Posted on 01/07/2011 8:26:26 PM PST by SunkenCiv
This thread will contain the entire text of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, who was not only a socialist, and never worked a day in his life, but also believed that William Shakespeare didn't write the works of William Shakespeare. IOW, he was a deeply flawed do-nothing who happened to become (temporarily) successful in middle age.
"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn... American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." -- Ernest Hemingway, "Green Hills of Africa" (1935)related:
Of course he worked in his life - he worked on boats on the Mississippi
He also worked at a printing press, and a lot of other jobs. Later, he became a writer, and if you don’t think that’s work, try tossing off a novel one afternoon in your spare time.
Many prominent writers have questioned the authorship of Shakespeare’s work. I don’t agree with them, but it’s not ipso facto an indication of stupidity or evil.
IIRC Moby Dick predated Huck by about 30 years. There's also Nathaniel Hawthorne.
That said, Clemens is clearly an American treasure.
And, he was a damn fine author.
For those who have not read Huckleberry Finn, or who have not read it since their youth...I recommend giving it another run. I have recently and it's still astounding. He paints a portrait few could imagine.
Are you saying Finn was a socialist or
Twain?
Based on Twain’s writings he was a
conservative who believed in smaller
government.
Moby Dick is unreadable.
Find me somebody that claims they’ve read it front to back (not an abridged version) and I’ll show you a liar.
I guess that's why everyone today still knows of Twain and his newly released autobiography is a best seller.
I've read it in its entirety twice. Great book.
lol...I haven't studied Mody Dick in so many years that I had forgotten how the original work stirred up such passions.
You have obviously tried to read it...and walked away angry. Can you remind us of why it was so unreadable?
As a grade school boy who lived in a town on the Mississippi where Twain once lived, I and others studied Twain’s writings including Huckleberry Finn. I thought I had a copy of the book. However, right now I can’t locate it. However I do have my One Volume Edition of ‘ The Complete Short Stories and Famous Essays of MARK TWAIN’. It has over 1000 pages about Twain with his stories. Copywrites are from late 1880s to early 1900s. The one not in the Book is about ‘Huckleberry Finn’. Twain was a remarkable and prolific teller of stories and about world places and conditions.
I’ve read it and enjoyed it. I occasionally like to read something in that old style of writing in which the author took the time to say what he intended instead of pushing on to the next explosion.
As a grade school boy who lived in a town on the Mississippi where Twain once lived, I and others studied Twain’s writings including Huckleberry Finn. I thought I had a copy of the book. However, right now I can’t locate it. However I do have my One Volume Edition of ‘ The Complete Short Stories and Famous Essays of MARK TWAIN’. It has over 1000 pages about Twain with his stories. Copywrites are from late 1880s to early 1900s. The one not in the Book is about ‘Huckleberry Finn’. Twain was a remarkable and prolific teller of stories and about world places and conditions.
It's a fine point I make, but it's a point nonetheless: "William Shakespeare" wrote the plays of William Shakespeare.
But Twain had doubts about who precisely this "William Shakespeare" was.
As do many scholars.
That is like saying the U.S. Constitution is hard to understand.
I’ll admit I never could get through Moby Dick. And I really loved to read in my youth. Just plain painful. I never finished the comic book version either and hate the movie with Gregory Peck. Never watched all of it either.
“Moby Dick is unreadable.”
Preach it, brother.
I can seem to find that book or story, any clues?,
I have read many of the Twain/Clemens writing and books written about him, in my library. Just got the 100 yr. BIO Vol 1 for Christmas.
Visited Hannibal several years ago, great place.
Well, Hemmingway considered himself a writer, and at the time was probably thinking of Twain as a newspaper columnist. (Bob Roach's Plan For Circumventing A Democrat) Columnist/communist- they kinda sound alike, I guess, but he also tried his hand as a publisher. So right there are two occupations which might get him on the shit-list of some literary-minded guys.
“never worked a day in his life”
Read “Life on the Mississippi. He didn’t just work on boats, he was a riverboat pilot (hence the pen name Mark Twain). “Life...” tells in detail how you become a riverboat pilot, which takes years of practice to get good at. And requires brains and an incredible memory. And it’s really hard — four hours on, four hours off.
Twain could be unpleasant, especially after the deaths of two of his daughters, but he was no slacker.
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