Mark Twain's Autobiography Will Finally Be Released - Polidicks

[quote]Exactly a century after rumours of his death turned out to be entirely accurate, one of Mark Twain's dying wishes is at last coming true: an extensive, outspoken and revelatory autobiography which he devoted the last decade of his life to writing is finally going to be published. The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century. That milestone has now been reached, and in November the University of California, Berkeley, where the manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain's autobiography. The eventual trilogy will run to half a million words, and shed new light on the quintessentially American novelist. Scholars are divided as to why Twain wanted the first-hand account of his life kept under wraps for so long. Some believe it was because he wanted to talk freely about issues such as religion and politics. Others argue that the time lag prevented him from having to worry about offending friends. One thing's for sure: by delaying publication, the author, who was fond of his celebrity status, has ensured that he'll be gossiped about during the 21st century. A section of the memoir will detail his little-known but scandalous relationship with Isabel Van Kleek Lyon, who became his secretary after the death of his wife Olivia in 1904. Twain was so close to Lyon that she once bought him an electric vibrating sex toy. But she was abruptly sacked in 1909, after the author claimed she had "hypnotised" him into giving her power of attorney over his estate. Their ill-fated relationship will be recounted in full in a 400-page addendum, which Twain wrote during the last year of his life. It provides a remarkable account of how the dying novelist's final months were overshadowed by personal upheavals. "Most people think Mark Twain was a sort of genteel Victorian. Well, in this document he calls her a slut and says she tried to seduce him. It's completely at odds with the impression most people have of him," says the historian Laura Trombley, who this year published a book about Lyon called Mark Twain's Other Woman. "There is a perception that Twain spent his final years basking in the adoration of fans. The autobiography will perhaps show that it wasn't such a happy time. He spent six months of the last year of his life writing a manuscript full of vitriol, saying things that he'd never said about anyone in print before. It really is 400 pages of bile." Twain, who was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, had made several attempts to start work on autobiography, beginning in 1870, but only really hit his stride with the work in 1906, when he appointed a stenographer to transcribe his dictated reminiscences. Another potential motivation for leaving the book to be posthumously published concerns Twain's legacy as a Great American. Michael Shelden, who this year published Man in White, an account of Twain's final years, says that some of his privately held views could have hurt his public image. "He had doubts about God, and in the autobiography, he questions the imperial mission of the US in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. He's also critical of [Theodore] Roosevelt, and takes the view that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel. Twain also disliked sending Christian missionaries to Africa. He said they had enough business to be getting on with at home: with lynching going on in the South, he thought they should try to convert the heathens down there." In other sections of the autobiography, Twain makes cruel observations about his supposed friends, acquaintances and one of his landladies. Parts of the book have already seen the light of day in other publications. Small excerpts were run by US magazines before Twain's death (since he needed the money). His estate has allowed parts of it to be adapted for publication in three previous books described as "autobiographies". However, Robert Hirst, who is leading the team at Berkeley editing the complete text, says that more than half of it has still never appeared in print. Only academics, biographers, and members of the public prepared to travel to the university's Bancroft research library have previously been able to read it in full. "When people ask me 'did Mark Twain really mean it to take 100 years for this to come out', I say 'he was certainly a man who knew how to make people want to buy a book'," Dr Hirst said. November's publication is authorised by his estate, which in the absence of surviving descendants (a daughter, Clara, died in 1962, and a granddaughter Nina committed suicide in 1966) funds museums and libraries that preserve his legacy. "There are so many biographies of Twain, and many of them have used bits and pieces of the autobiography," Dr Hirst said. "But biographers pick and choose what bits to quote. By publishing Twain's book in full, we hope that people will be able to come to their own complete conclusions about what sort of a man he was."[/quote] [url]http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/after-keeping-us-waiting-for-a-century-mark-twain-will-finally-reveal-all-1980695.html[/url] I am definitely looking forward to this.

Ooooooooo, will definitely get a hold of this.

I wonder why he wanted it to be released after a 100 years?

No matter what's in there, it will not change the awesome stuff he wrote.

Who's Mark Twain? Sounds like a tennis player.

[QUOTE=madmanmad;22143990]I wonder why he wanted it to be released after a 100 years?[/QUOTE] attention whoreing

[QUOTE=decilling;22144035]attention whoreing[/QUOTE] Possibly. But, I still think it had more to do with prying eyes of those he knew. If I were to write horrible truths about myself or others, I would wish us all to be dead before they were read. At least it would make for a good story then without harming anyone.

[QUOTE=madmanmad;22143990]I wonder why he wanted it to be released after a 100 years?[/QUOTE] [quote]Scholars are divided as to why Twain wanted the first-hand account of his life kept under wraps for so long. Some believe it was because he wanted to talk freely about issues such as religion and politics. Others argue that the time lag prevented him from having to worry about offending friends.[/quote] I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to have your doubts about god, and negative stuff about politics published. It would be pretty bad for your career and publicity.

Mark Twain is one of the coolest people in history.

Awesome :dance:

[quote]and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language[/quote] Can anyone give some examples?

[QUOTE=usaokay;22143929]Waiting for his autobiography is nothing compared to waiting for Half Life 2: Episode 3.[/QUOTE] Or Duke Nukem Forever :frown:

[QUOTE=TH89;22144798]Mark Twain is one of the coolest people in history.[/QUOTE] Too true. Just look at this historical badass: [IMG]http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/7317/marktwainbradyhandyphot.th.jpg[/IMG] Big Picture. :/ Kind of looks like Ron Burgundy in that picture.

[QUOTE=usaokay;22143929]Waiting for his autobiography is nothing compared to waiting for Half Life 2: Episode 3.[/QUOTE] Could you stop Fuck

I don't care actually.

Yay, I'd buy it. Mark Twain was one the the greatest writers in history.

Right now Twain is smug with himself because he knew in 100 years, people couldn't wait to buy his book about his life.

Awesome. Mark Twain didn't conform to society the way everyone else did, which is why this interests me so much. His thoughts and ideas and the shit he did will all be in here in the closest way to the direct source as possible.

[QUOTE=usaokay;22143929]Waiting for his autobiography is nothing compared to waiting for Half Life 2: Episode 3.[/QUOTE] Actually, it is something compared to waiting for Episode 3. They both have release dates that stretch a century after they started.

-holy fuck-

[QUOTE=KillaGunna24;22149404]Or Duke Nukem Forever :frown:[/QUOTE] With Duke Nukem Forever, you truly will be waiting for forever.

-snip-

[QUOTE=usaokay;22143929]Waiting for his autobiography is nothing compared to waiting for Half Life 2: Episode 3.[/QUOTE] Umm Biography: 100 years EP 3: what like 3 years?

[QUOTE=GhettoGeek;22156820]Umm Biography: 100 years EP 3: what like 3 years?[/QUOTE] Valve time, three years might as well be a hundred.

[QUOTE=GhettoGeek;22156820]Umm Biography: 100 years EP 3: what like 3 years?[/QUOTE] To their impatient assholes, 3 years might as well be 100

[QUOTE=TH89;22144798]Mark Twain is one of the coolest people in history.[/QUOTE] Right after Benjamin Franklin. After all he did invent electricity.

[QUOTE=Fhenexx;22156503]Actually, it is something compared to waiting for Episode 3. They both have release dates that stretch a century after they started.[/QUOTE] but Episode 3 never had a release date :downs:

[QUOTE=decilling;22144035]attention whoreing[/QUOTE] It's not like he can bask in the glory when he's [b]dead[/b].

I will definitely be getting this. Mark Twain is a badass

I always wanted an insight into his mindset, he was particularly critical of the rampant corruption and abuse in the Gilded Age of America. BTW, there have been publication of parts of his autobiography before- this one is trying to publish his autobiography in the form he wanted and when he wanted it released.