Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1: The Complete and Authoritative Edition

Mark Twain

Nov 2010 · Mark Twain Papers Book 10 · Univ of California Press

About this ebook

"I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away—to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography." Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion—to "talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment"—meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent," and that he was therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind." The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain's death. In celebration of this important milestone and in honor of the cherished tradition of publishing Mark Twain's works, UC Press is proud to offer for the first time Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. This major literary event brings to readers, admirers, and scholars the first of three volumes and presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended.

Editors:

Harriet E. Smith, Benjamin Griffin, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Sharon K. Goetz, Leslie Myrick

Ratings and reviews

Let me start by saying that normally I love Mark Twain. And I wanted to love this book, I just couldn't. I lost patience about 200 pages in, and I now understand the role an editor would normally play in the writing process. I understand why it's important to have the complete version of what Mark Twain dictated, and for scholars, this is fantastic, but it just wasn't what I wanted to settle down and read after a long day's work.

I was looking with anticipation to reading this book, thinking that it would be full of witticisms and typical Mark Twain humor. BORING!!! Autobiographers Smith and Goetz went out of their way to tell endless reasonings behind Twain's thinking as he tried to organize his thoughts. GET ON WITH IT. Hope future volumes get to the point.....

Some will say that the autobiography of Mark Twain (volume one) is dry reading. I would disagree with this notion on the grounds that there is plenty of absurdity, wit and insight into his life contained within these pages - but cleverly disguised by a requirement of larger thinking and patience to see how it unfolds. It is, after all, an account of those things which he thought most important to discuss in his life... So important as to publish posthumously. Give it a fair chance, and read it to the end

About the author

Harriet Elinor Smith is an editor at the Mark Twain Project, which is housed within the Mark Twain Papers, the world's largest archive of primary materials by this major American writer. Under the direction of General Editor Robert H. Hirst, the Project's editors are producing the first comprehensive edition of all of Mark Twain's writings.