Life on the Mississippi (Oxford Mark Twain) - Hardcover

Twain, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195101391 ISBN 13: 9780195101393

Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Part travel book, part autobiography, and part social commentary, Life on the Mississippi is a memoir of the cub pilot's apprenticeship, a record of Twain's return to the river and to Hannibal as an adult, a meditation on the harsh vagaries of nature, and a study of the varied and sometimes violent activities engaged in by those who live on the river's shores. As Willie Morris notes in his introduction, it "is written with the flamboyance and affecting precision of a craftsman."Life on the Mississippi explores how a child learns to be an adult, and how an adult learns to understand what it was to be a child. It is a book about the South, about memory, about change, and, of course, about the Mississippi River and the world through which it snakes. "When the life of the river is rendered with Twain's brand of wry skepticism," writes Lawrence Howe in his afterword, "the Mississippi is, indeed, well worth reading about."

About this title

About the Author:

Mark Twain (1835 –1910) was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which proved to be very popular and brought him nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling. He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. However, he lacked financial acumen. Though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, however, he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility. Born during a visit by Halley's Comet, he died on its return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age", and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature".

From the Back Cover:

Part travel book, part autobiography, and part social commentary, Life on the Mississippi is a memoir of the cub pilot's apprenticeship, a record of Twain's return to the river and to Hannibal as an adult, a meditation on the harsh vagaries of nature, and a study of the varied and sometimes violent activities engaged in by those who live on the river's shores.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195101391
• ISBN 13: 9780195101393
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 624
• Editor: Fishkin Shelley Fisher