Posts
Is Mark Twain Still Relevant?
April 21, 1910 Mark Twain died.
In my historical fantasies, his death devastated his life-long friend, Samuel McCord.
The ghost of Mark Twain visits my blog so often that I should charge him rent.
Yet, does Mark Twain still
speak to us today?
Samuel Clemens is the great poet of America's longest river,
while his quotes on politics and human nature enjoy a constant half-life as staples among speech-makers.
"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1935.
Most humor does not travel well over time,
Yet Mark Twain's humor goes to the root of human nature which never changes really.
Mark Twain's observations on War still resonate with many of us.
Twain’s words in the following passage have a surprisingly familiar ring
to what political pundits were saying in protest to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
“We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own,
and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial,” wrote Twain.
“It was not to be a government according to our ideas,
but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas.
That would have been a worthy mission for the United States.
But now —
why, we have got into a mess,
a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater.
I’m sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.”
Mark Twain also wrote a chilling piece called The War Prayer,
illustrating how people who oppose foreign wars and government intervention are shamed into silence:
“It was indeed a glad and gracious time,” Twain wrote,
“and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness
straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.”
I have always been more fond of his newspaper articles, essays, lectures, and personal letters than his fiction.
Do any of you still read Mark Twain?
Hi Roland - no .. but I should I know. He constantly gets referred to by many for his insights into life ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeletehttp://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/t-is-for-turkey.html
His autobiography, non-fiction, and letters make for a fascinating look inside the man. :-)
DeleteIt's been a while since I read anything by Mark Twain, but I often see him quoted or paraphrased by people who don't always know the source of the quote itself.
ReplyDeleteThe ghost of Mark Twain chortles that way he gets wiser and wittier as the years and misquotes flow. :-)
DeleteI read his letters and essays and newspaper articles -- and his autobiography. He comes alive in those words.
I could have guaranteed you'd write about Twain today. His rye humor and insights into the heart, have indeed transcended time.
ReplyDeleteThe ghost of Mark Twain would never let me a good night's sleep again if I skipped him today! :-)
DeleteIt has been decades since I read Mark Twain's work. My gr-daughter recently read excerpts from Huck Finn and was horrified by treatment of slaves.
ReplyDeleteYes, slavery was a stain on our nation's soul which can never be cleansed away. :-(
DeleteMark Twain railed against it and against America's colonialism all his days.
Of course I still read Twain! In fact I keep Vol. 1 of his autobiography in my car; the episodic style makes it a great book to open to any page and start to read.
ReplyDeleteGood Old Mark wrote the first stream of consciousness prose with that autobiography! :-)
Delete