Mark Twain's Aquarium

Mark Twain's Aquarium PDF Author: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820334987
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
"What I lacked and what I needed," confessed Samuel Clemens in 1908, "was grandchildren." Near the end of his life, Clemens became the doting friend and correspondent of twelve schoolgirls ranging in age from ten to sixteen. For Clemens, "collecting" these surrogate granddaughters was a way of overcoming his loneliness, a respite from the pessimism, illness, and depression that dominated his later years. In Mark Twain's Aquarium, John Cooley brings together virtually every known communication exchanged between the writer and the girls he called his "angelfish." Cooley also includes a number of Clemens's notebook entries, autobiographical dictations, short manuscripts, and other relevant materials that further illuminate this fascinating story. Clemens relished the attention of these girls, orchestrating chaperoned visits to his homes and creating an elaborate set of rules and emblems for the Aquarium Club. He hung their portraits in his billiard room and invented games and plays for their amusement. For much of 1908, he was sending and receiving a letter a week from his angelfish. Cooley argues that Clemens saw cheerfulness and laughter as his only defenses against the despair of his late years. His enchantment with children, years before, had given birth to such characters as Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, and Huck Finn. In the frivolities of the Aquarium Club, it found its final expression. Cooley finds no evidence of impropriety in Clemens behavior with the girls. Perhaps his greatest crime, the editor suggests, was in idealizing them, in regarding them as precious collectibles. "He tried to trap them in the amber of endless adolescence," Cooley writes. "By pleading that they stay young and innocent, he was perhaps attempting to deny that, as they and the world continued to change, so must he."

Mark Twain's Aquarium

Mark Twain's Aquarium PDF Author: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820334987
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
"What I lacked and what I needed," confessed Samuel Clemens in 1908, "was grandchildren." Near the end of his life, Clemens became the doting friend and correspondent of twelve schoolgirls ranging in age from ten to sixteen. For Clemens, "collecting" these surrogate granddaughters was a way of overcoming his loneliness, a respite from the pessimism, illness, and depression that dominated his later years. In Mark Twain's Aquarium, John Cooley brings together virtually every known communication exchanged between the writer and the girls he called his "angelfish." Cooley also includes a number of Clemens's notebook entries, autobiographical dictations, short manuscripts, and other relevant materials that further illuminate this fascinating story. Clemens relished the attention of these girls, orchestrating chaperoned visits to his homes and creating an elaborate set of rules and emblems for the Aquarium Club. He hung their portraits in his billiard room and invented games and plays for their amusement. For much of 1908, he was sending and receiving a letter a week from his angelfish. Cooley argues that Clemens saw cheerfulness and laughter as his only defenses against the despair of his late years. His enchantment with children, years before, had given birth to such characters as Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, and Huck Finn. In the frivolities of the Aquarium Club, it found its final expression. Cooley finds no evidence of impropriety in Clemens behavior with the girls. Perhaps his greatest crime, the editor suggests, was in idealizing them, in regarding them as precious collectibles. "He tried to trap them in the amber of endless adolescence," Cooley writes. "By pleading that they stay young and innocent, he was perhaps attempting to deny that, as they and the world continued to change, so must he."

Mark Twain and the Happy Island

Mark Twain and the Happy Island PDF Author: Elizabeth Wallace
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description


Who Is Mark Twain?

Who Is Mark Twain? PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062020854
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
“More than 100 years after [Twain] wrote these stories, they remain not only remarkably funny but remarkably modern. . . . Ninety-nine years after his death, Twain still manages to get the last laugh.” — Vanity Fair Who Is Mark Twain? is a collection of twenty six wickedly funny, thought-provoking essays by Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—none of which have ever been published before. "You had better shove this in the stove," Mark Twain said at the top of an 1865 letter to his brother, "for I don't want any absurd ‘literary remains' and ‘unpublished letters of Mark Twain' published after I am planted." He was joking, of course. But when Mark Twain died in 1910, he left behind the largest collection of personal papers created by any nineteenth-century American author. Who Is Mark Twain? presents twenty-six wickedly funny, disarmingly relevant pieces by the American master—a man who was well ahead of his time.

How Nancy Jackson Married Kate Wilson and Other Tales of Rebellious Girls & Daring Young Women

How Nancy Jackson Married Kate Wilson and Other Tales of Rebellious Girls & Daring Young Women PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803294424
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Presents a collection of thirteen stories about unconventional girls and women.

Twain's End

Twain's End PDF Author: Lynn Cullen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476758972
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both, wrote a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, and then --with his daughter, Clara Clemens--slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family."--Page 4 of cover

The Carp

The Carp PDF Author: R. Billard
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781852331184
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
As a group, carp provide 4 million metric tonnes of fish annually - over a quarter of all fish culture worldwide. For the first time, a book is available in English that concentrates solely on the carp as an economic rather than an ornamental fish with a panel of international experts producing a comprehensive, practical volume about carp production and management. Starting with a brief look at the biology of cyprinids, the book then discusses the methods and management of carp farming, from water quality to the economics of fish production in ponds. Novel methods to improve stock, including genetic engineering, are covered and case studies give added value to the text. As carp farming turns from traditional to intensive methods, farmers, researchers and technicians in industry will welcome this benchmark volume, which also is a valuable reference book for graduate and postgraduate students and lecturers in aquaculture.

Good Night Connecticut

Good Night Connecticut PDF Author: Christina Vrba
Publisher: Good Night Books
ISBN: 160219906X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
This soothing nightime board book gives young readers an upfront and personal tour of the scenic state of Connecticut. Children quickly recognize their most cherished icons and landmarks including Long Island Sound and the coast, tall ships of Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, Dinosaur State Park, Essex Steam Train, Mark Twain House and Museum, Lake Compounce, old stone walls, USS Nautilus, Connecticut River and ferry boats, Gillette Castle, Huskies, and more.

The One-Week Job Project

The One-Week Job Project PDF Author: Sean Aiken
Publisher: Villard
ISBN: 0345516915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
THE REMARKABLE AND INSPIRING TRUE STORY OF ONE GUY WHO TRANSFORMED HIS UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE FUTURE INTO ACTION A year and a half after he graduated from college, Sean Aiken found himself struggling to answer the question “What should I do with my life?” His mother suggested teaching. His older sister told him to apply for an entry-level corporate position. His father said, “It doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about.” Taking his father’s advice to heart, Sean created the One-Week Job Project and launched himself on an epic journey to find his passion. His goal: to work fifty-two jobs in fifty-two weeks. After the launch of his website, oneweekjob.com, the offers began pouring in. Sean’s first gig was—literally—jumping off a bridge, as a bungee operator in British Columbia. From there he traveled across Canada and the United States, reinventing himself as a firefighter, an aquarium host, a radio DJ, a martial arts instructor, an NHL mascot, and a snowshoe guide. During the course of his seven-day stints, from a Florida stock-trading floor to a cattle ranch in the wilds of Wyoming to a real estate office in Beverly Hills, Sean found time to make new friends and even fall in love. Whether choosing a spring fashion line, brewing beer, or milking a cow, Sean continued to ask himself and others about what success really means and how we find happiness—all while having the adventure of his life. Inventive and empowering, witty and wise, The One-Week Job Project is a book that will give you the courage to follow your passion. Or, as Mark Twain said, “Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Wild Nights!

Wild Nights! PDF Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061757535
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates’ imaginative look at the last days of five giants of American literature, now available in a deluxe paperback edition in Ecco’s The Art of the Story Series. Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Samuel Clemens (“Mark Twain”), Henry James, Ernest Hemingway—Joyce Carol Oates evokes each of these American literary icons in this work of prose fiction, poignantly and audaciously reinventing the climactic events of their lives. In subtly nuanced language suggestive of each of these writers, Oates explores the mysterious regions of the unknowable self that is “genius.” Darkly hilarious, brilliant, and brazen, Wild Nights! is an original and haunting work of the imagination.

Lost Girls

Lost Girls PDF Author: Linda Simon
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780238738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
In the glorious, boozy party after the first World War, a new being burst defiantly onto the world stage: the so-called flapper. Young, impetuous, and flirtatious, she was an alluring, controversial figure, celebrated in movies, fiction, plays, and the pages of fashion magazines. But, as this book argues, she didn’t appear out of nowhere. This spirited, beautifully illustrated history presents a fresh look at the reality of young women’s experiences in America and Britain from the 1890s to the 1920s, when the “modern” girl emerged. Linda Simon shows us how this modern girl bravely created a culture, a look, and a future of her own. Lost Girls is an illuminating history of the iconic flapper as she evolved from a problem to a temptation, and finally, in the 1920s and beyond, to an aspiration.