Overview

The surprising final chapter of a great American life When the first volume of Mark Twain's uncensored Autobiography was published in 2010, it was hailed as an essential addition to the shelf of his works and a crucial document for our understanding of the great humorist's life and times. This third and final volume crowns and completes his life's work. Like its companion volumes, it chronicles Twain's inner and outer life through a series of daily dictations that go wherever his fancy leads. Created from March 1907 to December 1909, these dictations present Mark Twain at the end of his life: receiving an honorary degree from Oxford University; railing against Theodore Roosevelt, founding numerous clubs; incredulous at an exhibition of the Holy Grail; credulous about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays; relaxing in Bermuda; observing (and investing in) new technologies. The autobiography's Closing Words movingly commemorate his daughter Jean, who died on Christmas Eve 1909. Also included in this volume is the previously unpublished Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript, Mark Twain's caustic indictment of his putrescent pair of secretaries and the havoc that erupted in his house during their residency. Fitfully published in fragments at intervals throughout the twentieth century, Autobiography of Mark Twain has now been critically reconstructed and made available as it was intended to be read. Fully annotated by the editors of the Mark Twain Project, the complete Autobiography emerges as a landmark publication in American literature.

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9781504637145

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"Covering just the last couple of years in Twain's long life, this is the concluding volume of the masterful University of California edition of his autobiography: unexpurgated, cross-referenced...Of considerable interest to all readers of Twain -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"" Life, in Twain's opinion, is a 'procession of episodes and experiences which seem large when they happen, but which diminish to trivialities as soon as we get perspective upon them.' This fascinating volume gives lie to that assertion, and closes the book on the remarkable life of one of America's most outstanding literary talents. -- ""Publishers Weekly"" The abundant morsels here give us a glimpse into the big human heart of our great American author who seems to grow more popular with every passing year. -- ""Buffalo News"""

Life, in Twain's opinion, is a 'procession of episodes and experiences which seem large when they happen, but which diminish to trivialities as soon as we get perspective upon them.' This fascinating volume gives lie to that assertion, and closes the book on the remarkable life of one of America's most outstanding literary talents. -- Publishers Weekly Covering just the last couple of years in Twain's long life, this is the concluding volume of the masterful University of California edition of his autobiography: unexpurgated, cross-referenced...Of considerable interest to all readers of Twain -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The abundant morsels here give us a glimpse into the big human heart of our great American author who seems to grow more popular with every passing year. -- Buffalo News

Author Information

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was born Samuel L. Clemens in the town of Florida, Missouri. One of the most popular and influential authors our nation has ever produced, his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. He has been called not only the greatest humorist of his age but also the father of American literature. Harriet Smith is one of the editors at the Mark Twain Papers and Project at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over eight hundred titles to his credit. Named one of the Best Voices of the Century and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards. Michael Frank was a Los Angeles Times book critic for nearly ten years, and his short stories and essays have been widely anthologized. His fiction has been presented at Symphony Space's Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, and his travel writing has been collected in Italy: The Best Travel Writing from The New York Times. He lives in New York City and Liguria, Italy.

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