

Dead for a Century, Twain Says What He Meant - donohoe
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/books/10twain.html?src=tp

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euroclydon
What do you folks think of Twain? I have limited exposure to his writings. I
recently read Last of the Mohicans and really enjoyed it. While searching for
more information on Cooper and Last of the Mohicans, I kept running into
criticism of him by Twain. Twain said his grammar sucked and that he
attributed romantic and ethical qualities to Native Americans which they
simply didn't have, because they were entirely blood-thirsty savages.

Twain seemed like quite the jackass for those remarks, especially since I
found Last of the Mohicans to be very readable and his portrayal of the
Mohicans to be very interesting as contrasted to the European characters in
the book. One such passage remarks that the Chief and his son, after
considering new information, turned their whole plan on a dime, exhibiting the
type of inconsistent behavior that would sink the career of a western
politician.

~~~
endtime
> because they were entirely blood-thirsty savages.

>[I found] his portrayal of the Mohicans to be very interesting as contrasted
to the European characters in the book.

I don't see why this makes him a jackass. You can enjoy a story without it
being accurate. I haven't met any Mohicans, but I am generally skeptical of
"noble savage" stereotypes.

~~~
euroclydon
"You can enjoy a story without it being accurate."

Tell that to Twain. He rails on Cooper.

~~~
chc
I don't think Twain cared about whether someone somewhere could enjoy the
story. Twain is commenting on the quality of the story, not certain
individuals' personal enjoyment. Similarly, lots of people like Twilight —
probably many times more than Last of the Mohicans — but it is not generally
regarded as world-class literature.

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avar
The article indicates that parts of it have been published before, but that
the previous editors gutted it.

This edition has six editors working on it. But the article doesn't indicate
what if any changes they're making.

Why can't they just publish the original manuscript?

~~~
waterlesscloud
Since it's clearly public domain, why not just release the whole thing online?

~~~
carussell
What makes you so sure that it's public domain? Of course the published forms
that Mark Twain and his friends published should be public domain, but these
seem to have been released in installments and other incomplete snippets. The
full, raw manuscript, which seems to be what's requested, would naturally
contain portions which were never published. Given that such a collection in
its entirety would be a pseudonymous, unpublished work, the entire manuscript
won't be in the public domain until 2031.

<http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm>
[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_0...](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000303
----000-.html)
[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_0...](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000302
----000-.html)

~~~
sabat
Since the copyright clause clearly states that copyright is allowed so that
living authors are encouraged to create more work, it makes perfect sense that
Twain's work from the 1900s will remain in copyright until 2031. This Twain
guy is going to do a lot more writing before then.

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todayiamme
The truly amazing thing is that his words are still relevant today. Isn't it
funny how everything is like a spiral? Even though things do move forward the
circular motion is a near constant of life.

People keep on talking about the good old days, while deep inside they are
afraid that there might not have been _any_ good old days. Perhaps the
emotions and struggles that are part and parcel of our existence are identical
to those of people long gone. Stripped of all details it looks like to me that
we just keep on repeating the same thing over and over again.

That observation aside the more fascinating question is why? Why do we let
history repeat itself in torturous detail? Why do we forget the lessons of our
past?

~~~
sgk284
I don't think its a cycle or a spiral so much as a constant. People have
always been greedy, wars have always been unnecessarily waged, companies have
always abused their power. The only thing that changes are the names of those
responsible for it.

As for older generations yelling about newer generations, I suspect that's
simply "wisdom of age" coupled with "fear of change".

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aw3c2
I am getting a sign-up page. It is freely available somewhere else?

~~~
ovi256
Clear your NYTimes cookies.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Single page:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/books/10twain.html?_r=1...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/books/10twain.html?_r=1&src=tp&pagewanted=all)

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DanielBMarkham
I like the fact that Twain was opinionated and sharply critical.

I also like the fact that he thought it best to wait for a hundred years to
unload all of this. We can read this now and put it in context, whereas at the
time it was only so many of his reactions. He had the sense to realize that
not everything you can think is something you should say publicly -- at least
while the folks you are talking about are still alive. He even included
himself in the list of professional idiots: _It is the will of God that we
must have critics, and missionaries, and Congressmen, and humorists, and we
must bear the burden._

Not just a humorist, but a pretty smart guy. I'm looking forward to the next
books in the series!

~~~
limist
And not just clever, witty, and progressive, but an honorable man, repaying
very large debts even when not legally required:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain#Financial_troubles>

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dantheman
Link to Amazon preorder: [http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Mark-Twain-
Vol-1/dp/0520...](http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Mark-Twain-
Vol-1/dp/0520267192/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278855282&sr=8-2)

~~~
ultra-nihilist
Thanks. This is going to be epic. The Texas school board will have to edit him
out of our history and English curriculum.

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nswanberg
Twain's "Roughing It" is hilarious. His writing style was absolutely unlike
any other 19th century writing I'd read.

It makes for great road trip or beach reading; or just download it and read a
few chapters: <http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3177>

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jashkenas
From the same archive, here's a previously-unpublished Twain essay about being
interviewed.

[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/documents/mark-twain-
con...](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/documents/mark-twain-concerning-
the-interview.html)

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sabat
Pre-ordering mine now.

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known
Best quotes from <http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mark_Twain/>

