Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire

Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780815602682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
"Mark Twain was described by a contemporary newspaper as the "most influential anti-imperialist and the most dreaded critic of the sacrosanct person in the White House that the country contains." Although not a pacifist, Twain was the most prominent opponent of the Philippine-American War." "Today, however, this aspect of Mark Twain's career is barely known. His writings on the war have never been collected in a single volume, and a number of them are published here for the first time. Although he was a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 to 1910, until now no thorough study had been made of his relationship with the organized opposition to the war." "Drawing upon the unpublished manuscripts of Mark Twain and various leaders of the League, Jim Zwick's Introduction and headnotes provide the most complete account of Twain's involvement in the anti-imperialist movement." "Mark Twain's writings sparked intense controversy when they were written. Readers will appreciate the continuing relevance and quotability of his statements on the abuse of patriotism, the "treason" of requiring school children to salute the flag, the right to dissent, the importance of self-government, and the value of America's democratic and anticolonial traditions." "This book will prove valuable to all who are interested in Twain and his works as well as to teachers of literature, peace studies, and history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire

Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780815602682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Mark Twain was described by a contemporary newspaper as the "most influential anti-imperialist and the most dreaded critic of the sacrosanct person in the White House that the country contains." Although not a pacifist, Twain was the most prominent opponent of the Philippine-American War." "Today, however, this aspect of Mark Twain's career is barely known. His writings on the war have never been collected in a single volume, and a number of them are published here for the first time. Although he was a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 to 1910, until now no thorough study had been made of his relationship with the organized opposition to the war." "Drawing upon the unpublished manuscripts of Mark Twain and various leaders of the League, Jim Zwick's Introduction and headnotes provide the most complete account of Twain's involvement in the anti-imperialist movement." "Mark Twain's writings sparked intense controversy when they were written. Readers will appreciate the continuing relevance and quotability of his statements on the abuse of patriotism, the "treason" of requiring school children to salute the flag, the right to dissent, the importance of self-government, and the value of America's democratic and anticolonial traditions." "This book will prove valuable to all who are interested in Twain and his works as well as to teachers of literature, peace studies, and history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A Historical Guide to Mark Twain

A Historical Guide to Mark Twain PDF Author: Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Publisher: Historical Guides to American Authors
ISBN: 9780195132939
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Mark Twain is still one of the most enduring and beloved of America's great writers. In this guide to Twain, his life and times and the historical context in which he operated Shelley Fisher Fishkin assembles original essays by leading scholars that describe and define the man.

Confronting Imperialism

Confronting Imperialism PDF Author: Jim Zwick
Publisher: Infinity Pub
ISBN: 9780741444103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Confronting Imperialism is history for our times. Founded in 1898, the Anti-Imperialist League mobilized opposition to the Philippine-American War, still one of the most controversial wars in U.S. history. Until his death in 1910, Mark Twain was a vice president of the League and the most prominent literary opponent of the war. ¿We have got into a mess, a quagmire,¿ he said in 1900. In this collection of essays, Jim Zwick, editor of the first collection of Mark Twain¿s writings on the war, explores the history of the Anti-Imperialist League, Twain¿s anti-imperialist writings, and their continuing influence and relevance today.

Lighting Out for the Territory

Lighting Out for the Territory PDF Author: Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195121228
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Fishkin "offers an intriguing look at how Mark Twain's life and work have been cherished, memorialized, exploited, and misunderstood."

Reflections and Observations on Mark Twain's "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today"

Reflections and Observations on Mark Twain's Author: Fritz Dufour
Publisher: Fritz Dufour
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
The Gilded Age: a Tale of Today is a depiction of those crimes committed in the United States in the late 19th Century which so frequently went unpunished and of the casualties which ought to be called crimes. The description severely winds up with the satirical verdict “No one to blame.” The project of Colonel Sellers for raising mules for the Southern markets is a satire upon the fraudulency and soap-bubble speculation of capitalists. The work is full of hints and descriptions that take their rise from the frauds and outrages under which the country had plagued for so many years. Family, social and national questions are all cleverly satirized. The monument erected to the memory of the Father of his country – a monument begun, but, of course, never completed – calls forth some strokes of bitter but not unjust humor. The means by which preferment is obtained in Washington are amply satirized. There are two views of this book: favorable and unfavorable. This essay considers both. For instance, while some critics think that it is incoherent, others suggests that the narrative departs from the traditional methods of concluding and is thereby more natural than most novels because every chapter of the book bears the marks of both writers and is therefore a novelty in its way. In this essay I argue that The Gilded Age is essentially a satire and should always be accepted as such. Of course, other good contemporary books did not make it to our time in terms of popularity and legacy. The Gilded Age did. We talk, write, and read about it to this day. Evidently, it is an integral part of the annals of American literature and fully contributes to Mark Twain’s reputation, legacy, and lasting influence.

A Companion to Mark Twain

A Companion to Mark Twain PDF Author: Peter Messent
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119045398
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
This broad-ranging companion brings together respected American and European critics and a number of up-and-coming scholars to provide an overview of Twain, his background, his writings, and his place in American literary history. One of the most broad-ranging volumes to appear on Mark Twain in recent years Brings together respected Twain critics and a number of younger scholars in the field to provide an overview of this central figure in American literature Places special emphasis on the ways in which Twain's works remain both relevant and important for a twenty-first century audience A concluding essay evaluates the changing landscape of Twain criticism

The Reconstruction of Mark Twain

The Reconstruction of Mark Twain PDF Author: Joe B. Fulton
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807146951
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
When Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in April 1861, thousands of patriotic southerners rushed to enlist for the Confederate cause. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who grew up in the border state of Missouri in a slave-holding family, was among them. Clemens, who later achieved fame as the writer Mark Twain, served as second lieutenant in a Confederate militia, but only for two weeks, leading many to describe his loyalty to the Confederate cause as halfhearted at best. After all, Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) and his numerous speeches celebrating Abraham Lincoln, with their trenchant call for racial justice, inspired his crowning as "the Lincoln of our Literature." In The Reconstruction of Mark Twain, Joe B. Fulton challenges these long-held assumptions about Twain's advocacy of the Union cause, arguing that Clemens traveled a long and arduous path, moving from pro-slavery, secession, and the Confederacy to pro-union, and racially enlightened. Scattered and long-neglected texts written by Clemens before, during, and immediately after the Civil War, Fulton shows, tout pro-southern sentiments critical of abolitionists, free blacks, and the North for failing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. These obscure works reveal the dynamic process that reconstructed Twain in parallel with and response to events on American battlefields and in American politics. Beginning with Clemens's youth in Missouri, Fulton tracks the writer's transformation through the turbulent Civil War years as a southern-leaning reporter in Nevada and San Francisco to his raucous burlesques written while he worked as a Washington correspondent during the impeachment crises of 1867--1868. Fulton concludes with the writer's emergence as the country's satirist-in-chief in the postwar era. By explaining the relationship between the author's early pro-southern writings and his later stance as a champion for racial justice throughout the world, Fulton provides a new perspective on Twain's views and on his deep involvement with Civil War politics. A deft blend of biography, history, and literary studies, The Reconstruction of Mark Twain offers a bold new assessment of the work of one of America's most celebrated writers.

The Portable Mark Twain

The Portable Mark Twain PDF Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440649138
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 641

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Book Description
Satirist, novelist, and keen observer of the American scene, Mark Twain remains one of the world's best-loved writers. This delightful collection of Twain's favorite and most memorable writings includes selected tales and sketches such as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, How I Edited an Agricultural Journal Once, Jim Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn, and A True Story. It also features excerpts from his novels and travel books (including Roughing It, The Innocents Abroad, and Life on the Mississippi, among others; autobiographical and polemical writings; as well as selected letters and speeches. The collection also reprints the complete text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, including the often omitted raftsmen passage. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Mark Twain, A Literary Life

Mark Twain, A Literary Life PDF Author: Everett Emerson
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512821551
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title "Mark Twain endures. Readers sense his humanity, enjoy his humor, and appreciate his insights into human nature, even into such painful experiences as embarrassment and humiliation. No matter how remarkable the life of Samuel Clemens was, what matters most is the relationship of Mark Twain the writer and his writings. That is the subject of this book."—from the Preface In Mark Twain, A Literary Life, Everett Emerson revisits one of America's greatest and most popular writers to explore the relationship between the life of the writer and his writings. The assumption throughout is that to see Mark Twain's writings in focus, one must give proper attention to their biographical context. Mark Twain's literary career is fascinating in its strangeness. How could this genius have had so little sense of what he should next do? As a young man, Samuel Clemens's first vocation, that of journeyman printer, took him far from home to the sights of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, while his next vocation would give him the identity by which we most frequently know him. His choice of "Mark Twain" as a pen name cemented his bond with the river, as did such books as Life on the Mississippi and Huckleberry Finn. Then following an unsuccessful try at silver mining, Clemens worked as a newspaperman, humorist, lecturer, but also cultivated an interest in playwriting, politics, and philosophizing. In reporting the author's life, Emerson has endeavored to permit Mark Twain to tell his own story as much as possible, through the use of letters and autobiographical writings, some unpublished. These fascinating glimpses into the life of the writer will be of interest to all who have an abiding affection for Samuel Clemens and his extraordinary legacy.

Mark Twain's Literary Resources

Mark Twain's Literary Resources PDF Author: Alan Gribben
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 1588385663
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1124

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Book Description
Dr. Alan Gribben, a foremost Twain scholar, made waves in 1980 with the publication of Mark Twain's Library, a study that exposed for the first time the breadth of Twain's reading and influences. Prior to Gribben's work, much of Twain's reading history was assumed lost, but through dogged searching Gribben was able to source much of Twain's library. Mark Twain's Literary Resources is a much-expanded examination of Twain's library and readings. Volume I included Gribben's reflections on the work involved in cataloging Twain's reading and analysis of Twain's influences and opinions. This volume, long awaited, is an in-depth and comprehensive accounting of Twain's literary history. Each work read or owned by Twain is listed, along with information pertaining to editions, locations, and more. Gribben also includes scholarly annotations that explain the significance of many works, making this volume of Mark Twain's Literary Resources one of the most important additions to our understanding of America's greatest author.