Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1: The Complete and Authoritative Edition Volume 10

"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 The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be "dead, and unaware, and indifferent," and that he was therefore free to speak his "whole frank mind."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 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain's death. In celebration of this important milestone and in honor of the cherished tradition of publishing Mark Twain's works, UC Press is proud to offer for the first time Mark Twain's uncensored autobiography in its entirety and exactly as he left it. This major literary event brings to readers, admirers, and scholars the first of 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.

Editors:

Harriet E. Smith, Benjamin Griffin, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Sharon K. Goetz, Leslie Myrick

Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 11/15/2010
Pages: 760
Weight: 3.93lbs
Size: 10.27h x 7.27w x 2.49d
ISBN: 9780520267190


Award: PROSE - Winner
Award: PROSE - Winner


Review Citation(s):
Books & Culture 05/01/2011 pg. 16
Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/01/2010 pg. 57
Booklist 09/15/2010 pg. 16
Publishers Weekly 09/27/2010
Library Journal 09/15/2010 pg. 74
People Weekly 11/08/2010 pg. 47
Entertainment Weekly 11/19/2010 pg. 102
Entertainment Weekly 12/03/2010 pg. 48
New Yorker (The) 11/29/2010 pg. 78
Entertainment Weekly 12/10/2010 pg. 112
Entertainment Weekly 12/24/2010 pg. 118
New York Times Book Review 12/19/2010 pg. 1
People Weekly 12/27/2010 pg. 65
New York Review of Books 02/24/2011 pg. 19
Choice 06/01/2011
Christian Century 05/31/2011 pg. 32
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/08/2010 pg. 29

About the Author
Harriet Elinor Smith is an editor at the Mark Twain Project, which is housed within the Mark Twain Papers, the world's largest archive of primary materials by this major American writer. Under the direction of General Editor Robert H. Hirst, the Project's editors are producing the first comprehensive edition of all of Mark Twain's writings.