From Twain scholars Baetzhold (Butler Univ.) and McCullough (Elmira
College Center): an omnibus of Twain's skeptical writings, mostly
fiction, about the Bible, Darwin, and evolution, along with similar
19th-century nailbiters questioning American Christianity. While
many pieces here are new to print, others been seen before but
scattered about. The present collection - spanning four decades
(1871-1910) - is both a genuine service to Twain lovers and one
showing Twain at his most charming and witty. Refreshened here is
the first version of "Adam's Diary," which now has a unity that
much outshines the more commonly reprinted version set at Niagara
Falls (cuts from that one are stored in the appendix). While the
companion pieces "Eve's Diary" and "Eve's Autobiography" show Twain
at his tenderest, many entries spring from tragedies in his own
life. One must remember when reading Twain's mischief just how
fresh and "unprintable" this material once was, something like The
Satanic Verses of its day. (Kirkus Reviews)
This volume collects the most important writings by Mark Twain in
which he used biblical settings, themes, and figures. Featuring
Twain's singular portrayals of God, Adam, Eve, Satan, Methuselah,
Shem, St. Peter, and others, the writings stand among Twain's most
imaginative expressions of his views on human nature and
humankind's relation to the Creator and the universe. Composed over
four decades (1871-1910), the writings range from farce to fantasy
to satire, each one bearing the mark of Twain's unmistakable wit
and insight. Among the many delights in store for readers are Adam
and Eve's divergent accounts of their domestic troubles;
Methuselah's discussion of an ancient version of baseball, complete
with a parody of baseball jargon; Shem's hand-wringing account of
how material shortages and labor troubles were hampering the
progress of the ark his father, Noah, was building; a description
of the disruptive actions of the fire-and-brimstone evangelist Sam
Jones upon arriving in heaven; Captain Stormfield's revelations of
what heaven is really like; Satan's musings on our puerile concepts
of the afterlife; and Twain's advice on how to dress and tip
properly in heaven. Twain's humor, however, is never gratuitous. As
readers laugh their way through this volume, they will find ample
evidence of Twain's concerns about scriptural fallacies and
inconsistencies, the Bible's rather flat portrayal of important
characters, and our limited notions about the nature and meaning of
our own - and God's - existence. Many of the pieces in this
collection, even the most light-hearted, might still be considered
controversial; of some of the darker pieces, Twain himself
acknowledged that they would beheretical in any age. Moreover,
these writings are valuable cultural artifacts of a time when,
across the Western world, fundamental religious beliefs were being
called into question by the precepts of Darwinism and the rapid
advances of science and technology. Several of this volume's
selections are previously unpublished; others, like Letters from
the Earth, are classics. Virtually all have been newly edited to
reflect as closely as possible Twain's final intentions for their
form and content. For serious Twain devotees, editors Howard G.
Baetzhold and Joseph B. McCullough have supplied an abundance of
background material on the writings, including details on the
history of their composition, publication, and relevance to the
Twain canon.
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