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Overview"Mark Twain once claimed that he could read human character as well as he could read the Mississippi River, and he studied his fellow humans with the same devoted attention. In both his fiction and his nonfiction, he was disposed to dramatize how the human creature acts in a given environment - and to understand why. Now one of America's preeminent Twain scholars takes a closer look at this icon's abiding interest in his fellow creatures. In seeking to account for how Twain might have reasonably believed the things he said he believed, Tom Quirk has interwoven the author's inner life with his writings to produce a meditation on how Twain's understanding of human nature evolved and deepened and to show that this was one of the central preoccupations of his life. Quirk charts the ways in which this humorist and occasional philosopher contemplated the subject of human nature from early adulthood until the end of his life, revealing how his outlook changed over the years. His travels, his readings in history and science, his political and social commitments, and his own pragmatic testing of human nature in his writing contributed to Twain's mature view of his kind. Quirk establishes the social and scientific contexts that clarify Twain's thinking, and he considers not only Twain's stated intentions about his purposes in his published works but also his ad hoc remarks about the human condition. Viewing both major and minor works through the lens of Twain's shifting attitude, Quirk provides refreshing new perspectives on the master's oeuvre. He offers a detailed look at the travel writings, including """"The Innocents Abroad"""" and """"Following the Equator"""", the novels, including """"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"""", """"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"""", and """"Pudd'nhead Wilson""""; and an important review of works from Twain's last decade, including fantasies centering on man's insignificance in """"Creation"""", works preoccupied with isolation - notably """"No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger"""" and """"Eve's Diary"""" - and polemical writings such as """"What is Man?"""" Comprising the well-seasoned reflections of a mature scholar, this persuasive and eminently readable study comes to terms with the life-shaping ideas and attitudes of one of America's best-loved writers. """"Mark Twain and Human Nature"""" offers readers a better understanding of Twain's intellect as it enriches our understanding of his craft and his ineluctable humor." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Tom QuirkPublisher: University of Missouri Press Imprint: University of Missouri Press Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.50cm Weight: 0.588kg ISBN: 9780826217585ISBN 10: 0826217583 Pages: 304 Publication Date: 31 October 2007 Audience: College/higher education , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Awaiting stock  The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you. Table of ContentsReviewsMark Twain and Human Nature will fascinate and energize Twainians because it engages with the quintessential Twain (and will stir up controversy because it challenges many a consensus about his major books). The alert general readers will recognize an educative yet inviting meditation on the basic, life-shaping ideas and attitudes of one of the most widely known American writers. <p> Essential reading for any student or scholar. This may be one of the most important books attempting to come to terms with the evolution of Twain's 'gospel of man'--especially his preoccupation with human nature--to be written. <br> --Joseph McCullough, coeditor of The Bible According to Mark Twain Essential reading for any student or scholar. This may be one of the most important books attempting to come to terms with the evolution of Twain's 'gospel of man'--especially his preoccupation with human nature--to be written. <br> --Joseph McCullough, coeditor of The Bible According to Mark Twain Author InformationTom Quirk is author or editor of numerous books, including Nothing Abstract: Investigations in the American Literary Imagination (University of Missouri Press), Mark Twain: A Study of the Short Fiction, and The Portable Mark Twain. He is Professor of English at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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