Awards
- Winner of PROSE (Biography/Autobiography) 2010
- Winner of PROSE (Excel in Humanities) 2010
Overview
""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 The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be ""dead, and unaware, and indifferent,"" and that he was therefore free to speak his ""whole frank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
Full Product Details
Author: Mark Twain ,
Harriet E. Smith ,
Benjamin Griffin ,
Victor Fischer
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Volume: 10
Dimensions:
Width: 17.80cm
, Height: 6.30cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 1.860kg
ISBN: 9780520267190
ISBN 10: 0520267192
Pages: 760
Publication Date: 15 November 2010
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Dip into the first enormous volume of Twain's autobiography that he had decreed should not appear until 100 years after his death. And Twain will begin to seem strange again, alluring and still astonishing, but less sure-footed, and at times both puzzled and puzzling in ways that still resonate with us, though not the ways we might expect. --New York Times Twain generously provides the 21st century aficionado a marvelous read. His crystalline humor and expansive range are a continuous source of delight and awe... [He] has given us 'an astonishment' in his autobiography with his final, beautifully unorganized genius and intemperate thoughts. Pull up a chair and revel. --Los Angeles Times Book Review Twain's writing here is electric, alternately moving and hilarious. He couldn't write a ho-hum sentence. --Library Journal His whole frank mind,' sharp and funny, is seared onto every page. A --Entertainment Weekly Promises a no-holds barred perspective on Twain's life, and will be rich with rambunctious, uncompromising opinions. --Herald Scotland
Author Information
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.
