Synopses & Reviews
This book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark Twainand#8217;s private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing.
Mark Twain began to write and#147;A Family Sketchand#8221; in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrensand#8217; sayingsand#151;and#147;Small Foolishnessesand#8221;and#151;is next, followed by the related manuscript and#147;At the Farm.and#8221; Also included are selections from Livyand#8217;s 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susyand#8217;s biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family.
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Review
"A rare treat: a glimpse into the home life of one of Americaand#8217;s greatest authors...in his own words."
Synopsis
and#147;It doesnand#8217;t matter how long Mark Twainand#8217;s papers are lost, misplaced or forgotten. What does matter is that someone somewhere sees fit to bring them back. A Family Sketch is just what a sensible doctor might order for a nation like ours that desperately needs Twain more than ever before. The celebrated author who celebrated a lowly California frog shows that heand#8217;s wittier and wiser than any TV personality or psychiatrist. Wherever you go this summer or any season of the year take A Family Sketch with you. Youand#8217;ll enjoy meeting Twainand#8217;s wife Livy and daughter Susy who demonstrate that Mr. Clemens wasnand#8217;t the only writer in the family.and#8221;and#151;Jonah Raskin, author of A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature
About the Author
Benjamin Griffin is an editor at the Mark Twain Project, which is housed within the Mark Twain Papers, the worlds largest archive of primary materials by this major American writer.
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910), born Hannibal, Missouri. Successively, riverboat pilot, prospector, and writer. Author, Huckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyer; other classics of American literature.
Olivia Langdon Clemens, from Elmira, New York, married Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) in 1869. She bore him four children, and served him as editor and literary adviser.
Susy (Olivia Susan Clemens) was Mark Twain's eldest daughter. Raised in Hartford and Elmira, she was talented and high-strung. At thirteen, she wrote a biography of her father. Later she briefly attended Bryn Mawr. She died of spinal meningitis at age twenty-four.
Table of Contents
Introduction
A Family Sketch
by Mark Twain
A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It
by Mark Twain
A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie and and#147;Bayand#8221; Clemens (Infants)
by Mark Twain
At the Farm
by Mark Twain
Quarry Farm Diary
by Livy Clemens
Mark Twain
by Susy Clemens
About the Texts
About the Illustrations
Biographical Directory
Works Cited
Acknowledgments