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Last night we were at a friend’s house and got to chatting about Mark Twain. He’s one of my dad’s favorite writers, we have a huge anthology of a billion of his short stories and several novels… but my problem in reading it is that I can’t decide where to start. So I was wondering–who’s got a favorite Twain short story? So far I love, what’s it called… is it This Awful German Language? The one about German, anyhow. I was laughing my arse off at that, because it just strikes right to the heart of things.
Anywho, I know there are a ton of his lesser-known writings, and I was wondering if anyone knew about the better ones and could recommend them to me. Everyone’s read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but there are so many other stories that don’t get nearly as much attention despite being equivalently good.
That’s a toughie…I haven’t read Twain for 10 years now….There is a pretty cool clamation film about him tho….Well, it’s mostly kind of corny, but it remains one of my more memorable films from when I was little
Greater Basilisk wrote:You can’t ask for favorites from Mark Twain! On the Decay of the Art of Lying is hilarious…
I’m not asking for favorites so much as a place to start, hehe.
Have you found a place to start? The Awful German Language is great too – but it’s even funnier if you know a little German. I wish Twain had written something on Swiss German.
Greater Basilisk wrote:Have you found a place to start? The Awful German Language is great too – but it’s even funnier if you know a little German. I wish Twain had written something on Swiss German.
Hah! I’ve heard tales of Swiss German, I bet he would’ve had a hay day.
😆 It’s the coolest language ever. I wonder he didn’t write about it. He stayed in Luzern. He’d have heard it spoken.
I ran across a book called “Mark Twain on the Damned Human Race” which, despite its title, is mostly funny. Apparently it’s a collection of writings that Twain considered too controversial and intended to have published several years after his death. There’ve been at least three versions printed, each one omitting certain articles that were delicate topics at the time. Some of the topics cut pretty close to the bone regarding human nature, and are funny. But Twain also makes some very cutting remarks on world affairs of the era, particularly the US’s involvement in the Philippines (ouch). It’s worth reading, but probably best taken in small bites.
Edit: I don’t know how I could have forgotten–try “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, or any of the books with collected quotes by Twain.Nirvanacat13 wrote:There is a pretty cool clamation film about him tho….Well, it’s mostly kind of corny, but it remains one of my more memorable films from when I was little
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088678/
ROFL! I have that sitting right next to me. I saw it for sale at deepdiscountdvd.com and bought it just a few weeks ago. I loved it as a child.
I also love Mark Twain. I actually wrote a 20 page high school term paper on three of his works. I was greatly entertained by The Innocents Abroad myself.
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