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Autobiography

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Mark Twain's Own Autobiography The Chapters from the North American Review Mark Twain With an Introduction and Notes by Michael J. Kiskis Wisconsin Studies in American Autobiography William L. Andrews, General Editor "The Twain text presented here is practically new when printed in this sequence as a unit. Parts of it are particularly fresh because they have never been reprinted anywhere since their appearance in the North American Review. Furthermore, we get here the better, indeed the best, of Twain's autobiographical dictations."–Louis Budd, Duke University "I intend that this autobiography . . . shall be read and admired a good many centuries because of its form and method–a form and method whereby the past and the present are constantly brought face to face, resulting in contrasts which newly fire up the interest all along, like contact of flint with steel." Thus Mark Twain began the first of the twenty-five "Chapters from My Autobiography" published in the North American Review 1906–1907. Those chapters contain a unified account of Twain's life recorded in his own unmistakable voice; in them we read his life's story as he intended it to be read and savored. More than just the story of a literary career, Mark Twain's Own Autobiography is securely anchored in the writer's relation to his family. His memories of his beloved wife Livy and daughter Susy–what they meant to him as a husband, a father, and an artist–constitute a poignant self-portrait. At the same time, this text draws on Twain's immense autobiographical writings for some of his best comic anecdotes, such as those that recall his rambunctious boyhood in Hannibal, his misadventures in the Nevada territory, and his notorious Whittier birthday speech. Mark Twain's Own Autobiography stands as the last of Twain's great yarns. Here he tells his story in his own way, freely expressing his joys and sorrows, his affections and hatreds, his rages and reverence–ending, as always, tongue-in-cheek.: "Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true." Dr. Michael J. Kiskis is now in the Humanities Division of the English Department at Elmira College, Elmira, New York For more pubicity information about this book contact our publicity manager, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

Available now LC: 90-050091 PS 342 pp.  6 x 9  one illustration ISBN-10: 0-299-12544-0 Paper $18.95 t (ISBN-13: 978-0-299-12544-8) To order, you can accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart by clicking on the bulleted lines below. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with MasterCard or Visa. Click here for further explanation of shopping cart feature. Never ordered from us before? Read this first.

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