May 18, 2017 07:12 PM
5927 Views
(Updated May 18, 2017 08:10 PM)
A writer par excellence and a humorist impeccable,
He’s a satirist that amazes with his eloquence amiable,
His timeless works will continue to educate and entertain,
He is the legendary Samuel Clemens better known as Mark Twain!
About the author: Mark Twain is a name that needs no introduction. His works ‘The adventures of Tom Sawyer and ‘The adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ are not only cherished and immortalized as literary classics but also are part of school curriculum to expose little minds to the joys of reading those memorable tales.
I stay in Connecticut in the USA where Mark Twain lived. His mansion at Hartford is a tourist attraction and a historic landmark. His and his daughter’s birthdays are celebrated in many places around and the libraries proudly boast of aisles of his books and biographies. Even the bookstores here hand out bags printed with his quotes! Needless to say, any book lover would be drawn to the magic that is named Mark Twain. One of them is me.
Plot: This is neither a story nor an autobiography. This is a collection of unpublished articles, personal opinions, and anecdotes that Mark Twain left among his possessions. According to him, freedom of speech although propagated by many countries and cultures is not truly practiced. A person is completely free of inhibitions to speak his mind only ‘from the grave’. So, from the grave, he does speak through the largest collection of personal papers left by any American author in the 19th century.
Although all of them subtly convey a touching message, here is a list of my absolute favorite articles from the book along with a quote from each write-up:
Whenever I am to publish a book:
This is about the feelings Twain went through when he published any book. He mentions that he read his books out to a private audience carefully picked by him and classified the listeners into 14 categories. The 14th category is ‘The man who always goes to sleep’! He placed his blind trust in this category since he got to know how interesting or uninteresting his book is by observing this man! If he kept awake for an hour and then slept, Twain confidently published the book.
Quote: If he drops off to sleep within 15 minutes, I burn the book. His verdict has burned several books for me.
Frank Fuller and my first New York Lecture:
This article is about the grandiose plans of his friend(acting as a marketing manager) - Mr. Frank Fuller. Fuller wanted to make extravagant arrangements for Mark Twain’s first lecture and he booked a hall for seating 3000 listeners for a period of 3 months, reducing Twain to a nervous wreck!
Quote: Admiral Farragut couldn’t come for my lecture. Just at that time, a child was born to – not to him, and I don’t remember now who it was born to, and now I come to think, I believe it was not born that year but anyway he couldn’t come.
Happy memories of the dental chair:
We all remember that scary day when we went to the dentist for the first time and so does Mark Twain. Just like most dentists, his one also scared the wits off him by mentioning the name of a queer disease of his teeth although there was no pain experienced. Twain strongly believes that dentists require two qualities very essential to their profession: 1. Skill related to teeth 2. Active talking and entertaining.
Quote: The dentist had a calm, possessed, surgical look of a man who could endure pain in another person.
Dr. Van as a man and as a Fisherman:
This is a serious account that despises the hobby of fishing. He says that experiencing pleasure in fishing is similar to experiencing a maniacal happiness in murdering a child that was innocently playing around. He was a vegetarian and being one myself, I could completely understand and applaud his view.
Quote: Man conceived the idea of getting pleasure out of deceiving, frightening, capturing mutilating and murdering a child.
Jane Austen:
This is a sharply satirical account of Jane Austen’s writing. While considering himself unworthy of praising her work, he subtly hints the unlikable nature of all her main characters!
Quote: Is it her purpose to make the readers detest the characters up to the middle of the book and like them later on? That would be high art. Someday I would examine the other end of the book and see.
My Opinion:
In the past few weeks, I was celebrating a secret Mark Twain festival in my own world. I plunged into his books from the library. I have not read all of them yet, but it was scintillating to bask in the glory of his works.
Most of the stories have a sharp satire and unadulterated wit. Each story is a gem. I consider myself unworthy of providing ‘my opinion’ on the legend, but consider it a pleasure to remind my fellow readers of the great writer and a better humorist!
