the Genius of Twain
Samuel Clemens /Mark Twain died 104 years ago, but his work remains and continues to sell well. When his autobiography was published in 2010, a mere one hundred years after his death, it literally flew of the shelves as bookstores were unable to keep up with demand.
The names Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are forever edged in the collective conscience of American literature. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have moved beyond classic, and now enjoy more of an iconic status.
Like most iconic figures Twain is not immune to criticism. His portrayal of " Jim," continues to be divisive. In 2011 Auburn University professor Alan Gribben adapted/censored Huck Finn for New South Books. It was an effort to present the story in a more politically correct fashion.
The purpose of this post is not to argue the in's and out's of censorship, nor the politics behind such a move. It is not for me to decide what is or is not offensive to others. Nor, is it my place to champion personal morality or lack there of.
The purpose of this post is to look into the WHY and explore the How of Twains success. I am sure the opinions of critics are varied and many. Some will call on his uncanny wit and ability to circumvent. Others, attribute it to his talent, while a few call it luck and say such a feat could never again be reproduced.
I beg to differ with the latter and agree with the former. I think luck had nothing to do with it and I am positive his wit and ability to circumvent played a role and his talent was beyond question. However, these all fall short. There was something else going on.
There is a reason his work still resonates with readers and sells well for the publishers. I recently down loaded a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was in the introduction where I stumbled upon his genius to connect. I will let him tell you in his own words.
"Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves and of how they felt and thought and talked..."
And there you have it. The genius behind Twains success and continued status is in that he wrote children's stories adults enjoy reading. If you are an aspiring writer searching for success and readership take notice of this simple principal: Children's stories adults like to read.
The names Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are forever edged in the collective conscience of American literature. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have moved beyond classic, and now enjoy more of an iconic status.
Like most iconic figures Twain is not immune to criticism. His portrayal of " Jim," continues to be divisive. In 2011 Auburn University professor Alan Gribben adapted/censored Huck Finn for New South Books. It was an effort to present the story in a more politically correct fashion.
The purpose of this post is not to argue the in's and out's of censorship, nor the politics behind such a move. It is not for me to decide what is or is not offensive to others. Nor, is it my place to champion personal morality or lack there of.
The purpose of this post is to look into the WHY and explore the How of Twains success. I am sure the opinions of critics are varied and many. Some will call on his uncanny wit and ability to circumvent. Others, attribute it to his talent, while a few call it luck and say such a feat could never again be reproduced.
I beg to differ with the latter and agree with the former. I think luck had nothing to do with it and I am positive his wit and ability to circumvent played a role and his talent was beyond question. However, these all fall short. There was something else going on.
There is a reason his work still resonates with readers and sells well for the publishers. I recently down loaded a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was in the introduction where I stumbled upon his genius to connect. I will let him tell you in his own words.
"Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves and of how they felt and thought and talked..."
And there you have it. The genius behind Twains success and continued status is in that he wrote children's stories adults enjoy reading. If you are an aspiring writer searching for success and readership take notice of this simple principal: Children's stories adults like to read.
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Great observation. Well written and articulated. Thanks for your contribution.
I hope in the age of digital books, where fantasy and erotica rule, there will be space for great writers and great characters, and that other Twains can somehow find an audience.
If you think about it, there's something magical about that time period. It's a time of transition, when we stop being a little kid, enter puberty, and start on the road toward being a grown-up. A lot of changes occur physically and mentally. Things that impress us in that time period seem to stick with us for life. It's when we adopt our first real heroes, have our first crush, and have our first serious thoughts about who we are and who want to be when we grow up.
Two other authors who had enormous success with tales about and for that age group are Stephen King and Robert A. Heinlein. Stephen King's first published book was Carrie, about a girl in high school. Later, his story The Body was made into the film Stand By Me, featuring kids in the 12-14 age range. Many people who love that movie comment on how it took them back in time to when they were that age.
Heinlein didn't have any one hugely successful book aimed at the juvenile market that I can recall, but he built his career writing "juveniles." That made his later works possible, such as Stranger in a Strange Land, and others that were made into movies, such as The Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers.
Although I loved Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the greater reason for my worship of Twain is his decidedly less juvenile stories, like my favorite, Letters From Earth.
To me, he was a brilliant genius who observed humanity and found it lacking. It's his social criticism that I most relate to and which endears him to me. He included his skewering of man in stories that were easy to read and relate to. I think he may have also wanted to remind us of what we once were because it is the way we change that is a large part of what is wrong with society, then and now. And it's easily remedied, if we could get back in touch with who we were before.
I wrote a tribute to indie authors (of which, Twain was one of the very first) about storytellers, going back to the beginning of time. It features several fictional authors and one real one in a fictional portrayal - and that one was Samuel Clemens.