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Library of America #130
The Gilded Age and Later Novels: The Gilded Age /The American Claimant / Tom Sawyer Abroad / Tom Sawyer, Detective / No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger
"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand," Mark Twain once wrote. In this sixth volume in The Library of America's authoritative collection of his writings-the final volume of his fiction-America's greatest humorist emerges in a surprising range of roles: as the savvy satirist of The Gilded Age, the brilliant plotter of its inventive sequel, The American Claimant, and, in two Tom Sawyer novels, as the acknowledged master revisiting his best-loved characters. Also in this volume is the authoritative version of Twain's haunting last novel, No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger, left unpublished when he died.
The Gilded Age (1873), a collaboration with Hartford neighbor Charles Dudley Warner, sends up an age when vast fortunes piled up amid thriving corruption and a city Twain knew well, Washington, D.C., full of would-be power brokers and humbug. The novel also gives us one of Twain's most enduring characters, Colonel Sellers, who returns in The American Claimant (1892), an encore performance that moves beyond the worldly satire of its predecessor into realms of sheer inventive mayhem.
Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896) extend the adventures of Huck and Tom. No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger (1908), an astonishing psychic adventure set in the gothic gloom of a medieval Austrian village, offers a powerful and uncanny exploration of the powers of the human mind.
The Gilded Age (1873), a collaboration with Hartford neighbor Charles Dudley Warner, sends up an age when vast fortunes piled up amid thriving corruption and a city Twain knew well, Washington, D.C., full of would-be power brokers and humbug. The novel also gives us one of Twain's most enduring characters, Colonel Sellers, who returns in The American Claimant (1892), an encore performance that moves beyond the worldly satire of its predecessor into realms of sheer inventive mayhem.
Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896) extend the adventures of Huck and Tom. No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger (1908), an astonishing psychic adventure set in the gothic gloom of a medieval Austrian village, offers a powerful and uncanny exploration of the powers of the human mind.
1053 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 2002
4 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Mark Twain
8,916 books18.7k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 31, 2021
"Tom Sawyer Abroad," Read in the Harper and Brothers red hardback edition, 1907.
Only the first chapter sequels Tom Sawyer, the title story told by Huck Finn. Many wonderful essays, one on lying, Twain of course in favor of it, though he classifies polite behavior as lies, regretting artless liars, “The Decline in the Art of Lying.” “The Great Revolution in Pitcairn” follows the descendants of the Bounty mutineers who first landed there, how one American nearly destroyed the place by turning faction against faction (shades of US President 45). His essay on the American language contrasts it to British usage and pronunciation.
All great fun. For instance, on Pitcairn, the descendants of the mutineers and their Tahitian wives, “She is my aunt, and my cousin, too. Also my step-sister, my niece, my great-aunt, and next week she will be my wife”(347). The one American starts to reform the people with “orders of nobility.” “A minister of the navy was appointed, and the whale-boat put in commission…The minister of war complained that all sixteen grown men in the empire had been given great offices, and would not consent to serve in the ranks…the emperor took all the boys above the age of ten away from their mothers, constructing a corp of seventeen privates”(350-51).
Twain gave his talk on liars down the street from his Hartford, Connecticut house, a half hour from where I grew up over the state line in East Longmeadow, MA. Speaking at the Antiquarian Club of Hartford, he began On the Decay of the Art of Lying, “I do not mean to suggest that the custom of lying has suffered any interruption—no, for the Lie, as a Virtue, is eternal…my complaint concerns the decay of the art …the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day…” “It would not become me to criticize you, gentlemen, who are nearly all my elders— and my superiors, in this thing— so if I seem to, it is in the spirit of admiration”(355). Twain urges judicious lying, “An awkward, unscientific lie is often as ineffectual as the truth”(356). Even greetings lied, “Their mere howdy-do a lie, because they didn’t care how you did, except they were undertakers”(357). He recommends lying to help out, “An injurious lie is in the same degree as an injurious truth—a fact which is recognized in the law of libel”(358).
He has a piece on Paris, and indeed a map of Paris, drawn backwards, but better, a brief gem,”About Magnanimous-Incident Literature.” One story starts with a physician (no vets then?) setting a poodle’s broken leg, but the happy pup returns next morning with a stray whose leg is broken. The sequel is a multitude of clamorous beseeching dogs (328).
The next tale is The Benevolent Author, who helps a poor young author improve and even gets him published. So the author was daily freighted with the poor young beginner. When the young aspirant got his own start, he “rode into fame by describing the celebrated author’s private life with such a caustic humor and blistering detail that the book sold a prodigious edition, and broke the celebrated author’s heart with mortification”(330).
Only the first chapter sequels Tom Sawyer, the title story told by Huck Finn. Many wonderful essays, one on lying, Twain of course in favor of it, though he classifies polite behavior as lies, regretting artless liars, “The Decline in the Art of Lying.” “The Great Revolution in Pitcairn” follows the descendants of the Bounty mutineers who first landed there, how one American nearly destroyed the place by turning faction against faction (shades of US President 45). His essay on the American language contrasts it to British usage and pronunciation.
All great fun. For instance, on Pitcairn, the descendants of the mutineers and their Tahitian wives, “She is my aunt, and my cousin, too. Also my step-sister, my niece, my great-aunt, and next week she will be my wife”(347). The one American starts to reform the people with “orders of nobility.” “A minister of the navy was appointed, and the whale-boat put in commission…The minister of war complained that all sixteen grown men in the empire had been given great offices, and would not consent to serve in the ranks…the emperor took all the boys above the age of ten away from their mothers, constructing a corp of seventeen privates”(350-51).
Twain gave his talk on liars down the street from his Hartford, Connecticut house, a half hour from where I grew up over the state line in East Longmeadow, MA. Speaking at the Antiquarian Club of Hartford, he began On the Decay of the Art of Lying, “I do not mean to suggest that the custom of lying has suffered any interruption—no, for the Lie, as a Virtue, is eternal…my complaint concerns the decay of the art …the lumbering and slovenly lying of the present day…” “It would not become me to criticize you, gentlemen, who are nearly all my elders— and my superiors, in this thing— so if I seem to, it is in the spirit of admiration”(355). Twain urges judicious lying, “An awkward, unscientific lie is often as ineffectual as the truth”(356). Even greetings lied, “Their mere howdy-do a lie, because they didn’t care how you did, except they were undertakers”(357). He recommends lying to help out, “An injurious lie is in the same degree as an injurious truth—a fact which is recognized in the law of libel”(358).
He has a piece on Paris, and indeed a map of Paris, drawn backwards, but better, a brief gem,”About Magnanimous-Incident Literature.” One story starts with a physician (no vets then?) setting a poodle’s broken leg, but the happy pup returns next morning with a stray whose leg is broken. The sequel is a multitude of clamorous beseeching dogs (328).
The next tale is The Benevolent Author, who helps a poor young author improve and even gets him published. So the author was daily freighted with the poor young beginner. When the young aspirant got his own start, he “rode into fame by describing the celebrated author’s private life with such a caustic humor and blistering detail that the book sold a prodigious edition, and broke the celebrated author’s heart with mortification”(330).
June 9, 2022
For over 50 years I have promised myself that I would read this book, and it finally happened! The horror of it is that it it was published in 1873 and is subtitled A Tale of Today, yet it is still relevant in its observations of Washington politicians. In this send-up of D.C., Twain and Warner look at senators who buy votes of other senators, and who prepare ridiculous pork barrel bills with no data for support. Everyone is trying to get rich quick here, and nothing seems to be sacred, except for Laura Hawkins who takes marriage seriously. Her step-parents are good people who stepped up to help her when her parents were not able to be found after a steamboat explosion. (Just FYI, Laura Hawkins was in reality a friend from Hannibal who was the model for Becky Thatcher, and Mark Twain's brother Henry died in a steam boat explosion.) At times the book is laugh-out-loud funny, and at times it drags a bit, but the characters are memorable such as Col. Sellers, a remarkable charlatan, who never tires of taking advantage of people. The book is long, too long, but not as bad as I had feared!
August 21, 2023
A fun later novel by Mark Twain, The American Claimant involves Colonel Mulberry Sellers, the con man from The Gilded Age, and his claim to be the rightful Earl of Rossmore. The son of the actual Earl, Viscount Berkeley, has decided that he wants to come to America to rise or fall on his own merits. Throw in Col. Sellers's attractive young daughter Sally (or is she Lady Gwendoline?), a one-armed Oklahoma bank robber, a Washington hotel fire, and an idea for a board game, and you have the makings of a romp. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
As for Tom Sawyer Abroad, I gave it only three stars. While I enjoyed it and it is was amusing, it is certainly not on the level of The American Claimant.
As for Tom Sawyer Abroad, I gave it only three stars. While I enjoyed it and it is was amusing, it is certainly not on the level of The American Claimant.
February 7, 2021
Please see my reviews of the five individual works contained in this volume.
I will say that the only thing that elevates this collection to above-average status as works of literature is the presence of the uncut and definitive version of _The Mysterious Stranger_, Twain's unfinished novel. It's a fine book and much better than the 1916 bastardized edition produced by Twain's literary executor after Twain's death.
I will say that the only thing that elevates this collection to above-average status as works of literature is the presence of the uncut and definitive version of _The Mysterious Stranger_, Twain's unfinished novel. It's a fine book and much better than the 1916 bastardized edition produced by Twain's literary executor after Twain's death.
September 2, 2014
oh my god i loved it so much, my favorites were first and last stories though, The Gilded Age and No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger. The last chapter of TMS blew my mind, and is definitely what made that story such an amazing one. These were the first stories I've read by Samuel Clemens, and it really hooked me on his work.
February 19, 2009
I read the Gilded Age novel out of the LOA series. Awesome. What I learned is that politics have not changed one bit since Twain wrote this novel. I will read the others at some future date.
November 13, 2012
This is a bit of a cheat because I've only read "The Gilded Age," and there are more novels in the book, but I couldn't wait because he's one of life's truly great things to share.
September 22, 2023
The below reviews have diarrhea of the keyboard. I was advised to read this in a textbook, so I saw it at the library and checked it out. I found it to be dated and boring. Mark Twain was a man, in his day, unique and advanced in mind and writing, but for a good read this is not what I would recommend.
March 21, 2019
Another excellent collection of Twain's novels. Some of these are a little light on substance and heavy on humor, but all are entertaining. The true gem here is No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger, an eerie tale unlike anything else Twain wrote.
April 14, 2019
Still need to read "The Gilded Age"
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews