ENGLISH

Mark Twain: A Short Introduction

By Stephen Railton

Book information

Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Year
2003
ISBN
063123473X
LCC
PS1338 .R35 2004
Open Library ID
OL3672929M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1143908 bytes)
Series
Blackwell Introductions to Literature
Pages
146\146
Library
avaxhome.ws
Time added
2010-05-31 15:29:46

Description

Emphasizing Mark Twain’s ambitions and achievements as a writer, this introduction features close readings of his seven major works, including Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Connecticut Yankee and Pudd’nhead Wilson. It locates these texts in the larger contexts of Samuel Clemens’ life and of late nineteenth-century American culture, investigating what the fictional persona of Mark Twain meant to the real-life person, Samuel Clemens, and what Twain’s books meant to contemporary Americans. The book provides both a general introduction to Twain’s major texts and an original reading of his obsession with performance and personality. It is illustrated with images from early editions of Twain’s works. A short appendix directs readers to the author’s award-winning website, ''Mark Twain in his Times,'' where they can explore the texts and issues analyzed in the book further.

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