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Title: Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography by Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns, Russell Banks ISBN: 0-375-40561-5 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 13 November, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A rich & rewarding biography
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Treasure
Comment: 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.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not recommended: confusing.
Comment: The book is confusing. What is the reader supposed to believe? Clemens was a genius, or, Clemens was an imbecile? "Mark Twain an Illustrated Biography" starts with a preface that says: Sam Clemens was a "genius." Next comes the prologue, which states "his own overreaching drove him and his family into exile oversaes."---That statement could not be farther from the truth. A book that starts by rejoicing in Twain's genius and, then proceeds completely to ignore Twain's genius and portray an imbecile is confusing.To understand the confusion and, put the narrative on page 177 in context, review this sentence: "When she died, she was only twenty-four years old." What is the purpose of the word "only" in that sentence? Putting "only" in the sentence confuses facts and, by that confusion makes a biased sentence. Susy was twenty-four years old: An age by anybody's standards where she is old enough to be responsible for her own health. By combining that sentence with "only" and the pictures of a young Susy on pages 87, 94, 99, 103, 105, 119, 132, 146, 150, the book alleges that Susy was very young when she died, which is not true.It was the family publishing business alone that went bankrupt, not Clemens, a fact previously canvassed on page 157 but by page 177 forgotten; The financial recession of 1893, which was responsible for making the tour necessary and separating the family, was not Clemens fault and he would have to be an absolute fool rather than a genius to think otherwise, a fact previously canvassed on pages 155 & 156 but by page 177 forgotten; Clemens knew that he was in no way whatsoever responsible for the death of Susy; When Susy died, she was not the first child that Sam and Livy had buried; What Sam includes in his letter on page 177 are emotions experienced after losing their first child a son, not emotions consistent with losing their second child Susy. Canvassed initially, the book describes how Sam becomes inured to death by experiencing so many deaths in his life. Then on page 177 it is as if death is a brand-new idea, which Sam, has no familiarity with at all? It cannot be both ways, either he was inured or he was not.Sam's writing was so powerful that he easily conveyed feelings that he did not feel; Sam's writing conveys feelings that he does not feel to relieve Livy's feelings of responsibility and grief: Clemens is magnanimously taking responsibility for things that he knows he is not responsible for to soothe his ailing wife (Sam wrote a similar letter after the death of his brother Henry, see page 20, only an idiot would believe himself responsible for too much steam when he was not even on the boat with Henry.); Livy had been diagnosed with heart problems, which forced the family move to Europe in 1891, a fact previously canvassed on page 145 where it incorrectly states "They [doctors] recommended rest and treatment for Livy in Europe," the facts being rather that Livy was "ordered" to Europe by her doctors, but by page 177 the facts after being distorted are forgotten and without thorough study or instruction, the facts are presented with a vagueness that makes' them impossible to understand.Unequivocally, Clemens in 1906 stated for his autobiography, [Edited by Charles Neider, page 428], Livy was "ordered" to Europe by her doctors. If Clemens knew, Livy was ordered to Europe in 1906, it's only fair to assume he knew Livy was "ordered" to Europe when he wrote that magnanimous letter on page 177 taking responsibility for things that he knew he was not responsible for in 1896. And just as fairly, without any assumption, we may know that Clemens knew he did not cause the financial recession of 1893. Sam's stay in Europe, which he loathed and called exile, was never exile at all, but concession to his love for his wife, Livy, and the requirements mandated by her heart trouble.In all honesty, Clemens was being magnanimous when he wrote "Reproaching myself for laying the foundation of all our troubles. . . . Reproaching myself for a million things whereby I have brought misfortune and sorrow to this family."---found on page 177. Clemens was being far from honest, unless he was responsible for the financial recession of 1893, responsible for Livy's heart problems that forced the families move to Europe in 1891, and responsible for Susy's health when Susy was of an age to be responsible for her own health and had been living on her own separated by half-a-world from Sam and Livy for most of a year.For an entertaining book that does not confuse these important issues I recommend: MEET MARK TWAIN, published by Xlibris.
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Title: The Autobiography of Mark Twain (Perennial Classics) by Mark Twain, Charles Neider ISBN: 0060955422 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title:Mark Twain - A Film Directed by Ken Burns ASIN: B00005RDB0 Publisher: Pbs Home Video Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $26.08 |
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Title: Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) by Mark Twain ISBN: 0486406644 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $1.00 |
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Title: The Quotable Mark Twain: His Essential Aphorisms, Witticisms, & Concise Opinions by Mark Twain, Rasmussen R. Kent, R. Kent Rasmussen ISBN: 0809229870 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Singular Mark Twain: A Biography by Fred Kaplan ISBN: 0385477155 Publisher: Doubleday Books Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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