Heretical Fictions

Heretical Fictions PDF Author: LAWRENCE I. BERKOVE
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1587299372
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Heretical Fictions is the first full-length study to assess the importance of Twain’s heretical Calvinism as the foundation of his major works, bringing to light important thematic ties that connect the author’s early work to his high period and from there to his late work. Berkove and Csicsila set forth the main elements of Twain’s “countertheological” interpretation of Calvinism and analyze in detail the way it shapes five of his major books—Roughing It, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger—as well as some of his major short stories. The result is a ground-breaking and unconventional portrait of a seminal figure in American letters.

Heretical Fictions

Heretical Fictions PDF Author: LAWRENCE I. BERKOVE
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1587299372
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Heretical Fictions is the first full-length study to assess the importance of Twain’s heretical Calvinism as the foundation of his major works, bringing to light important thematic ties that connect the author’s early work to his high period and from there to his late work. Berkove and Csicsila set forth the main elements of Twain’s “countertheological” interpretation of Calvinism and analyze in detail the way it shapes five of his major books—Roughing It, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger—as well as some of his major short stories. The result is a ground-breaking and unconventional portrait of a seminal figure in American letters.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain PDF Author: Ray Comfort
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 0890518459
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
From the pages of a long-hidden manuscript written by a man filled with disappointment and anger, you will discover the truth about Mark Twain’s embittered battle with God! Evidence in his work that proves he wasn't an atheistSelections from his letters and popular works that reveal his confused faithPerspectives from Twain on God that echo modern criticism and doubts. Twain was a very popular and gifted speaker with a carefully cultivated image. Few knew he secretly wrote a manuscript complaining bitterly about the God of the Bible, citing hypocrisy and cruelties, like there would be no sex in heaven. Twain decided to have his book published 100 years after his death in the hope that society would then be open-minded enough to listen. Ray Comfort searches through volumes of Twain’s writings to develop a comprehensive answer to this profound writer of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and a man who suffered much. Discover Twain’s arguments with God and a powerful response that helps strengthen your faith and understanding of our loving Creator!

Letters From The Earth

Letters From The Earth PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Youcanprint
ISBN: 8892658379
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by contrast -- archangels -- their heads level with His ankle-bone. When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. Behold!" He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe. At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed. They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it.

Christian Science

Christian Science PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Castrovilli Giuseppe
ISBN:
Category : Christian Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In this book, my [Twain's] purpose has been to present a character portrait of Mrs. Eddy [founder of Christian Science Society], drawn from her own acts and words solely, not from hearsay and rumor; and to explain the nature an scope of her Monarchy, as revealed in the laws by which she governs it, and which she wrote herself. The controversial text was originally rejected by Twain's publisher.

Chapters from My Autobiography

Chapters from My Autobiography PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: The Floating Press
ISBN: 1775417077
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Renowned American humorist Mark Twain turns his incisive wit loose on his own life story in this unique take on the nineteenth-century memoir. Originally composed in a format that studiously ignored the careful chronological structure that most autobiographies follow, these essays were first published in book form ten years after the author's death. Twain fans will love the author's account of his quintessentially American upbringing, wildly zig-zagging career path, and gradual transition into the writing life.

The Bible According to Mark Twain

The Bible According to Mark Twain PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820316504
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
This volume collects the most important writings by Mark Twain in which he used biblical settings, themes, and figures. Featuring Twain's singular portrayals of God, Adam, Eve, Satan, Methuselah, Shem, St. Peter, and others, the writings stand among Twain's most imaginative expressions of his views on human nature and humankind's relation to the Creator and the universe. Composed over four decades (1871-1910), the writings range from farce to fantasy to satire, each one bearing the mark of Twain's unmistakable wit and insight. Among the many delights in store for readers are Adam and Eve's divergent accounts of their domestic troubles; Methuselah's discussion of an ancient version of baseball, complete with a parody of baseball jargon; Shem's hand-wringing account of how material shortages and labor troubles were hampering the progress of the ark his father, Noah, was building; a description of the disruptive actions of the fire-and-brimstone evangelist Sam Jones upon arriving in heaven; Captain Stormfield's revelations of what heaven is really like; Satan's musings on our puerile concepts of the afterlife; and Twain's advice on how to dress and tip properly in heaven. Twain's humor, however, is never gratuitous. As readers laugh their way through this volume, they will find ample evidence of Twain's concerns about scriptural fallacies and inconsistencies, the Bible's rather flat portrayal of important characters, and our limited notions about the nature and meaning of our own--and God's--existence. Many of the pieces in this collection, even the most lighthearted, might still be considered controversial; of some of the darker pieces, Twain himself acknowledged that they would be heretical in any age. Moreover, these writings are valuable cultural artifacts of a time when, across the Western world, fundamental religious beliefs were being called into question by the precepts of Darwinism and the rapid advances of science and technology. Several of this volume's selections are previously unpublished; others, like Letters from the Earth, are classics. Virtually all have been newly edited to reflect as closely as possible Twain's final intentions for their form and content. For serious Twain devotees, editors Howard G. Baetzhold and Joseph B. McCullough have supplied an abundance of background material on the writings, including details on the history of their composition, publication, and relevance to the Twain canon.

Mark Twain and Philosophy

Mark Twain and Philosophy PDF Author: Alan Goldman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442261722
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Mark Twain, the “Father of American Literature,” and renowned humorist, satirist, and commentator on humanity and American life, is best known for his classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s body of work, however, is expansive; from Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court to the travelogue The Innocents Abroad and essays on human nature, religion, science, and literature, no aspect of life is left untouched by Twain. His portrayal of American life, ripe with the contradictions of America’s ideals and its actual practices, as well as his characters, at once fantastical and completely human, provide a window onto humanity and social life. As the third book in the Great Authors and Philosophy series, Mark Twain and Philosophy reveals deeper issues raised by Twain’s work and speaks to his continued relevance as a social commentator interrogating issues fundamental to our lives. From slavery, freedom, and human rights, to science, parapsychology, and religion, this book exposes how Twain’s body of work touches every corner of human experience.

Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age

Mark Twain and the Spiritual Crisis of His Age PDF Author: Harold K. Bush
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN: 9780817355487
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
The writer’s fascination with America’s spiritual and religious evolution in the 19th century. Mark Twain is often pictured as a severe critic of religious piety, shaking his fist at God and mocking the devout. Such a view, however, is only partly correct. It ignores the social realities of Twain’s major period as a writer and his own spiritual interests: his participation in church activities, his socially progressive agenda, his reliance on religious themes in his major works, and his friendships with clergymen, especially his pastor and best friend, Joe Twichell. It also betrays a conception of religion that is more contemporary than that of the period in which he lived. Harold K. Bush Jr. highlights Twain’s attractions to and engagements with the wide variety of religious phenomena of America in his lifetime, and how these matters affected his writings. Though Twain lived in an era of tremendous religious vigor, it was also a time of spiritual upheaval and crisis. The rise of biological and psychological sciences, the criticism of biblical texts as literary documents, the influx of world religions and immigrant communities, and the trauma of the Civil War all had dramatic effects on America’s religious life. At the same time mass urban revivalism, the ecumenical movement, Social Christianity, and occultic phenomena, like spiritualism and mind sciences, all rushed in to fill the voids. The rapid growth of agnosticism in the 1870s and 1880s is also clearly reflected in Twain’s life and writings. Thus Twain’s career reflects in an unusually resonant way the vast changes in American belief during his lifetime. Bush’s study offers both a new and more complicated understanding of Twain and his literary output and serves as the cultural biography of an era.

The Outrageous Mark Twain

The Outrageous Mark Twain PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Doubleday Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
With "Reflection on Religion" now in book form for the first time. Includes 1601; Science of Onanism; Extract from Captain Stormfield's visit to Heaven; Open letter to Commodore Vanderbilt; (etc.).

Mark Twain's Religion

Mark Twain's Religion PDF Author: William E. Phipps
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865548466
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
Although there are many studies of America's most famous literary figure, this thorough investigation provides not only new information on Twain's religion, but also a different approach from anything published before. Interpretations of Twain over the past century have been largely the province of literary critics. By skillful textual analysis they have produced an abundance of nuanced studies, but they tend to have little interest in, and knowledge of, the broad religious context of Victorian society, which both angered and intrigued Twain. Phipps provides perceptions often overlooked into the way Clemens's religion was related to such significant issues as racism, imperialism, and materialism. This study takes a close look at his growing up in the slave culture of Missouri Protestants and his subsequent involvement in the radically different abolition culture in which his wire was raised. Like Twain, who aimed at communicating with the common person, Phipps has written in a style that will attract the educated public while providing fresh insights for Twain scholars. His research has taken him to Hannibal, Elmira Hartford, and to the Twain archives in Berkeley. Mostly chronological, the book makes extensive use of Twain's works and, often neglected in such studies on Twain, the Bible, his most important literary source.