The Impossibility of Knowing Mark Twain
theparisreview.org
theparisreview.org
But also because Tom Sawyer was the first book I had read as a child that put the taste of Southern grass in my mouth and the feeling of thick humidity reaching out and strangling me.
I don't always like writers from past times (the older they are, the harder the mental overhead in feeling the story), but he was one from another time that intoxicated me, even as a "millennial" hooked on comics and video games.
This article and other comments have inspired me to dig a bit more into the man.
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is surprisingly bitter, but also a good read.
Also plenty of short stories are worth reading if you don't have time for a novel. A short amusing one about home security: https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story...
And thanks for the recommendations :)
> In the course of his long career, Sam Clemens lost as many friends as he made. He did not suffer fools or rivals gladly, especially if they wore crinoline.
Is "if they wore crinoline" an oblique way of saying "if they were women," or is it a turn of phrase meaning something else? I ask because I don't feel like many would understand (perhaps I'm wrong, given the forum?) the significance of "crinoline," a material that, as far as I know, is no longer in regular use...
I would lean toward it meaning "if they were women," but the lists after that phrase are generally men, with only two women.
This essay is excerpted from The Life of Mark Twain: The Early Years. The relevant quote it:
> In the course of his long career, Sam Clemens lost as many friends as he made. He did not suffer fools or rivals gladly, especially if they wore crinoline. He targeted them indiscriminately—from religious leaders (e.g., Mary Baker Eddy, John Alexander Dowie, De Witt Talmage), politicians (William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Tim Sullivan), fellow writers and lecturers (Bret Harte, Kate Field), to literary pirates (John Camden Hotten) and military leaders (Frederick Funston).
From "Twain in His Own Time" (same author), we see very similar text, but not identical - https://books.google.com/books?id=Po0GV2mONToC&pg=PR17&dq=%2... :
> In the course of his long career, Mark Twain lost as many friend as he made. He did not suffer fools or rivals gladly, especially if they wore crinoline. He targeted them indiscriminately - from religious leaders (for example, Mary Baker Eddy, John Alexander Dowie, DeWitt Talmadge), to politicians (William McKinley, Tim Sullivan), to fellow writers and lecturers (Bret Harte, Kate Field), to literary pirates (John Camden Hotten), to military leaders (Frederick Funston)."
From "Kate Field: The Many Lives of a Nineteenth-century American Journalist" (same author: - https://books.google.com/books?id=y3j5MT6gM5EC&pg=PA82&dq=%2...
> ... and coedited the Buffalo Express. He did not suffer rivals gladly, especially those who wore crinoline. In early January ...
The author might have become enamoured with this phrase, re-using it when it doesn’t make so much sense.
In looking for a connection between Twain and crinoline just now (spurred by your comment), I found https://webb-deane-stevens.org/swimming-against-the-tide-in-... :
> In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum will host a lecture, “Swimming Against the Tide in Crinoline and Pin Curls: The Life and Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker,” ... Raised to believe that her place was at home, Hooker chaffed at the role. She was prickly. She refused to go quietly. She sided against her powerful family when her brother, a noted minister, was involved in a sex scandal that rocked the nation. Though he was a neighbor, Mark Twain avoided her, as did some of her family members.
On the other hand, there's also the book "Crusader in Crinoline: the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe", and Stowe and Twain were next-door neighbors and friends.
What a dream I had, Pressed in organdy, Clothed in crinoline, Of smoky burgundy, Softer than the rain.
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her
From the various Google Books matches, I get the sense that some people were against crinoline. Eg, from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=CmWbmSzGNNsC&dq=%22w...
> "But," say the opponents of crinoline, "why carry a heavier burden than is absolutely necessary?" We reply that the tension of silks, ...
> Crinoline has been the most abused article under the sun, but ladies have been unanimous in its praise ..
Example: http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2012/08/death-by-crinoline....
I rock flannel and love my military cut! Am not a hipster!
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/70/70-h/70-h.htm
Would definitely recommend this one.
His 3 volumes autobiography is a long but amazing read, just like his letters. But my favorite is "Life on the Mississippi". All this is close to 2000 pages but it's worth reading.
http://www.marktwainproject.org/landing_writings.shtml
I listened to the audiobook version, as my preference/availability. Highly recommended.