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How To Tell A Story And Other Essays (1996)

How to Tell a Story and Other Essays (1996)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Rating
3.54 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0195101499 (ISBN13: 9780195101492)
Language
English
Publisher
oxford university press, usa

About book How To Tell A Story And Other Essays (1996)

This little book from the Gutenberg Project has several fairly short, essays within an essay about how to properly tell a humorous story.Mark Twain (AKA Samuel Clemens) became a popular writer with good reason. He writes well, handles dialects in a manner that is accurate and maintains the dignity of his characters.There seem to be various editions of essays by Twain, all having the same title, the Gutenberg edition and the Oxford Edition are quite similar, approaching identity, with the exception that the Gutenberg Project edition is a free download.Twain's humor is intact, as it is generally based on things that go beyond current events. When he discusses mental telegraphy (telepathy), however, he strikes an only slightly bemused, serious tone.I recommend these essays as an re-introduction for anyone that has not read an essay since High School (and then not willingly), anyone that wants to start reading Mark Twain again, and almost anyone else that is still drawing breath.

An interesting collection of stories and essays by Mark Twain, totally unconnected these little vignettes tells of his adventures and travels. Most of all I enjoyed the story he told of The wounded soldier and the death of his friend when he accompanied his remains on a train.Witty and enjoyable, its a refreshing and light hearted look at what Twain got upto, although short he packed a lot into this little volume of his experiences. Well worth a read especially if you are a fan of the author in general.

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Like most essay collections (especially those by Twain, who wrote a good deal of work, so not all of it approaches the greatness of his best known work), this one is uneven. The best moments are when you see Twain defend those who can't speak for themselves (Harriet Shelley, whose husband, Percy Shelley, cheated on her, then left her for another woman); when he defends America against an attack from a French writer (though Twain certainly criticized America when we needed it); and, of course, when he makes fun of Fenimore Cooper's literary offenses. The others are not all that memorable, though they're interesting from an historical sense, and he'll slip in one-liners from time to time, as he was wont to do.
—Kevin Brown

Rather abrupt changes with little to no flow between them, although the anecdotes themselves are fine. It wasn't quite what I was expecting; I had assumed the "other essays" mentioned were essays about writing, when in reality they were just whatever Twain had thought of at the moment, including his views on ESP.This makes sense, however: at the time this was published, Twain was going completely bankrupt. He was churning out piece after piece to make ends meet, these essays among them. The diminishing quality truly does show.
—Jay Stevens

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