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The Cambridge introduction to Mark Twain / Peter Messent.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Messent, Peter, 1946- author.
- Series:
- Cambridge introductions to literature.
- Cambridge introductions to literature
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
- Twain, Mark.
- Authors, American--19th century--Biography--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
- Authors, American.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (xii, 138 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Mark Twain is a central figure in nineteenth-century American literature, and his novels are among the best-known and most often studied texts in the field. This clear and incisive Introduction provides a biography of the author and situates his works in the historical and cultural context of his times. Peter Messent gives accessible but penetrating readings of the best-known writings including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He pays particular attention to the way Twain's humour works and how it underpins his prose style. The final chapter provides up-to-date analysis of the recent critical reception of Twain's writing, and summarises the contentious and important debates about his literary and cultural position. The guide to further reading will help those who wish to extend their research and critical work on the author. This book will be of outstanding value to anyone coming to Twain for the first time.
- Contents:
- Mark Twain's life
- The early life
- Riverboating, the Civil War, the west
- Early success, marriage, the Hartford years
- Expatriation, financial loss, family tragedy
- The final years
- Contexts
- Samuel Langhorne Clemens and 'Mark Twain'
- Works
- Twain's humour
- Travel and travel writing : Innocents abroad, A tramp abroad, Roughing it, Life on the Mississippi
- Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
- A Connecticut yankee and Pudd'nhead Wilson
- Critical reception and the late works
- Guide to further reading.
- Notes:
- Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 1-107-16581-4
- 1-280-81550-7
- 0-511-61097-1
- 0-511-27458-0
- 0-511-27528-5
- 0-511-27302-9
- 0-511-56844-4
- 0-511-27381-9
- OCLC:
- 780849303
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