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Mark TwainOswald Defense LawyerEverybody knows, we're told grade school through college, that Mark Twain is one of the great American writers and we ought to be reading him. I'll bet everyone out there got The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn assigned to them at least once in that time. So why am I here telling you now I think it's crucial that you not forget about him? Say 'Mark Twain' and the images that come to mind are the old guy with the bushy moustache in a white suit lookin' for all the world like a run down Colonel Sanders, mischievous but good-hearted scamps, and a sepia-toned Americana whorl of river boats, white picket fences and jumping frogs. We all know about the bible belters who banned Huck Finn from schools at one time or another. We remember his pithy sayings and that he was born and died with Halley's Comet. Blah, blah, blah. All those images are part of the story, but they marginalize Twain and downplay his (towering, majestic) importance in American literature. Twain wrote by the acre. If you're that prolific, you're output is bound to be uneven. Even the books that get dismissed (Christian Science & Joan of Arc leap to mind) have tremendous value. Sure, they would've benefited from more judicious editing, but the beauty of his writing, the brute force of his rage (sometimes cloaked in irony, other times wonderfully direct) are still there. Twain despises you. Don't feel bad, he despises me, too. We're all human and we all suck. We're backstabbing, self-absorbed, short-sighted, spiteful, cruel, hypocritical bastards. Damn us all to Hell, as if there were such a place. What's great Twain is he hates us, he exposes us, he shows us a better way, and he never, ever thinks he's better than us. Oh, he may know when he's smarter or funnier, but never better. He despises us all in the exact measure he despises himself for the same flaws. What's so great about that? It's the foundation of genuine compassion. Go on, read "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg" again. You'll feel better if you do, I promise. Links: Mark Twain page by c-dog 1.10.2002 |