Ian Dawson's Blog - Posts Tagged "biographical-sketch"
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (the first half)
If you enjoy in-depth biographical sketches of historic figures, look no further than Ron Chernow’s latest book about American author, speaker, and humorist Mark Twain. As a fan of detailed biographies that present a warts-and-all approach to their subjects, Mark Twain delivers these aspects of the author’s life with incredible insight and contemporary perspective.
More than just the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s life and the historical events he lived through make this a well-rounded and eye-opening book.
At 1033 pages of text, Chernow leaves no stone unturned as he examines the life, career, successes, and failures of one of the heavyweights in American literature. I was especially fascinated by the amount of correspondence that was saved, archived, and available from dozens of sources that allowed Chernow to deliver the events in Twain’s life through the words of the author and those around him.
Throughout the first half of the book, Chernow examines Twain’s evolving attitudes and perspectives on race and racism in America and around the world. A product of the pre-Civil War South, Twain’s views on Blacks, Native Americans, the Chinese, and other minority groups did show significant positive change over his decades of life experience. Still, many feel that his writings and novels keep him mired in the bigotry of his past.
This is exemplified in the book’s analysis of Twain’s most well-known work, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and its depiction of Huck’s Black companion, Jim, and the use of the N-word. Chernow provides historical context, Twain’s own opinions and views on the book as he wrote it, and the controversy and subsequent book bans associated with the novel, including its ban from schools during Twain’s lifetime.
One of the many reasons I prefer biographies like this is that they don’t portray the subject as a hero or a villain; instead, they present them as human. Twain was a product of his time, but he was also a man who was willing to adapt his ways and views as the world around him changed. As a world traveler, he was exposed to a variety of cultures, languages, and religions that most in America at this time would never experience.
Around the 550-page mark, we join Twain on a worldwide speaking tour with his loving, patient wife and his daughters as he struggles to dig himself out of a financial mess that threatens his livelihood and family legacy. I’m excited to see what the second half of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow has to offer.
If you’re looking for a solid reading experience about one of America’s most popular literary icons, I highly recommend Mark Twain by Ron Chernow.
More than just the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain’s life and the historical events he lived through make this a well-rounded and eye-opening book.
At 1033 pages of text, Chernow leaves no stone unturned as he examines the life, career, successes, and failures of one of the heavyweights in American literature. I was especially fascinated by the amount of correspondence that was saved, archived, and available from dozens of sources that allowed Chernow to deliver the events in Twain’s life through the words of the author and those around him.
Throughout the first half of the book, Chernow examines Twain’s evolving attitudes and perspectives on race and racism in America and around the world. A product of the pre-Civil War South, Twain’s views on Blacks, Native Americans, the Chinese, and other minority groups did show significant positive change over his decades of life experience. Still, many feel that his writings and novels keep him mired in the bigotry of his past.
This is exemplified in the book’s analysis of Twain’s most well-known work, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and its depiction of Huck’s Black companion, Jim, and the use of the N-word. Chernow provides historical context, Twain’s own opinions and views on the book as he wrote it, and the controversy and subsequent book bans associated with the novel, including its ban from schools during Twain’s lifetime.
One of the many reasons I prefer biographies like this is that they don’t portray the subject as a hero or a villain; instead, they present them as human. Twain was a product of his time, but he was also a man who was willing to adapt his ways and views as the world around him changed. As a world traveler, he was exposed to a variety of cultures, languages, and religions that most in America at this time would never experience.
Around the 550-page mark, we join Twain on a worldwide speaking tour with his loving, patient wife and his daughters as he struggles to dig himself out of a financial mess that threatens his livelihood and family legacy. I’m excited to see what the second half of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow has to offer.
If you’re looking for a solid reading experience about one of America’s most popular literary icons, I highly recommend Mark Twain by Ron Chernow.
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (the Second Half)
As the years rolled by in Mark Twain’s life, he had what I can only describe as a late-life crisis. Following a series of personal and financial tragedies, Twain made a conscious decision to shut out any real-world responsibility, foisting it upon a woman who would be both his interim savior and his ultimate downfall.
Author Ron Chernow delivers a highly detailed account of one of Twain’s odd interests later in life: his fixation on pre-teen girls. While it’s alluded to in the first half of the biography, it’s during the second half that Twain’s obsessive interest in a slew of young girls is explored, analyzed, and explained to the best anyone could, given the situation.
It’s an aspect of Twain’s life that passive fans of this work know about, but the crazy part is that thanks to hundreds of letters between Twain and these girls, we can witness and attempt to unravel the reasons why he became so hyper-focused on them during the twilight years of his life.
Reading about his predilection for young girls is disturbing, and it should be noted that while some found his behavior charming, others – including his two daughters – found the whole situation odd and unsettling. Even given the time period and his level of celebrity, his persistence with these girls and even having them stay for weeks at his home is enough to make anyone take a step back and wonder what Twain was thinking.
Was this an old man trying to recapture his youth? Was this an attempt by Twain to manufacture grandchildren from fans of his work who were children? Chernow makes a valid point during his analysis that Twain was only interested in corresponding with and having young girls sleep over at his home; young boys were never mentioned or even part of the equation.
While Twain’s relationship with race and race relations will always be at the forefront of our discourse about him, this aspect of his life toward the end is worth learning about and trying to understand (and, personally, I think it’s REALLY creepy).
Aside from this, much of the latter half of Twain’s life plays out like a soap opera, with betrayals, double-crosses, lies, lawsuits, and deaths, along with a few international trips and Twain’s inevitable realization that his end was drawing near.
When I read biographies about figures who have passed long ago, I’m always waiting for the significant turning point in the subject’s life that signals that they are on a downhill slope toward the end. With Twain, so many tragic events transpired over his final years that it can be a challenge to pinpoint where things truly began to go south for him.
Ultimately, his lifelong smoking habit did him in, which makes me wonder if he hadn’t been a smoker, how much longer he might have lived.
Chernow does a superb job meticulously researching and decoding the man whose books would define American Literature for generations. This was no easy task to undertake, given the thousands of letters, articles, books, essays, and other media that have painted varying portraits of Mark Twain for decades.
I do feel that the author delivered a thorough and in-depth look at the man behind the mythic figure that existed even before he died in 1910. In the Acknowledgments section, we get to see just how extensive the research was, and how many places and people Ron Chernow interacted with to make this a strong and effective biographical sketch of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.
I really enjoyed Mark Twain. It was the first biography I’ve read by Ron Chernow, and I know it will not be the last. I highly recommend Mark Twain by Ron Chernow.
Check out this interview with Ron Chernow at the link below:
https://youtu.be/VGtQgA9UROU?si=ZBmQu...
Author Ron Chernow delivers a highly detailed account of one of Twain’s odd interests later in life: his fixation on pre-teen girls. While it’s alluded to in the first half of the biography, it’s during the second half that Twain’s obsessive interest in a slew of young girls is explored, analyzed, and explained to the best anyone could, given the situation.
It’s an aspect of Twain’s life that passive fans of this work know about, but the crazy part is that thanks to hundreds of letters between Twain and these girls, we can witness and attempt to unravel the reasons why he became so hyper-focused on them during the twilight years of his life.
Reading about his predilection for young girls is disturbing, and it should be noted that while some found his behavior charming, others – including his two daughters – found the whole situation odd and unsettling. Even given the time period and his level of celebrity, his persistence with these girls and even having them stay for weeks at his home is enough to make anyone take a step back and wonder what Twain was thinking.
Was this an old man trying to recapture his youth? Was this an attempt by Twain to manufacture grandchildren from fans of his work who were children? Chernow makes a valid point during his analysis that Twain was only interested in corresponding with and having young girls sleep over at his home; young boys were never mentioned or even part of the equation.
While Twain’s relationship with race and race relations will always be at the forefront of our discourse about him, this aspect of his life toward the end is worth learning about and trying to understand (and, personally, I think it’s REALLY creepy).
Aside from this, much of the latter half of Twain’s life plays out like a soap opera, with betrayals, double-crosses, lies, lawsuits, and deaths, along with a few international trips and Twain’s inevitable realization that his end was drawing near.
When I read biographies about figures who have passed long ago, I’m always waiting for the significant turning point in the subject’s life that signals that they are on a downhill slope toward the end. With Twain, so many tragic events transpired over his final years that it can be a challenge to pinpoint where things truly began to go south for him.
Ultimately, his lifelong smoking habit did him in, which makes me wonder if he hadn’t been a smoker, how much longer he might have lived.
Chernow does a superb job meticulously researching and decoding the man whose books would define American Literature for generations. This was no easy task to undertake, given the thousands of letters, articles, books, essays, and other media that have painted varying portraits of Mark Twain for decades.
I do feel that the author delivered a thorough and in-depth look at the man behind the mythic figure that existed even before he died in 1910. In the Acknowledgments section, we get to see just how extensive the research was, and how many places and people Ron Chernow interacted with to make this a strong and effective biographical sketch of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.
I really enjoyed Mark Twain. It was the first biography I’ve read by Ron Chernow, and I know it will not be the last. I highly recommend Mark Twain by Ron Chernow.
Check out this interview with Ron Chernow at the link below:
https://youtu.be/VGtQgA9UROU?si=ZBmQu...
