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Title: Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain, Bernard Devoto ISBN: 0-8488-1770-2 Publisher: Amereon Ltd Pub. Date: June, 1991 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (28 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Bitter, but funny, on-the-nose cynicism
Comment: Mark Twain shows his dark side in this book of short stories that was not published until years after his death. It was thought by his family that his fans would be disturbed by the absolute departure from the usual topics and flavor of his work. It is definitely worth reading. "Letters From the Earth", the title story, (and my favorite) is witty and observant but disturbing in it's darkness. If Mark Twain was alive now he would have a field day with the current social moral standards and hypocrisy.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Mixed bag
Comment: This book is probably not what you are expecting. If you are looking for a free-wheelin' adventure story along the lines of Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, you will not only be disappointed, but most probably shocked. However, if you are looking for an entire book of irrevent writings - as I was - then that's not what you're getting, either. Something less than half of the book (say, roughly, 1/3) consists of deliciously irrevent writings, drained from Mark Twain's pen of bitter ink. The best among these is the title section, "Letters From The Earth", in which Satan writes back to archangels Gabriel and Michael about his visit to earth and the "human race experiment", after his banishment from heaven. In these letters, Mark Twain points out various absurtities and illogical assertions and beliefs about human religions, and unflinchingly describes the vanity and hypocrisy of many of its adherents. I was under the impression that the entire book consisted of these letters; however, I was wrong. It is merely the first section of the book, occupying some 30-50 pages. For people who are highly into this kind of writing, however - as I am - it is worth the price of admission alone. There are several other pieces in the book along this line - including the famous essays Was The World Made For Man? and The Lowest Animal - which display not only Mark Twain's essential pessimism, but his very rational mind and hilarous wit. These pieces are an absolutely essential read for the lover of satire: few better examples are to be found anywhere in literature. The rest of the book, however, is a mixed bag. It consits of various pieces from the "Mark Twain Papers" - a collection of his writings (mostly unfinished) the he decreed to have published sometime after his death. Among these are a few interesting pieces (most of them various satires, several on religious topics), while others are more broadly ranging: everything from a completely improvised tale that he used to put his two children to bed to an unfinished fantasy piece that the editor seems to attach rather a lot of importance to, but whose actual virtue is somewhat more questionable. These pieces range from vaguely interesting to mildly funny to downright boring. Several would've probably been better served by being included in other volumes, while several should probably have been left unpublished. Still, there are definitely some essential writings in this volume that any fan of Mark Twain - or satire, or irrevent writings, for that matter - will want to read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Way ahead of his time
Comment: As much as I enjoyed his more famous books, it is actually this work that makes him even more genius to me. I was totally taken aback. His opinions on religion and the hypocrosy of it all were almost exactly as mine as I read along. I thought that no one was like that... let alone back then... but indeed he was. To know that such a great man felt the same way as I did regarding the Bible and human behavior brings me great comfort.
I only wish he were alive so I could personally thank him.
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Title: The Bible According to Mark Twain: Irreverent Writings on Eden, Heaven, and the Flood by America's Master Satirist by Mark Twain, Howard G. Baetzhold, Joseph B. McCullough ISBN: 0684824396 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Diaries of Adam & Eve by Mark Twain, Mandy Patinkin, Betty Buckley, Walter Cronkite ISBN: 0965881164 Publisher: Fiar Oaks Pr Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Literary Classics) by Mark Twain ISBN: 1573928275 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The War Prayer by Mark Twain ISBN: 0060911131 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 25 February, 1984 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Mark Twain's Book For Bad Boys and Girls by Mark Twain, R. Kent Rasmussen ISBN: 0809233983 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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