Tag Archives: Mark Twain

“I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” Happy Birthday, Rebecca West

It is hard to talk about her without referencing the generations of writers she inspired, all of whom admit their debt to her. Robert Kaplan is the most open about it (his Balkan Ghosts, which launched his career, has him … Continue reading

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2014 Books Read

2014 was a good reading year. I re-read a lot of favorites, including Rebecca West’s 1200 page Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. There was a fun mix of re-reads and new stuff, of fiction and non-fiction. My year of being … Continue reading

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Year in Review: Shooting My Mouth Off in 2014

I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Down the Rhône’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain I’m not sure when this essay was published, or if it was. It recalls a boat-trip that Mark Twain took “down the Rhône” in 1891. He had been going strong … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘A Memorable Assassination’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain Mark Twain was in Austria in 1898. He wrote an incredible piece about a rowdy and disturbing meeting of the Parliament, called “Stirring Times in Austria” (excerpt here). As a … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘The Turning Point of My Life’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain In Mark Twain’s long Socratic dialogue essay “What Is Man?” (excerpt here), he states the theory (over and over again) that everything in man can be connected to outside influences, … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Is Shakespeare Dead?’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain Whatever you may think of the Shakespeare author controversy, it sure is interesting. I don’t follow along with all the scholarship (that would be a full-time job and I am … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘What Is Man?’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain Mark Twain felt that this long essay was so potentially explosive, and so potentially upsetting to the audience that loved him, that he printed it privately in 1905, in a … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Saint Joan of Arc’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain In these essays, one of Mark Twain’s ongoing themes, one of the philosophical questions he keeps worrying over, reiterating, going back to, is where great-ness or exceptionalism comes from. His … Continue reading

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The Books: The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ‘Concerning the Jews’

On the essays shelf: The Complete Essays Of Mark Twain In 1898, Mark Twain’s essay about a raucous Parliament-meeting in Austria was published. (It’s a hell of a piece of journalism.) As can be imagined, the response to the piece … Continue reading

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