Enjoyable collection of short stories.

Editions:
1. Hardcover - International Collectors Library, 1957
2. Hardcover - Doubleday, 1957

So, I read this big volume of Twain's short stories one at a time (except the really short ones), over the last three months. Like all collections, of course some of the stories were great and some were just ok - but overall, the collection is simply superb. A few of the tales were part of my childhood (like The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), some I've read as an adult (like The Diary of Adam and Eve), but many of them were new to me - and had the same magic as Twain's other writings. Yes, there is some cultural anachronism (they were written in the latter part of the 19th and earliest 20th centuries), but the social and political commentary on the developing American society, as well as the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the character (and characters) of the evolving West, are brilliant and filled with humor. A delightful read. Thanks, Mom!

**This is a review for the Everyman's Library hardcover edition, with an introduction by Adam Gopnik.

I don't know if it's because I'm Canadian and Mark Twain is more an American staple, but I'd never really been exposed to his work. I know of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but by name only. So I figured reading this collection of short stories would give me a good idea of Mark Twain as a writer.

That said, the 60 stories collected are mostly of the comedy genre, some being downright irreverent. Some stories were written in late 19th century, others in early 20th century, and they seem to be collected in the order in which they were written. Most of the stories I enjoyed, though there were a few that I couldn't get into and couldn't wait to finish (just to get to the next one).

Of course some stories stood out more than others, my favourites being:

The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County
Cannibalism In The Cars
Journalism In Tennessee
A Medieval Romance
A Trial
Experience Of The McWilliamses With The Membranous Croup
The Canvasser's Tale
Mrs. McWilliams And The Lightning
The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm
The Diary Of Adam And Eve
The Esquimau Maiden's Romance
The £1,000,000 Bank Note
The Death Disk
Two Little Tales
The Five Boons Of Life
A Dog's Tale
The Mysterious Stranger

Which is not to say that the rest aren't any good, far from it, but these are the ones that I enjoyed reading most (even more so the ones in bold), The Death Disk getting top honours.

It was a great pleasure for me to discover Mark Twain, as well as his very accurate insight into human nature. If you haven't read Mark Twain yet (or much, aside from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or even The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), you should give this book a look. Because its contents are so varied, you are sure to find something to your liking in this collection. I myself will be looking into Pudd'nhead Wilson, then possibly into the two classics mentioned above.

I don’t know what I was expecting. But I was pleasantly surprised by these fun and random stories.

I had never read the majority of these stories. I definitely preferred his earlier stories. This was a fun read that really made me appreciate Mark Twain.

The sixty stories in this comprehensive volume are honest-to-goodness cigar-chompin’ charmers, whether Twain’s in the mood for a frolic, for a scathing assault on the cruddiness of the human race, for a first-person ramblin’ monologue, for an examination on the brutalising effects of the American dollar on the American character, for a full-on blunderbussing of so-called incorruptible small towns, for an hilarious pastiche of Sherlock Holmes stories, for an epistolary yarn told from the perspective of a horse, for a slapdown of the hypocrisies of religious fussbudgets, for a pastiche of Wellsian sci-fi, for a peep into the diaries of Adam and Eve, for a sneering indictment on the barbarism of southerners to their slaves, to a scathing conclusion that the kindest fate for the living to is to be dead. Twain’s elegant wit and moral indignation is in evidence in each of these brilliant, timeless tales, the first writer we can call “the conscience of America” without appearing like a cheap hack. Read this man.

Like most large collections, some spot on Mark Twain, others not so much.

Ideally, 3.75 stars, in part for Twain the author and in part for the editorial collection (see bottom).

I've read about all of these before, but I have never reviewed it, and I had a hankering for a couple of his classics, above all "The Mysterious Stranger." Those familiar with it know without clicking the link that Twain never finished it himself, in part, surely because his wife would have been mortified. (He didn't publish "Captain Stormfield's Journey to Heaven" until 1909 partially for that reason.) I don't think that's the only reason he didn't publish. The link notes that he made multiple different assays, and the published version is somewhat cobbled-together. Each time I've read it, the ending sits less well with me. It's almost like Twain is being made to go po-mo, with all of life a dream including Satan the nephew. I get the idea; it's just that the details of how it's presented come off kind of flat. That said, the piece is charged with all sorts of philosophical ideas.

Captain Stormfield is, IMO, Twain's second-best, skewering "fundagelical" Christian ideas of heaven, along with their attached supercilious piety, and also showing in detail what "the last will be first" might mean.

"The Diary of Adam and Eve" is still good overall, with light-hearted skewering of gender stereotypes and other things, and a poignant conclusion.

Some other stories wear well to today. "Cannibalism in the Cars" is a good one. With updates for technology, "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm" could be written about Brinks Home Security or somebody like that today. "The £1,000,000 Pound Bank-Note" could be adjusted for other money today.

Some, like "Journalism in Tennessee" and "How I Edited an Agricultural Paper" come off as datesd.

And, a few of the morality short stories, or the sarcastic anti-morality short stories, namely above all, "The Story of the Bad Little Boy" and "The Story of the Good Little Boy," feel ham-handed.

And, this — and in general, any volume marked "Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain," unless it specifies that it also contains his essays like "The Awful German Language," — doesn't have them.

Seriously, how can you give this anything less than five stars?

لن أدفع سنتا واحدا على نظام التنبيه ضد السرقة، وسأشرح لك السبب. كنت قد ادخرت مبلغا من المال بنية التبرع لحملات هداية الظالين، ولكن زوجتي اقترحت شراء إنذار ضد السرقة، فوافقت على ذلك. وهذا مانسميه تسوية. عندما أريد شيئا وتريد زوجتي غيره، نفعل ماترغب هي به وندعوها تسوية.


المهم، استدعينا خبيرا من نيويورك لتركيب الجهاز، وتقاضى مايربو على الثلاثمائة دولار. وأكد لنا أننا سننام في أمان من ذلك اليوم فصاعدا. وذلك ماحدث لبضعة أشهر حتى استيقظنا في أحد الليالي على رائحة دخان تبدو صادرة من الدور الأول. أشعلت شمعة ونزلت فلمحت شخصا خارجا من إحدى الغرف، بفمه غليون ويحمل إناء من القصدير ظنا منه أنه من الفضة.
"لو سمحت ياسيد، نحن لانسمح بالتدخين في هذا المنزل"
توقف لحظة ورمقني باستنكار وإجاب:
- "كيف لي أن أعلم بهذا القانون وأنا لم أزر هذا البيت من قبل؟ لقد دخلت بيوتا أرقى من بيتكم بكثير ولم أجدهم يطبقون هذا النظام بتاتا. ثم إن هذه القوانين -إن وجدت- لا تنطبق على اللصوص"
-"إذا كان الأمر كذلك، فلا بأس. استمر بالتدخين. ولكن كيف سولت لك نفسك اقتحام البيت دون إن تمتلك اللباقة الكافية لقرع جرس الإنذار؟"
أطرق اللص خجلا.
- "أنها فعلة مخزية حقا. ارجو أن تسامحني، لم أكن اعلم بوجود جرس إنذار وإلا لقرعته. أتوسل إليك ألا تذكر ذلك في أي مكان يتواجد به والداي. فهما شيخان كبيران وضعيفان. لن يتحملان مثل هذا الخرق الصريح لتقاليدنا المتوارثة في حضارتنا المسيحية. هلا تكرمت علي بعود ثقاب؟"


أعلاه اقتباس بسيط من إحدى قصص هذه المجموعة. ترجمته بتصرف لتقف-عزيزي القارئ- على سخرية توين اللاذعة ونقده الحاد، وحسه الفكاهي البارع. ففي النص اعلاه، استل الكاتب قلمه ليسخر من المبشرين، الزوجات، والتدين الظاهري وتفاهة بعض الاختراعات. بعض هذه المواضيع متكررة بشكل عام في كتاباته.
ست��د بعضا من قصصه ساخرا جدا، ليس له مغزى اجتماعي. كقصة السيد سمايلي والضفدع النطاط. وهناك قصص تزخر بمعان إنسانية عميقة. عندك مثلا رائعته: الرجل الذي أفسد هايدلبيرج، التي تناقش إغراء المال وضعف النفس البشرية من حيث ميلها لارتكاب الخطيئة طالما ضمنت عدم انكشافها على الملأ.


توين متعدد المواهب. يمكنه أن يضحكك وأن يبكيك، وأن يكتب عن مواضيع غريبة كمذكرات آدم وحواء وقصة المتحري الأحمق في سرقة الفيل الأبيض. إليك اقتباس من مذكرات آدم:

"مازالت حواء مثابرة على إطلاق الأسماء على كل شيء وأي شيء. تسمي هذا جبلا وذاك نهرا...لا أعلم فائدة تسمية أشياء لا علاقة ل��ا بها. كما أنها تطلق الأسماء جزافا، فتقول أن النمر نمر لأنه يبد ك(نمر) وأن الشجرة شجرة لأنها تبدو كشجرة. وقالت أنها تدعو البني بنيا لأنه بني، رغم أني لا أراه يبدو ك(بني) أكثر مني! ....قبل عدة أيام عادت من الأحراش المتاخمة لكوخنا ومعها كائن غريب. كان يبدو مختلفا عن الحيوانات التي دأبت على جلبها للبيت لتلعب وتنام معها. كان تضمه بعاطفة وتداعبه فيصدر أصواتا غريبة. سألتها فقالت أنه مثلنا، ولكنني أعتقد بأنه سمكة. فقررت اختبار فرضيتي وأخذته إلى النبع. ألقيته هناك فعجز عن الحركة وبدا أنه يتألم. أي سمكة هذه التي لا تحسن السباحة؟ سارعت حواء بالتقاطه من الماء حتى قبل أن أتمكن من إثبات أو نفي فرضيتي. لا إعلم لماذا ولكنها فقدت حماسها للتجارب منذ مجيء هذا المخلوق. كما أنها نهرتني على رميه في الماء كما لم تنهرني من قبل."

لقلم الكاتب أيضا ريشة رومانسية وحساسة. اختم بهذا الاقتباس الجميل ولكم الحكم:
" لم استطع نبذ الفكرة، ولا نزعها من رأسي. قتل نفس بغير حق بدت لي أمرا فظيعا. بدا وكأن تلك خلاصة الحرب، وأن كل الحروب تتشابه في ذلك- قتل غرباء لا تكن لهم عداوة شخصية، غرباء قد -في ظروف أخرى- تمد لهم يد العون لو وجدتهم في مأزق، وقد ينجدونك هم إن احتجت المساعدة"

اقرأوا لمارك توين.

good

This book is featured on this week's 'Shabby Sunday' @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2017/...

Growing up in my grandparents home, we had books from wall to wall. My grandfather was a teacher and loved the written word. We had plenty of books to keep us busy. One of the only books that I have left in my collection that belonged to my grandfather is The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. I can still remember him reading it when I was just a young child.

To me, this is a must-have for any Mark Twain fan. Mine is the 1957 edition hardcover. A few of my favorites are- A Dying Man's Confession, A Day at Niagara, A Ghost Story, A Dog's Tale, and Luck. I'm happy to have it to share with my kids.

Definitely a keeper!

5*****