Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) [Paperback]

Mark Twain (Author), Michael J. Kiskis (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography | Publication Date: September 15, 1990

Mark Twain’s Own Autobiography stands as the last of Twain’s great yarns. Here he tells his story in his own way, freely expressing his joys and sorrows, his affections and hatreds, his rages and reverence—ending, as always, tongue-in-cheek: “Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true.”
    More than the story of a literary career, this memoir is anchored in the writer’s relation to his family—what they meant to him as a husband, father, and artist. It also brims with many of Twain’s best comic anecdotes about his rambunctious boyhood in Hannibal, his misadventures in the Nevada territory, his notorious Whittier birthday speech, his travels abroad, and more.
    Twain published twenty-five “Chapters from My Autobiography” in the North American Review in 1906 and 1907. “I intend that this autobiography . . . shall be read and admired a good many centuries because of its form and method—form and method whereby the past and the present are constantly brought face to face, resulting in contrasts which newly fire up the interest all along, like contact of flint with steel.”
    For this second edition, Michael Kiskis’s introduction references a wealth of critical work done on Twain since 1990. He also adds a discussion of literary domesticity, locating the autobiography within the history of Twain’s literary work and within Twain’s own understanding and experience of domestic concerns. 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alas, reports of Twain's death have not once again been exaggerated, but Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) has belatedly succeeded in his ambition of "literally speaking from the grave" in this collection of 25 autobiographical chapters. In his excellent introduction, Twain scholar Kiskis, assistant dean at State University of New York-Empire State College, traces Clemens's 40-year attempt to leave his editors and heirs with a publishable autobiography. Out of the unorganized mass of material he wrote, this volume limits itself to work approved by the author and published in 1906-1907. As readers would expect, Clemens tells his story with an engaging mixture of bluster and lyricism, and he is most affecting when reliving pastoral childhood memories and reflecting, as a writer in his 70s, on human nature. Less successful are excerpts from a "biography" of Clemens written by his 13-year-old daughter Susy and used, too frequently, as a lead-in to the author's stories. Clemens intended his autobiography to be chatty and entertaining; he promised to stay on a topic only as long as it interested him. Thus the book is a lively hodgepodge of anecdotes, pronouncements and descriptions--all of them distinctly Mark Twain.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Distinctly Mark Twain.”—Publishers Weekly

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (September 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299125440
• ISBN-13: 978-0299125448
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,813,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American humorist, satirist, social critic, lecturer and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his classic novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome insights., June 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)

Here is Twain in his own voice; humorous, cantankerous, opinionated, sometimes historically unreliable, but always engaging, and, unlike almost all of his contemporaries, fun to read.
He went everywhere and seems to have met everyone of consequence in his day, and he reports all with his reporter's eye (and imaginative gifts!). He was also a dedicated family man who, sadly, outlived most of his loved ones, and this work may be seen in part as a memorial to them. The sadness, suffused with joyful recollections, does not detract from the overall entertainment and enlightenment value of the work, which is highly recommended for anyone interested in Twain or the literary world of the nineteenth century.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon"s format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only for a fan of S.Clemens, November 17, 2000

By 

Jennifer Strode - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark Twain's Own Autobiography (Audio Cassette)

I checked this book out of the library two months ago (woops!)and although it did not compel me to voraciously read it through beginning to end, it does quietly beckon to finish his story. I love Samuel Clemens and the way he looked at life. He made outrageous statements concerning people and God, and often irreverent. I'm a Christian and probably should be offended, but I'm not. The reader can see in his books, the quieter search for truth and spirituality. This autobiography is one of them. In his own words.."this autobiography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes, but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being." His softer side is exposed when discussing his children and thier questions. His young daughters were not jaded and cynical in thier approach to the meaning of life and God, so it often threw him off guard when trying to answer them. He is considered to be the great writers/satirists of American history, and yet he exposes his weaknesses and insecurities readily. He makes the ordinary, unknown man feel comfortable in his "presence". Mr. Clemens had a keen sense of the human ego..he knew that when most people recollect their past, famous and non, they tend to glorify and embellish thier success and justify what wasn't. Often when he is recalling stories, he will finish them with "events which...I have imagined have happened to me" or "Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true." Love that!

I also appreciate the fact that Michael Kiskis did not interject his commentary throughout the autobiography (like many commentators do.) He made the distinction between his writing and Twain's clear. His was a simple introduction and follow-up of notes.

It's probably a slow-read, but I recommend it to anyone that wanted to become better aquainted with Samuel Clemens and his life story!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Twain's Own Story, July 20, 2009

By 

James Gallen (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mark Twain's Own Autobiography (Audio Cassette)

"Mark Twain's Own Autobiography" consists of a collection of anecdotal reminiscences dictated by Twain over a period of years. In it the reader will get a sense of the facts of his life and the emotions which flowed out of his life and on to the pages.

More than a real autobiography, this is more Twain storytelling, with himself as a main subject. The wit which we love in his novels we will enjoy in this book. Sit back, read and enjoy.