Synopses & Reviews
A series of essays by Twain on reading and writing. "How to Tell a Story," the title piece illuminates Twain's own intuitive story-telling genius, as he describes the three elements -- the pause, poker-faced pseudo-innocence, and the performance of a pretended identity -- that shape his writing. Even more intriguing, he looks at his celebrated dramatic performances of his written work, describing his struggle to perfect the delivery of Jim Blaine's story of his Grandfather's Ram (from Roughing It), and comparing the end result to the original written version. Other pieces include "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," as Twain takes Cooper to task for committing, "in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page [of The Deerslayer] .... 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115." In the process of his scathing attack, Twain again gives us a clear view into his own writing, objecting above all to the fact that Cooper's characters do not sound or act like real human beings. In other pieces, Twain defends the virtue of a dead woman, tries to protect ordinary citizens from insult by railroad conductors, and, in "The Private History of the 'Jumping Frog' Story," translates his celebrated story first into the "original" French, and then back into English. A delightful collection of Twain's wit and wisdom.
Synopsis
"Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences," the best-known and best-loved essay in this collection, is Mark Twain's how-to guide for the would-be author. A hilarious and cutting critique of what not to do, this deliciously wicked essay also lays out what writers should and must do if they want their fiction to live and breathe--as Twain's own fiction always does. In "How to Tell a Story," the title piece, Twain takes on such mysteries as the perfectly-timed pause and the uses of the dead-pan mask, and candidly describes his own efforts to hone his platform skills. In "What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us," Twain lays out a job description for the "native novelist" that is as fresh and accurate today as when Twain first wrote it. Anyone who cares about storytelling or writing will find Twain's sage suggestions in this volume compelling and engaging.