,it takes a lot of pictures to make one see what it was all like.The pictures are so good that it would be impossible to convey the same thing in words alone.Along with the personal photos, there are all kinds of illustrations from every aspect of his life.The book contains 275 illustrations,and every last one is a real gem.The book is based on a film that was aired a couple of years ago and undoubtedly will be shown many more times;keep an eye out for it.
The book does an excellent job of showing Twain as a person and all the things that were important in his life;and there were so many.
The one thing that is really explained is why "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is possibly the first,greatest and most important novel in American Literature. If you hadn't thought about it,this book might convince you.
I read a lot of biographies,but I have a hard job in trying to think of one that was as well done as this.As good as the text is,I believe it is the wonderful photos and illustrations that puts this book over the top.
If you are a lover of Twain's work and life,you should make every effort to get hold of this super effort.

I wonder how many people could have led the life that Samuel Clemens did and kept their sanity. He went from riches to rags (even though it was his own fault...he spent money like it was going out of style and made some horrendous investments), which forced him, at the age of 60, into making a 10 month long physically and mentally draining around-the-world lecture tour. The tour enabled him to pay off his debts and regain his financial footing. Unfortunately, money was the least of his problems. The authors do not specifically state it, but it is clear (to me anyway) that Clemens suffered from manic-depression. At various times, and not coinciding with anything bad going on his life, he considered suicide. He had lifelong moodswings, as well as a volatile temper. (His daughters were afraid to be alone with him, as his behavior was so unpredictable. They made sure to visit him as a group.) The authors recount one incident where Clemens, angry over a missing button, opened an upstairs window and tossed all of his shirts out into the street. Saddest of all, Clemens outlived almost all of his loved ones. His beloved wife, Livy, who was almost 10 years younger than him, predeceased him, as did 3 of his 4 children. His one surviving child, his daughter Clara, suffered a nervous breakdown when Clemens was almost 70. A heavy load to bear, indeed, but somehow Clemens bore it and carried on. One thing that helped was his worldwide fame. Clemens was hungry for fame, even as a young man. He became well-known early in life, and remained famous and popular right up until he died. (He was a bit of a "ham." He would purposely time his walks for when people were emerging from church, and would then saunter past in his trademark- pun intended- white suits.) This book is an absolutely perfect blend of narrative by the authors, liberal excerpts from Clemens's many writings, "guest essays," and page after page of terrific period photographs. (The research done for the photographs, alone, must have been backbreaking.) The narrative and essays made this a good book. The addition of the excerpts and the photos turned it into a great book. The excerpts are not just from Clemens's well-known works, either. He was once asked to address an organization which consisted of descendants of the Puritans. The written text is reproduced in the book. Twain skewered the original Puritans for killing Native Americans and for kicking everyone who wasn't a Puritan out of Massachusetts, even though, as Clemens makes sure to emphasize, they left England under the banner of religious freedom. (You have to think that when the organization invited Clemens to speak, this wasn't quite what they had in mind.) One of the many interesting items included in the book is a list of the famous sayings "Mark Twain" supposedly uttered....but didn't. (He was so famous that it was assumed that anything clever originated with him.) Unfortunately, one of my all-time favorites was included in this list: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." On the bright side, he DID say "The rumor of my death has been greatly exaggerated." One caution: the excerpts will make you want to read or re-read all of Twain. I've already ordered a copy of "The Innocents Abroad" as somehow, in my youth, I missed that one. Hats off to Geoffrey Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns for this wonderful book!

As usual, Geoff Ward has breathed life into a historical figure and made him 3-dimensional. It is a gift. Ward not only gives you the facts of Twain's life but he uncovers much of what made the man who he was. The book is beautifully illustrated and a great read.

This biography is about one of America's best writers, Mark Twain. This book talks about his life, which most of us don't know much about except from 3 of his novels: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Life on the Mississippi. Mark Twain's real name is Samuel Clemens and he lived in Florida, where he hated school and was getting his sense of antislavery. He travel all over the globe doing what he does best, writing. So when he died, he had given all he had to the world.
I recommend this book because of how much is stuffed in it. There are many great quotes of the humorist from his autobiography. The book has a prologue that gives an introduction adout Mark Twain. There are even places in the book that tell how a character from his books was created or how he got his name, Mark Twain. Finally, I recommend this book because of it's text and the excellent information.
My favorite part of this biography is when Samuel Clemens decides to write "Mark Twain" as his name in a newspaper called Daily Union. This is my best part because it relates to his novel Life on the Mississippi. And, after he became popular, many politicans wanted to curry his favor, by passing laws he waned to be passed. Finally, I like this part because this is Twain's first step into being one of America's best writer.