MARK TWAIN: As Others Saw Him

by George Sanderlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 1978

Like Sanderlin's similar treatment of Benjamin Franklin (1971) and Washington Irving (1974), this combines a pedestrian biographical sketch with a critical clipping service, whereby a number of brief quoted comments on Mark Twain are arranged in chronological order, beginning with anonymous newspaper reports on his lectures. It is mildly interesting to note that Louisa May Alcott found Huckleberry Finn unworthy of ""our pure-minded lads and lasses,"" that Faulkner considered Mark Twain a fourth-rate hack (but later changed his mind about his masterpiece), and that Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, FDR, T. S. Eliot, and Harry Truman were fervent admirers--but most of the selections lack even curiosity value, and together they don't add up to any understanding of the man or his works. For this volume Sanderlin also includes a number of quotes from Mark Twain himself, many of them opinions about religious, social, and political issues; but even these are not the sharpest or most durable examples of the celebrated wit.

Pub Date: July 10, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION