Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings

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Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings

by Mark Twain, Bernard DeVoto (Editor), Henry Nash Smith (Foreword)

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 4,202 ratings · 291 reviews

"I have told you nothing about man that is not true." You must pardon me if I repeat that remark now and then in these letters; I want you to take seriously the things I am telling you, and I feel that if I were in your place and you in mine, I should need that reminder from time to time, to keep my credulity from flagging.

In Letters from the Earth, Twain presents himself

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Paperback, 321 pages

Published February 17th 2004 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics (first published 1946)

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May 17, 2008 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cynics bow down before the idol of your seething ire! Mark Twain's critique of the Earth's entanglement with religion as told by an oft-banished-bad-boy-of-heaven we all know (but not so well as we thought) singes eyelashes at times. A series of letters written by Satan himself during a term of expulsion from heaven depict the sad hilarity of mankind's relationship with it's creator. Satan's outside perspective yields Twain an opportunity to express his deep criticism of god-fearing culture. It...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-fiction, satire

This is our next book club selection, and I'm loving it as much this second reading as I did when I first found this little gem over 30 years ago. Twain had said it couldn't be published, and I can see why. Not many in his time period would have liked the idea of Satan being on earth and writing scathing satirical letters back to his buddies in "heaven" about the condition of humankind.

This is a thin little volume, but my version is getting lots of highlighting. His criticism of humanity is as t...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Val rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bright-young-things

This is a bit of a mixed bag of Mark Twain's writings. His polemics against those who take each word of the Bible too seriously and those who pay mere lip-service to both their religious teachings and the Declaration of Independence are very much worth reading, whether you agree or not, and he is correct in saying that they could not be published in his lifetime, despite their merit and humour. There are also essays of merit, some published and some not, a children's story and some unfinished ma...more

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Mar 30, 2007 Arian rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: thinkin' folk

This is a collection of stuff that went unpublished during Twain's life. Overall it merits about 3 stars, but is worth the price for the main work, which is easily 5 stars.

Basically, the premise is this: Satan is banished from Heaven for 1 Celestial Day (10,000 of our Earth years) for being flip to God. He ends up at one backwater world and watches with amusement as the primitive inhabitants of Earth presume to know God and think that the Creator has any special interest in them. Satan relays hi...more

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Mar 14, 2007 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of twain and counter-culture

Shelves: americana, humor

This book is a varied collection of Mark Twain's later writings, from a period traditionally overlooked by American students but intensely scrutinized in Europe. The titular "Letters from the Earth" series include wry and mildly heretical musings on Biblical lore, Christian cosmology, and human nature in general. These were indeed the basis for a rather creepy children's Claymation TV show in the 80s called "The Adventures of Mark Twain," the sort of thing that nowadays would get program directo...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Христо Блажев rated it 5 of 5 stars

Писма от Земята, писма до разума: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...

Не очаквах. Знаех в общи линии, че в “Писма от Земята” Марк Твен погромява религията, но чак до такава степен изненада дори мен – сред тези кратки страници великият сатирик е по-мощен и краен от представимото – ироничен, циничен, саркастичен, откровен, направо жлъчен… и страница след страница карикатуризира и пародира християнството и персонажите от бибилията. Воглаве с това, Твен осмива и съвременната цивилизация във вида...more Писма от Земята, писма до разума: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...

Не очаквах. Знаех в общи линии, че в “Писма от Земята” Марк Твен погромява религията, но чак до такава степен изненада дори мен – сред тези кратки страници великият сатирик е по-мощен и краен от представимото – ироничен, циничен, саркастичен, откровен, направо жлъчен… и страница след страница карикатуризира и пародира християнството и персонажите от бибилията. Воглаве с това, Твен осмива и съвременната цивилизация във вида, в който я вижда към края на живота си и зловещо пророкува, че тя върви към самоунищожение – май е по-прав от всякога. Откровен до болка, той показва неморалното на морала, нелепиците, в които вярва човекът, въобразеното му величие на фона на злодеянията, които извършва ежедневно лично и вкупом. Твен надминава дори Докинс (трябва да си дочета Хичънс, за да видя дали и него) в критиките си – и това нещо е писано преди над век, просто изумителна смелост и достойнство, изумителен размах на разума в една не много различна епоха и в държава, която е убедена до маниакалност, че е хванала Господ за шлифера и тази й привилегия я освобождава от всякаква отговорност.
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Ben Zajdel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First of all, two stars subtracted for this specific version, which is produced by EZreader(?). It's full of grammatical errors, devoid of any notes or introduction, or any biographical information on Mark Twain. It's almost like reading a few photocopied pages of Twain's writings.

Secondly, one star subtracted due to Twain's abject bitterness. This is essentially a cowardly and poorly thought out rant against God. There are pages upon pages of sarcastic remarks about God causing disease and disa...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Janet Gardner rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This short book, written late in Twain’s life and published posthumously, suggests a somewhat angry and mean-spirited writer—perhaps one whose old age is not turning out as he had hoped—so different in tone from the earlier Twain that so many of us know and love. It purports to be a series of letters penned on a visit to Earth by Lucifer (still an angel, but contemplating his big rebellion) to some fellow residents of heaven. Lucifer is astonished to discover a human race that continues to prais...more

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Jun 10, 2012 David Withun rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

There's nothing quite like reading Mark Twain that helps one to remember what American literature could and should be, but, unfortunately, isn't. Mark Twain was the best America has ever produced. Satire as a literary genre might as well not exist today when compared with that of Twain. This particular book is a collection of perhaps simultaneously some of the funniest, most insightful, most uncomfortably true, and most challenging short stories and essays that Twain wrote. Forget Colbert and St...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Arthur Brady rated it 4 of 5 stars

i should note that i didn't read this edition. i wanted to give the text 4 stars, because it's a great (if apparently unfinished) collection of essays.

be warned, though, of the edition that i did get: it's the one that first pops up on an amazon search (at least, during the current time period, it's the first: this review may have an expiration date); it's got a green cover and two goofy red Satanic eyes staring out from the top, published by "Greenbook Publications, LLC."

it's a crime against Tw...more

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Apr 07, 2010 Zachary Planto rated it 5 of 5 stars

Having picked this book up on a whim, I can only say that I am content with the seemingly exorbitant price I paid due to a severe lack of patience on my own part. Letters From the Earth proved to be a wit filled examination from Twain's dust collecting desk, and while it certainly never flexed the innards of my skull, it reminded me of who Mark Twain was as a human being. Much like the collection Who Is Mark Twain?, this series of stories seems to have gone largely overlooked by the highly estab...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Darrell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

The way Mark Twain pokes fun at Christianity, it's no wonder these writings were originally censored. In Letters from the Earth, Satan reports back to heaven in a series of epistles making light of religion. He explains that Noah and his family were all disease ridden, since God's command to preserve two of every animal also applied to microbes. God, in his infinite wisdom, saw that diseases such as syphilis would be necessary in the world to come. I've got to say, picturing Noah going around an...more The way Mark Twain pokes fun at Christianity, it's no wonder these writings were originally censored. In Letters from the Earth, Satan reports back to heaven in a series of epistles making light of religion. He explains that Noah and his family were all disease ridden, since God's command to preserve two of every animal also applied to microbes. God, in his infinite wisdom, saw that diseases such as syphilis would be necessary in the world to come. I've got to say, picturing Noah going around and intentionally contracting diseases is quite hilarious.

Also included in this collection are the highly imaginative Papers of the Adam Family where Twain presents us with extracts from Methuselah's diary and Eve's autobiography. Since people lived to be several hundred years old at the beginning of the Bible, it was not uncommon for a man to meet his great great great great great great great grandson, although with thousands of descendants, he wouldn't be likely to remember his name. 100 year olds are referred to as children and a couple who wish to get married at such an early age are advised to wait a few decades. Eve is a scientist and tells us of Adam's discovery that water always runs downhill.

This collection is really a mixed bag. A Cat-Tale is a bedtime story full of puns that Twain told his daughters. There's an essay included in which he points out why Cooper is a poor writer using examples from The Last of the Mohicans, another essay detailing why Twain considered the French more savage than the Comanches, a travelogue from his time in England, and an appeal to use phonetic spelling. He pokes fun at books on etiquette by detailing the proper way for a gentleman to rescue a lady from a fire. In a piece title The Damned Human Race, he explains why humans are lower than animals when it comes to morality.

The highlight for me was The Great Dark, a surreal story which would have made Kafka proud, in which Twain details life aboard a ship traveling across a microscope slide. Microscopic creatures appear as giant monsters to the crew. Though they are traveling across just a single drop of water, it takes them years of traveling in the dark until they get to the bright spot illuminated by the microscope.(less)

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Nov 11, 2007 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

A hilarious book comprised of the letters of an angel banished to Earth. While filling in his angel compatriots as to the happenings on the earth, he highlights the absurdities of human belief systems. Considered blasphemous in its day (and probably by many today), it deftly dissects many fallacies inherent in various religious beliefts.

In my eyes, a great writer inspires jealousy in those who read their works. Twain has always made me jealous.

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Jul 13, 2011 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fondly-recommended, leisure, philosophy, satire-to-the-max-good-versus-evil, alternate-history, eerie-nonsense, entertaining, epic-travel-of-the-19th-century, tall-tales, terrors-of-colonialism

I have a feeling I may be on philosophical existential pondering overload, so this review will be disjointed at best. At that, the book in question is a marvelously cynical bit of philosophical existential pondering -- and I say that in fondness, for I loved this book dearly. But I think when you love things like Letters from the Earth, you're honest with the tone. This is the book that most likely helped Twain gain his posthumous reputation as a depressive in white into his later-most years; af...more I have a feeling I may be on philosophical existential pondering overload, so this review will be disjointed at best. At that, the book in question is a marvelously cynical bit of philosophical existential pondering -- and I say that in fondness, for I loved this book dearly. But I think when you love things like Letters from the Earth, you're honest with the tone. This is the book that most likely helped Twain gain his posthumous reputation as a depressive in white into his later-most years; after all, it has your classic idol-bashing, despaired railings against the human race, and existential musings that seem in keeping with many dreary philosophers of the early twentieth century.

But I think what I find fascinating about this book is that, along with the Kafka I've recently read and what little I know about one Herr F. Nietzsche, Letters from the Earth could be seen and interpreted as yet another step into the beginnings of a thought process and attitude that I (perhaps naively and foolishly) perceive as contemporary. What I enjoyed about Twain prior to this point was that he wrote in such a way as to illuminate the past in such a way that I was able to contextualize historical events in a humorous -- and human -- manner. With Letters of the Earth, however, and (ugh, forgive the echoing of a previous review) Twain reads as if he'd stepped out of last week to tell me things that I was worried about or otherwise already thought. It's unfortunate that I've the tendency to attempt to describe this Twain with all those disgustingly trite soundbites about relevancy and edginess, least of which being that skepticism -- and not necessarily about the God-skepticism, but the human condition skepticism -- is our cultural climate's bread and butter for at least 50% of the United States at any given time. This is a man who's pushing the progressive nature that's peeking through Following the Equator into a place so wild that his surviving daughter didn't allow Letters of the Earth published until 1960. You know, in case you got the wrong idea about her daddy and stuff.

Although I would say the majority of this book is written with skeptics in mind, there's also a super-crazy (and super-awesome!) short story that concludes the book that very much has a fantasy dreamworld slant that Jules Verne and steampunks alike would envy. Come to think of it, the book is somewhat divided in two: one, the religious dissent; two, the bits and bobs of Twain's later works that never really made it to print beyond that of Letters. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going here with this paragraph on the subject so much as voila, this is the truth.

(And on this terrible, terrible note, I leave you to the end of this terrible, terrible review. TL;DR: READS GOOD, MAN.)(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 David Macpherson rated it 2 of 5 stars

I want to love everything Mark Twain did. BUt he has a habit of making that difficult for me. This is a collection of later writing that he never published and even commented that it never could be published because of the attack on religion. This is the case of very smart man with a grudge and a blunt weapon just bludgeoning whatever is nearby. SOme of the points are good, but for most part, it is mean writing with very little wit. There was a long extract at then end, very bitter piece but int...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Хейко rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

За навика на Марк Твен да пише гневни писма бях чела някъде, не помня точно къде, а жена му пък ги прибирала и така те не достигали до адресата си никога, за него оставало удовлетворението, че си е излял гнева.
В „Писма от Земята” началото ми хареса, това че обект на сарказма му е Библията, във времето в което той е живял със сигурност е светотатство, но днес всеки може да вярва в Бог или да не вярва и да изразява своята вяра в атеизма или Бог както си иска, без да се приема за скандално. Втората...more

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Jan 31, 2013 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because I was seeking inspiration in three ways: 1) I wanted to read some good religious satire to motivate further writing for my TheKnish.com website. 2) I wanted to observe some editor methods as this work was compiled in expert ways by a single resource. 3) I wanted to see if Twain himself covered ground on a sequel idea I have for one of his works. To the first point, I found exactly what I was looking for, and some idea germs have begun generating, though some of his work...more

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Jul 25, 2008 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Satan's letters written during a visit to Earth, this is Mark Twain at his most cynical and offensive. This is a far cry from C.S. Lewis, perhaps even a Bizarro reflection. Long before today's crop of posturing, pompous-ass religious critics, Twain did it better, faster and funnier. For those who like their humor dark as unsweetened cocoa.

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Mar 30, 2013 Morgan Alreth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I very nearly worship Mark Twain's writing ability. Therefore it pains me beyond words to give one of his books a less than top end rating. But this one grates on my nerves. If I want to be preached at, I will go to church. I don't need an author, not even Twain, using a book to shove his personal philosophy of life down my throat in the form of a series of lecture.

In most of his books, Twain has a subtle and skillful touch when it comes to expressing his opinion of human stupidity, social hypo...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-modern, literature-american

In the last year I've taken great care in crafting my reading goals towards something that will satisfy my need to be a more thoroughly educated guy. I've been an avid reader since my early teens, and as a byproduct I've gained a relatively good grasp of many key books. However, lately the gaps in my education have really become a bother. It is with that said, that I put forward Mark Twain as exhibit A: Letters from the Earth is my first substantial introduction to him. I think I read Tom Sawyer...more

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May 24, 2012 Anand rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brilliant. The failure and hypocrisy of religion and out puny imagination of God, Heaven and Hell leaves mankind exposed and ordinary.

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Jan 01, 2012 Lamski Kikita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I could write a long review of this amazing and shocking book. Mark like I've never seen him before; the Mark I always wanted to hear more from and did not find in his stories of mischievous childhoods in the Mississippi. But i won't write that long review, instead, i will sub it up in the following sentence: Man is a mistake. The human race, basically, is the most horrible species that ever dwelled this earth. We kill, torture, pass judgment, discriminate, and do the worst things possible with...more

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Nov 11, 2011 Sean Brower rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mark-twain-vs-god, comedy, religion, literary-adult

This book gets two ratings: one for the edition, one for the content.
1 star for the edition. I have never seen as many typos in my life, nor have I seen a publisher willing to put out Twain's work with literally zero editorial comments, notes, illustrations... nothing. Horrible edition. Thankfully, I already had this story in *The Bible According to Mark Twain*.

5 stars for the content. In a previous review (the Bible one), I said I wasn't sure if I would ever give Twain 5 stars, but I think when...more

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Apr 16, 2012 NibbledToDeathByCats rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, classics

Laugh-out-loud thigh-slapping funny for much of the way, we feel sorry that Twain did not live to finish these pieces. Papers of the Adam Family were the start of what would have been a great book. The second half of the volume was dragged down by some rough miscellany that gave the impression that the editor was just trying to add bulk. Then again, some of the off-theme pieces were the height of comedy (A Cat-Tale, Old Saint Paul's, Burlesque on Etiquette). Speaking of bulk, the editor's notes...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Holden Attradies rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor

This was a very odd little book. I thought it was a collection of fictional letters written as if by Lucifer to the Angels about Earth, but that was only the first part of it. The book is actually a collection of only slightly related writing by Mark Twain released after his death. Most of the writing can ruffly be described as sarcastically critiquing Christianity. The book was very rough, most of it was never cleaned up for publication or really even finished, and a lot of the time the sarcasm...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Meadows13 Meadows rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a collection of essays and short stories that are representative of Twain at his most acerbic. Even if you already think of Twain as irreverent (and perhaps most especially if you do), you will enjoy his tweaking of conventional fundamentalist Christian philosophy - not that much changed since the latter 19th century. The title short piece is a series of letter from an exiled Lucifer back to heaven marvelling at the strange theology these humans have developed. The "Letter to Earth" is e...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Ricardo Moedano rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don´t blame Mark Twain´s daughter for hampering the issue of this volume, for it reveals a gloomy side to the author of so many light and funny tales. Be advised to read this book at your own risk. I´m in earnest, your former esteem and affection for Mark Twain shall be capsized forever.

In two words, I define it as a polemical jewel; an acrimonious tract. Even me, who am not squeamish at any rate, but rather hostile to all religious matters, was profoundly astonished by its contents.

Furtherm...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Tarp Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read this and your opinion of Mark Twain will never be the same. A scathing, no holds barred attack on the folly of Christian belief and its reliance on biblical authority, Twain's daughter refused to publish Letters from Earth until more than 50 years after her father's death.

The main character is Satan, and he writes a series of letters back to the other archangels explaining just how crazy the world is, and how misguided humans are to think that God planned anything that happens on Earth.

I re...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Erika RS rated it 2 of 5 stars

Letters from the Earth collects writings from the papers Twain left after his death. It has the usual merits and flaws of that genre. On the one hand, it gives fascinating glimpses into Twain's thoughts and makes me wish that he had had just a little more time to polish some of these pieces. On the other hand, even the best of the pieces need lots of polishing. They are generally incomplete and obviously early drafts, and one or two pieces, I struggled to get through. That said, the first and la...more

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May 25, 2012 Seth Brownmiller rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Letters from the Earth proved to be a rather interesting book. Written by Mark Twain, the book was published posthumously in 1962. Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens, initially opposed publishing the book, most likely due to the fact that its main themes were that of religious criticism and mockery. Letters from the Earth was written during a dark time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters, so it makes sense that he would write such a cynical work. Eith...more Letters from the Earth proved to be a rather interesting book. Written by Mark Twain, the book was published posthumously in 1962. Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens, initially opposed publishing the book, most likely due to the fact that its main themes were that of religious criticism and mockery. Letters from the Earth was written during a dark time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters, so it makes sense that he would write such a cynical work. Either way, Letters from the Earth proved to be a fascinating story of religious satire.

The heart of the plot revolves around Satan and his observations while exiled to Earth. The story begins with God and how he comes about deciding to create the Earth. Satan and the other archangels marvel over God's work and Satan is somewhat critical. Satan is exiled to earth for one celestial year, or ten thousand human years. During this period of time, he writes a series of letters to the other angels about what he sees. Overall, I feel that this makes for quite an original story. It's an interesting concept, and, as far as I know, no other author has tried to write a story in such a manner.

Twain's main purpose for writing this story seems to be nothing short of making a complete mockery of religion. As Satan watches the human race develop, he writes back to the other angels of how humorous it is to him how humans perceive god and heaven, and explains how wicked and two-faced we humans are. He talks about how nobody actually wants to go to church, and that before the service is over, nearly everyone wishes to leave. Another point that Satan makes is how only a small portion of the world's population plays musical instruments, yet apparently there is some conceived notion that once you're in heaven, everyone can play harps and trumpets, and that everyone can sing beautifully. One of my favorite points that Satan brings up has to do with sex. He says how the human race values sex above everything else in life, yet sex has no place in their heaven, which is supposed to be paradise. Satan compares it to a man stranded in the desert, dying of thirst, and is then suddenly discovered by someone who promises to rescue him and provide him with anything his heart desires, except for water.

Mark Twain crafted a fascinating and original story with Letters from the Earth. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would highly recommend it to others. The only reason I gave it four out of five stars was because it did drag on at some points. At times I was incredibly interested, and at others, it seemed as though he was stressing the same ideas as before. However, such flaws do not detract from the overall book and it certainly could have been much worse.(less)

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About Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work...more

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Quotes from Letters from the Earth...

“Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.

Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away for two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh--not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.” — 296 people liked it

“The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and a seal.” — 37 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37813.Letters_from_the_Earth?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348900747l/37813.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37813.Letters_from_the_Earth?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain[/url]

Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings

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