Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography

by Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns, Geoffrey C. Ward

Book Overview

Ernest Hemingway called Huckleberry Finn "the best book we've ever had. There was nothing before. There's been nothing as good since." Critical opinion of this book hasn't dimmed since Hemingway... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375405615
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Knopf
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 1.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Treasure

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.

A rich & rewarding biography

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.

A Great Book For Twain Fans

Like the comet that heralded his arrival and, 74 years later, signaled his passing, Mark Twain was a man in nearly constant motion. Either his pen was racing across the page, or he was racing across the world, gathering the raw material of experience for his stories, es­says, letters, novels, invest­ments and inventions. He was a writing machine, turning out so much copy that we haven't yet found the bottom to this gold mine. Part of Twain's greatness is that he was a man of enormous talent and en­ergy who was in the right places at the right times. It was the perfect combination that made him a uniquely American artist. Talent without energy would not have given him the ability to write so much. Ener­gy without talent would not have made him, as Russel Banks' words, a wise guy who was wise. American letters is full of humorists who are now footnotes. In Twain's time, there is P.V. Nasby, and Josh Billings, Bret Harte and Arte­mus Ward. What makes Twain so different? First, Twain saw himself as more than a humorist. He was a moralist. He was perfect­ly capable of writing funny without a point, whether it be about a trick played with a jumping frog, or the stories about Tom Sawyer. But he also used Huck Finn to rage against slavery. He berated Commo­dore Vanderbilt for not using his millions to help the poor (he later hob­nobbed with the rich, one of those contradictions that en­riches his character). Later in life, embittered by the death of his children, he abandoned hu­mor to rail against imperial­ism, lynching and even God. Written by Burns' collabora­tors Dayton Duncan and Geof­frey C. Ward, "Mark Twain" is crammed full of stories that show us the man behind the penname. Twain boiled with mirth, resentment, anger and passion, both on and off the page. When a button was found missing from one of his freshly-laundered shirts, he cursed and threw the whole stack out of the window of his home. On the lecture circuit, he gloried in leaving his audiences helpless with laughter.But his sorrow was equally powerful. When he lost the love of his life, his wife, Livy, he wrote, "There is no God and no universe; . . . there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And . . . I am that thought." But as Twain helped define the nation with his writings, the nation also defined him. He planted him­self deep into the rich soil of the South, the West and the East, and drew upon all those sources for his work. He grew up in Hannibal, Mis­souri, on the stories told by whites and blacks. His became a riverboat pilot, intimately aware of the power and beauty of the Mississippi River. He avoided fighting in the Civil War - for which he was never chastised, partly because he was so willing to make fun of himself over it - and worked as a newspaperman and failed silver miner in Nevada and San Francisco. Seeking success as a writer, he went East where the publishers were, and settled in Ha

Defining the American Fiction Writer

If you only read one biography in the next year, I suggest that you make it this one. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) was "torn between fame and family, between humor and bitterness, bottomless hunger for success and haunting fears of failure." His own writing makes this volume sparkle. "I am only human -- although I regret it." "Aw well, I am a great and sublime fool." "The secret source of humor itself is not joy, but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven." "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." His ability to capture the American vernacular on paper has never been equaled. Much of his best-known writing was based on Hannibal, Missouri where he lived from age 4 to 17, and visited only 5 times thereafter. The benefit of an illustrated biography for Mark Twain is that you can see the people and places he was describing, which adds to your enjoyment of those works and to a greater understanding of his craft. Tom Blankenship was a model for Huck Finn and Laura Hawkes inspired Becky Thatcher. Constantly on the move, Twain wrote about the places he visited to earn his living and you will learn a great deal from seeing contemporary photographs and illustrations of these sights from the western United States and Hawaii through to Europe and the Middle East. He also did a world-wide lecture tour in 1895 that is captured here. "Livy" (Olivia Langdon) was the great love of his life, and you will be enchanted and touched by their letters. You will also enjoy learning about her role as editor (helping him avoid expressions that would offend almost everyone) and as muse (he wanted her to be proud of him). You will come away with many new impressions of Mark Twain. Perhaps no one in the 19th century changed and expanded his views as much as Twain did. Born in slave-holding Missouri, he quickly developed an appreciation for the fine qualities of the slaves he knew and wrote about them with sympathy as fellow human beings (Huck Finn and Pudd’n Head Wilson). He mastered three different and difficult careers (river pilot on the Mississippi, novelist, and lecturer). Married into a teetotaling, Abolitionist family, he learned to operate in genteel, Eastern social circles (with lots of clues from his adoring wife). Inspired by the potential of technology, he bankrupted himself investing in an improved way to set type that never became commercially feasible. Later in life, he was toasted by great writers and royalty throughout Europe, lived in enormous luxury, and found himself scrambling to earn a living to pay the mounting debts of his business failures. Perhaps no greater irony can come than having been the publisher for Grant’s memoirs. His own life was filled with enormous happiness and sadness. His wife and all but one of his children died before him. Ill health dogged his wife and children. I was fascinated to learn that Halley’s comet was blazing in the evening skies both when he was born and when he di

Burns does it again

After having the privilege to listen to Ken Burns introduce his new documentary on Mark Twain, I am even more awed by Twain's humble greatness both as the pre-eminent American author and a contemplative human being. Through this biography I noticed how similar Mark Twain's own development was to that of maturing America. In most cases Twain was ahead of his time.I was moved by the story of his cook's experience as a slave and Twain's own progressive thoughts on race. The research thatthis groups did into Twain's life and all the wonderful photos make him even more real and timeless. Mark Twain's humor is asrelevant today as it was almost 100 years ago. And that he is probably the greatest American novelist just makes Twain evenappealing.I plan on staying glued to my TV during the two nights in January when the series is played on PBS.