1601 and Is Shakespeare Dead? (1882, 1909) (The Oxford Mark Twain) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Series Editor), Erica Jong (Introduction), Leslie A. Fiedler (Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

1601 is Twain's hilarious pornographic send-up of Elizabethan England. In Is Shakespeare Dead?, an aging Twain meditates on Shakespeare and on his own chances for immortality.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195114264
• ISBN-13: 978-0195114263
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,079,682 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Irreverent, February 12, 1998

By	Jenn Thomas "Eclectic freak" (DFW Area, TX, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 1601 And Is Shakespeare Dead? (Mark Twain Works) (Hardcover)

This book is fantastic! Twain tells it from the point of view of the Cup Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I, a man who is totally disgusted to see Her Majesty sitting around speaking crudities with such personages as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.

The tale is hilarious, vulgar, liberally illustrated with ranuchy woodcuts that are best left unseen by children and young adolescents (for example, one of a cardinal with a raised surplice, urinating rather graphically, and several of men with, shall we say, large appendages).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the funniest thing ever written., May 12, 2000

By	William L. Graham (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1601 And Is Shakespeare Dead? (Mark Twain Works) (Hardcover)

Yes, this IS a fart joke. In fact, rumor has it that Twain's poker buddies were its first readers. The then Sec'y of the Army had West Point Press publish it.The transcendant skill and humor raises this to greatness, despite the subject. In fact, Twain probably took this as a huge challenge.Keep it from the youngest until they can appreciate it, but read it aloud alone together every Valentine's day.

4.0 out of 5 stars Little-known Twain, December 26, 2005

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: 1601 And Is Shakespeare Dead? (Mark Twain Works) (Hardcover)

This book consists of two parts, the brief 1601 and the longer "Is Shakespeare Dead?" (ISD)

1601 is eleven pages of dense faux-Elizabethan dialog. Between Twain's misleading spelling and the remarkable typography, it takes a while to realize that you're reading the most literate piece of potty humor in the English langauge. During the discourse that discovers the donor of that "most desolating breath," Twain unleashes bawdy that would surprise any school-marm who thinks of Twain only for Puddinhead Wilson and that cohort.

By far the longer piece, ISD starts out as a Shakespeare vs. Bacon argument. Twain largely cites other sources in the debate over who really wrote the works attributed to Wm. S; in the end, he comes down on the side of the brontosaur (go read it yourself to see what that means). His native wit comes through in the end of the piece. From any other writer, it would have been an ad hominem attack against the side Twain opposes - both of them, really. In his case, however, it's merely an observation on human traits of mind that tend to muddle both the facts and the use of them.

1601 is brilliant, if ISD drags a bit. They're both worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend either as an introduction to Twain.

//wiredweird