Customer Reviews

No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger (The Mark Twain Library No44)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is literally the last work of fiction by Mr. Twain. Those familiar with his short stories will remember a similarly titled 60+ page story in which the devil makes an interesting visit to a small Austrian village during the dark ages. This novel, while sharing some commonalities with the latter, is essentially its own animal, though not quite as darkly pessimistic. It is a good quick read-something you'll want to read twice in order to fully appreciate. It is very funny at times, at others somewhat predictable, but always entertaining and imaginative. It is remarkable how much insight Twain had into the modern world and its connection to history. Highly recommended.

Aside from Twain's depiction of God as a malevolent and mischevious deity, the story illustrates Twain's pessimistic view of Christianity in general. There is much vitriol spilled - toward God - at the end of the work. Certainly the death of Twain's daughter had much to do with excentuating this antagonism towards God and religion. Mysterious Stranger, especially the chilling conclusion, is a disturbing tale - as Twain no doubt intended it to be. A worthwhile read but be prepared to have your religious moorings and faith shaken.

There is much confusion regarding the several editions of The Mysterious Stranger. This volume from the Mark Twain Library is titled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger". It is NOT No. 44 in the series as often listed. More importantly it is NOT the same as the story titled "The Mysterious Stranger" to which most of the reviews refer. This story, only published as part of The Mark Twain Library, is a later manuscript utilizing some of the same themes and characters from the better known story, but otherwise very different. Neither story was published in Twain's lifetime. Following Twain's death his literary executor, A. B. Paine, selected one of three stories written on similar themes, and published it as "The Mysterious Stranger" following some changes and editing including adding an ending which was apparently written for another version. While Paine's changes were controversial, his decision as to which manuscript was worth publishing was certainly correct.

The publishers of The Mark Twain Library series would have us believe that "No. 44" was Twain's own preferred version based primarily on chronology. Twain, however, had a habit of suppressing his own work -- particularly some of his most biting satires (See DeVoto's edition of Twain's "Letters from the Earth.") believing it, perhaps, too controversial for its time.

The story of the evolution of "The Mysterious Stranger" and all three manuscripts as Twain left them can be found in William Gibson's "Mark Twain's Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts."

This story, "No. 44," is a pleasant enough boy's adventure along the Tom Sawyer line, but -- being an unfinished manuscript and having never seen the hand of a good editor-- it rambles around and takes wild unexplained changes in tone and storyline and never really leads anywhere. The grand dark satire of the better known story is missing, or, at best, severely watered down in this version. To add insult to injury, the television film of "The Mysterious Stranger" was based on "no. 44".

I originally wrote this review for a previous edition of "No. 44", but I see that it has been appended to all editions of "The Mysterious Stranger". So let me be clear: I am referring to The Mark Twain Library edition which is entitled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger".

"The Mysterious Stranger" is a marvelous work. "No. 44" is a curiosity at best.

Puts a new meaning to the question, "whats the meaning of life?" questions religion and life itself. This book made me look at life in a new way and probably will do the same for you.

I shall be forever grateful to my sardonic 7th grade English teacher for making this required reading. Who is the mysterious stranger? Is he God or the Devil or just some terrifying conjurer? Ultimately, it really doesn't matter as the little boy in this story learns that fate can be a hard master & that hope and courage are the only weapons with which to fight it.

"The Mysterious Stranger boldly analyzes the concept of God. What, after all, is the actual character of this Being we are asked to reverence and obey? How is His mind revealed by His admitted acts? How does His observed conduct toward man square with those ideals of human conduct that He is said to prescribe, and whose violation He is said to punish with such appalling penalties?
"These are the questions that Mark sets for himself. His answers are, in brief, a complete rejection of the whole Christian theory -- a rejection based upon a wholesale reductio ad absurdum. The thing is not mere mocking; it is not even irreverent; but the force of it is stupendous. I know of no agnostic document that shows a keener sense of essentials or a more deft hand for making use of the indubitable. A gigantic irony is in it. It glows with a profound conviction, almost a kind of passion. And the grotesque form of it -- a child's story -- only adds to the sardonic implacability of it."

I hadn't realized what a thoughtful and unusual man Mark Twain was until I read this book. This is a beautifully written book that examines the questions that all thinking humans face concerning God, heaven, hell, etc. It's written with a story line, but that really is just a framework to explore some wonderful and terrible questions. This is a wonderfully painless way to read philosophy. It took a courageous man to write this and stray from the "accepted" philosophy. In this time when so many are required to prove how "God-fearing" they are, this book shows that there always have been, and always will be, questions about religion that disturb

The Mysterious Stranger published soon after Twain's death was an attempt at making a quick profit by rewriting some incomplete manuscript pages. On the other hand, THIS version -- No. 44 -- was painstakingly pieced together over the course of many years by Twain scholars. The result is a manuscript that is closer in tone and theme to Twain's other later work. I also believe No. 44 to be more fully coherent than the previous version.

This is one of the finest personal allegories I've ever read. I was struck by the literary quality of the work -- quality which wasn't sacrificed by a quantity of painful emotional content. The ending was NOT unhappy or cynical; it was an expression of an artist, an insightful social satirist trying to be honest enough to, at the end of his life, turn that insight onto himself. The result is astonishing, a powerful account of one man retrieving the disparate parts of his self after a life of physical and spiritual fragmentation.

There is much confusion regarding the several editions of The Mysterious Stranger. This volume from the Mark Twain Library is titled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger". It is NOT No. 44 in the series as often listed. More importantly it is NOT the same as the story titled "The Mysterious Stranger" to which most of the reviews refer. This story, only published as part of The Mark Twain Library, is a later manuscript utilizing some of the same themes and characters from the better known story, but otherwise very different. Neither story was published in Twain's lifetime. Following Twain's death his literary executor, A. B. Paine, selected one of three stories written on similar themes, and published it as "The Mysterious Stranger" following some changes and editing including adding an ending which was apparently written for another version. While Paine's changes were controversial, his decision as to which manuscript was worth publishing was certainly correct.

The publishers of The Mark Twain Library series would have us believe that "No. 44" was Twain's own preferred version based primarily on chronology. Twain, however, had a habit of suppressing his own work -- particularly some of his most biting satires (See DeVoto's edition of Twain's "Letters from the Earth.") believing it, perhaps, too controversial for its time.

The story of the evolution of "The Mysterious Stranger" and all three manuscripts as Twain left them can be found in William Gibson's "Mark Twain's Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts."

This story, "No. 44," is a pleasant enough boy's adventure along the Tom Sawyer line, but -- being an unfinished manuscript and having never seen the hand of a good editor-- it rambles around and takes wild unexplained changes in tone and storyline and never really leads anywhere. The grand dark satire of the better known story is missing, or, at best, severely watered down in this version. To add insult to injury, the television film of "The Mysterious Stranger" was based on "no. 44".

I originally wrote this review for a previous edition of "No. 44", but I see that it has been appended to all editions of "The Mysterious Stranger". So let me be clear: I am referring to The Mark Twain Library edition which is entitled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger".

"The Mysterious Stranger" is a marvelous work. "No. 44" is a curiosity at best.