|
Publisher:
Perennial Classics / Harper Collins |
Release
Date: February 17, 2004 |
ISBN:
0-06-051865-0 |
Awards:
|
Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Nonfiction / Literature - Classics / Criticism |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Carisa Weeaks |
Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
|
Letters
from the Earth
Uncensored
Writings
By Mark Twain
Edited by Bernard DeVoto
In the 1800’s,
Samuel Langhorne Clemens took on the pen name of “Mark Twain”
and became known as America’s greatest satirist. He was always
considered racy and was occasionally banned, but no one ever considered
that he could’ve written something even more “over-the-top”
than that.
In Letters
from the Earth, Mark Twain explores the ideas of God, angels,
and mankind by writing letters from the angel Satan, (who has been
banished from Heaven for a celestial day, one thousand earth years)
to his fellow angels, St. Gabriel and St. Michael, from the curious
creation called Earth about the experiments (man and animals) that
the Creator had placed there.
There are
also other writings, “Papers of the Adam Family,” an
excerpt from Methuselah’s diary, and a letter entitled “Letter
to the Earth,” from the Office of the Recording Angel to a
coal dealer in New York.
The second
half is full of short stories, writings, and sketches that had been
left out by the original editor, Bernard DeVoto, who put this book
together in the late 1930’s.
Clara Clemens,
Mark Twain’s daughter, felt the book presented a distorted
view of her father’s ideas and attitudes and forbade its publication
since 1939. She finally changed her mind and the book has been printed,
with both notes by Mark Twain and DeVoto, distinguished by their
initials.
I absolutely
loved Mark Twain’s blunt, satirical writings, especially this
book. It’s an honest, candid view of his feelings about Christianity
and his views on the world of his time. I highly recommend this
book for anyone with an open mind and the ability to laugh at the
absurdities of our own natures. |