The Inventions of Mark Twain - Hardcover

Lauber, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809058693 ISBN 13: 9780809058693

Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub, 1990

Synopsis

Illumines the personal life of the nineteenth-century writer, revealing the importance to him of the family mansion in Hartford, his close relationship with his wife and daughters, his youth, and his method of writing

About this title

From Library Journal:

Accessible and free of stuffy prose, Lauber's lively biography of Twain should have strong appeal for the informed nonacademic reader. Scholars, too, will be pleased with the detailed account of the author's life and of the influences on Twain's fiction. Lauber's concise descriptions of the unfinished stories are edifying and his critical comments generally insightful. Unfortunately, his defense of the "burlesque" scenes that precede the conclusion of Huckleberry Finn (scenes viewed as badly flawed by many critics) is little more than a weak assertion. And although the book is endnoted, scholars will be distracted by occasional omissions. For instance, Lauber asserts that "a modern scholar has demonstrated that there are at least seven distinct varieties" of dialect in Huckleberry Finn but doesn't name the scholar. Still, academic and public libraries will benefit from the acquisition.
- Frank Pisano, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Focusing on the 1880s, when Twain was living in Hartford, Conn., dabbling in publishing, financing the purchase of a typesetting machine and writing his masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn , this unaptly titled, well-written biography presents the achievements of a major American writer. Lauber, a Canadian university teacher, devotes more space than previous biographers to Twain's intense social life, his celebrity, lecture tours with George Washington Cable, publication of the memoirs of U. S. Grant, friendship with Standard Oil magnate H. H. Rogers. He also supplies details of the Hartford mansion and the Twain summer home. Though authoritative and lively, little of this will be new to the novelist's admirers; only the emphasis here is different.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0809058693
• ISBN 13: 9780809058693
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1