Research Catalog

Title

Autobiography of Mark Twain / Harriet Elinor Smith, editor ; associate editors, Benjamin Griffin [and others].

Author

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

Publication

• Berkeley : University of California Press, [2010-2015]
• ©2010-2015

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Smith, Harriet Elinor
• Griffin, Benjamin, 1968-

Description

3 volumes : illustrations; 26 cm.

Summary

• Presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended.
• "I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography." Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his "Final (and Right) Plan" for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion, to "talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment", meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent," and that he was therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind." The year 2010 marked the 100th anniversary of Twain's death. In celebration of this important milestone this is Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. It is told over three volumes and presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended.-- Publisher information.
• "This third and final volume crowns and completes [Twain's] work. Like its companion volumes, it chronicles Twain's inner and outer life through a series of daily dictations that go wherever his fancy leads. Created from March 1907 to December 1909, these dictations present Mark Twain at the end of his life: receiving an honorary degree from Oxford University; railing against Theodore Roosevelt; founding numerous clubs; incredulous at an exhibition of the Holy Grail; credulous about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays; relaxing in Bermuda; observing (and investing in) new technologies."--Jacket.

Series Statement

• The Mark Twain papers
• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. Mark Twain papers.

Uniform Title

Autobiography

Alternative Title

• Autobiography
• Mark Twain

Subject

• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 > Biography
• 1800 - 1899
• Authors, American > 19th century > Biography
• Authors, American

Genre/Form

• Autobiographies.
• Biography.

Note

• "A publication of the Mark Twain Project of the Bancroft Library."
• Volume 2-3: Benjamin Griffin and Harriet Elinor Smith, editors.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Awards (note)

• Association of American Publishers PROSE Award, 2010.

Contents

v. 1. Preliminary manuscripts and dictations, 1870-1905 ; Autobiography of Mark Twain ; Explanatory notes ; Appendixes: Samuel L. Clemens, a brief chronology ; Family biographies ; Speech at the seventieth birthday dinner, 5 December 1905 ; Speech at the Players, 3 January 1906 ; Previous publication -- v. 2. Autobiography of Mark Twain ; Explanatory notes ; Appendixes: Samuel L. Clemens, a brief chronology ; Family biographies ; Previous publication -- v. 3. The Ashcroft-Lyon manuscript ; Explanatory notes ; Appendixes ; Note on the text ; Word division in this volume.

Call Number

JFF 13-775

ISBN

• 9780520267190
• 0520267192
• 9780520272781
• 0520272781
• 9780520279940
• 0520279948
• 9780520272255
• 0520272250

LCCN

2009047700

OCLC

472790247

Author

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910, author.

Title

Autobiography of Mark Twain / Harriet Elinor Smith, editor ; associate editors, Benjamin Griffin [and others].

Imprint

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2010-2015]

Copyright Date

©2010-2015

Edition

Complete and authoritative edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Creator/Contributor Characteristics

Americans Men

Authors Humorists

Series

The Mark Twain papers

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. Mark Twain papers.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Awards

Association of American Publishers PROSE Award, 2010.

Chronological Term

1800 - 1899

Added Author

Smith, Harriet Elinor, author.

Griffin, Benjamin, 1968- author.

Research Call Number

JFF 13-775 Library has: v. 1 in this call number.

JFM 13-55 Library has: v. 2-3 in this call number.

*R-RMRR PS1331 .A2 2010