Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1

The Complete and Authoritative Edition

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

“I’ve struck it!” Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. “And I will give it away - to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography.”

Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his “Final (and Right) Plan” for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion - to “talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment” - meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be “dead, and unaware, and indifferent” and that he was therefore free to speak his “whole frank mind”.

The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death. In celebration of this important milestone, here, for the first time, is Mark Twain’s uncensored autobiography, in its entirety, exactly as he left it. This major literary event offers the first of three volumes and presents Mark Twain’s authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave, as he intended.

Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith and other editors of the Mark Twain Project.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) was born Samuel L. Clemens in the town of Florida, Missouri. One of the most popular and influential authors our nation has ever produced, his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. He has been called not only the greatest humorist of his age but the father of American literature.

©2010 2001 by the Mark Twain Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Transcription, reconstruction, and creation of the texts, introduction, notes, and appendixes copyright 2010 by the Regents of the University of California (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“With the uncensored Twain finally here, we’re the furthest thing from indifferent.” ( Time magazine)

“Twain’s memoirs are a pointillist masterpiece from which his vision of America - half paradise, half swindle - emerges with indelible force.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Mark Twain, always so blithely ahead of his time, has just outdone himself: he’s brought us an autobiography from beyond the grave.” (Ron Powers, author of Mark Twain: A Life)

Wit and Wisdom of the great story teller

Rambling thoughts and wit of Mark Twain. He gives insight In the real life people and places that became the beloved characters and locals in his beloved bugs. Full of wit and wisdom and some gut wrenching pain as he talks of times gone by and loved ones lost.

References hard to get through, but his words are

If you can get through the first few hours of the referencing of material, then you'll be handsomely rewarded with Twain's own words and wisdom. Fabulous Man.

Interesting read

The start of the book was a little slow, as the editors spent a bit more than needed in telling of what sources each pice came from.

Once you get past that, and twain gets to tell his story it is excellent

Loved my time with the book!

I have been a fan of Twain's books and love his wit and comments on life. This book was such a pleasure to "listen" to. I don't think I could have read it though. I like how it is not written from the time of his birth to when he finished writing, but how one story leads to another which leads to another. I really enjoyed this book and highly recomend it. I look forward to the next two volumes.

Didactic

Too much about his writing in relation to the amount of it. Good for librarians and researchers maybe.

Only if you like research

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Mark Twain never could write an autobiography. As he says, he writes about what interests him--and it obviously is not his own life. Comments about others come easy to Twain but the reader has to dig to get a view of Twain's life. The sections from his daughter Susie, who died young, do give some continuity to this scholarly book. Mainly, it is incidents, thoughts, anecdotes and opinions that Twain puts down in any order and in any way he wants. Luckily, even his random thoughts are interesting. Don't come to this expecting to understand Twain's life. It is more a slice of life seen from Twain's twinkling eyes.

What was most disappointing about Mark Twain???s story?

The most disappointing part is that I came away not having a real sense of his life.

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrator was excellent.

Poor Sam...

I’ve always enjoyed MT/SC, but the non-Mark Twain authored comments from the researchers are brutal. I was tempted to put my Tesla on autopilot and take a nap during these parts, but when I tried, I remembered I don’t own a Tesla. Then I had to get through Sam’s “great experiment” of an autobiography, which is really just a random collection of thoughts and events in his life arranged in no particular chronological order. The researchers will explain Sam’s thinking regarding why he wanted to write an “autobiography” the way he did, but that doesn’t make this non-autobiography any easier to swallow. There are many entertaining parts of this book, but as Sam will explain to you from his tomb, it’s NOT like any autobiography you are used to. I would have preferred to remember Mark Twain the way most of the world remembers him, but that seems impossible now. I wish they had stopped at Volume 1.

WHAT IS WRITTEN BY HIM ROCKS THE REST SO SO

I ENJOYED VERY MUCH HIS WORK AND ABILITY TO USE WORDS AND EXPRESS IDEAS. WHAT I DID NOT ENJOY WAS THE INTRODUCTION PART READ WITH THE SAME TONE AND FOR A VERY LONG PART OF THIS AUDIOBOOK THAT MADE IT TEDIOUS.

Grover Gardner IS Mark Twain

This year marked my introduction to Mark Twain, both listening and reading, and in the past 7 months I’ve consumed all his fiction, and much of the non-fiction. Being a completist, the autobiographies were a given.

I treat these autobiographies as spending time in Twain’s company, slowly going through them (and so perhaps once I’ve finally completed them all, my perspective may shift). Gardner’s voice suits, in my mind at least, the writer of these words, the face on the cover.

This first book is probably not for the casual Twain reader, and isn’t a page-turner to be thrown in among some of his best works, but if you like the voice that accompanies you throughout his other books, this is a joyful way to spend time listening to a masterful performance that captures the very essence of the words on the page.

Excited for Volume 2 Release

I mean what can you say about Mark Twain's autobiography. It is interesting, it's entertaining, it's enlightening and it's Mark Twain's life and style. Good stuff.