Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (Bantam Classic) 
asked by wellness on November 2, 2006 8:28 AM
For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain’s inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years.
Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.”
Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.”
Reviews
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This is an exhaustive edition of Mark Twain's short stories. Enough has been written about the high quality of Twain's work, which merits five stars here. But I need to add my own experience with this edition that has been discussed in other customer reviews. I agree with another reviewer that the Bantam edition leaves a lot to be desired. My own copy had a problem with the first few dozen pages being cut wrong, so that the last line on each page was cut off, not even on the page. Tiny scraps of paper, like lint, kept falling out of the pages. And the ink from the text rubbed off on my fingers. You can do better than this edition. Do a little searching on Amazon. For a replacement copy, I found a nice used hardcover edition, complete with dustjacket, published in 1957, for just $8.00. But it's important to identify the copy you are ordering as the one edited by Charles Neider (1957 or later, 676 pages if it's hardcover). There are other Twain collections published under the same title that have (inexplicably) different content.
reviewed by webin on November 26, 2006 10:08 PM
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Though many of the reviews are lowered because of this edition's quality, I still recommend it because of the sheer number of stories, to be read at any pace.
Of course, the characters reveal the Mark Twain technique of satire...throw an innocent observer (usually the narrator) into a situation and then witness the ensuing folly.
Of course, the characters reveal the Mark Twain technique of satire...throw an innocent observer (usually the narrator) into a situation and then witness the ensuing folly.
reviewed by nat on November 29, 2006 5:52 PM
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"The Story of the Bad Little Boy" is a satire on the stories we all heard in Sunday school with an interesting twist. While Twain seems to b satirizing the stories of old because his protagonist does not seem to encounter punishment for his sin, Twain still ends the story with something of a moral for us to think about. While Jim may have been able to get away with his bad behavior, he was still sinful. In other words, a person cannot base his or her behavior on the fact if he or she is punished or not. The truth is that many bad people get away with doing bad things all the time and we must be better and rise above such behavior. Goodness must come from one's own desire to be good.
Twain purposefully begins with Jim's bad behavior as what appears to be harmless. For example, his first bad at is replacing the jam with tar. This seems harmless enough. That act is followed by stealing apples from Farmer Acorn's apple tree. We are told that Jim "and the limb didn't break, and he didn't fall and break his arm, and get torn by the farmer's great dog" and he "stole as many apples as he wanted and came down all right."
Another interesting aspect of this story is how Twain is how Jim continues to live a bad life even as an adult. The sequence is essential to Twain's notion that evil, if allowed to grow, will take over a person's life. Jim's evil actions were innocent enough when he was a boy. However, they progressively become worse. For example, he moves from stealing apples to stealing a knife and then planting the knife in George Wilson's cap and allowing George to be punished. In fact, the incident with George reveals much about Jim's personality. We are told:
"No meddling old clam of a justice dropped in to make trouble, and so the model boy George got thrashed, and Jim was glad of it because, you know, Jim hated moral boys. Jim said he was `down on them milk-sops.' Such was the coarse language of this bad, neglected boy."
These statements reflect how Jim is growing more evil. He not only finds joy in doing evil things, but he also delights in the fact that good and innocent people suffer for crimes they did not commit. Jim moves from becoming a mischevious boy to an evil boy that hates good boys. This is a subtle action but it reflects how evil can subtly take over an individuals' life. In this sense we can see how people are not born completely evil. Instead, they wander through gray areas of life committing one evil act after another until they are transformed. The message here is that people rarely set out to be evil; rather they become evil after repeating one offense after the other.
Twain moves through the events of Jim's life to illustrate that although bad people do not always get caught, they end up with a life that is not pleasing or desirable. In the beginning of the story, the events Twain describes are what we would consider normal for an average boy. Stealing is something to which we can all relate. By introducing us to such events, Twain is engaging us as readers. When we read about Jim, we think that there is nothing wrong with him. However, as the story progresses, we realize that Jim's behavior begins to have negative effects on other people. Not only that, but Jim has little regard for these people. First, it is George then it become Jim's innocent family. By moving swiftly through these events, Twain is demonstrating how quickly a person can become evil.
I found this story to be fascinating in that its message is not terribly overt. I also enjoyed it because it is realistic. Many people do not get caught or punished for their crimes. But the most fascinating aspect is how Jim's character develops into a truly evil person. He goes from stealing jam to braining his entire family. At the end of the story, we are told that he "got wealthy by all manner of cheating and rascality; and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the Legislature." Clearly, while this message seems to support the message that crime pays, it also indicates that Jim became an evil person one step at a time. In fact, Jim is probably not even aware of his own evilness.
It is also interesting that the narrator refers to Jim as lucky more than once. I also believe this is part of Twain's technique because at first glance, it would appear that Jim is lucky. he is never caught and is never punished for his crimes. In fact, he is well respected in his community. It would seem that he does have the best of luck. However, the underlying message is that we cannot rest on what society perceives as lucky when it comes to finding meaning in life. Jim's so-called luck is simply another one of society's misguided messages. In reality, Jim is not lucky at all.
In the end, Jim might have been considered lucky to some but more importantly, he was sinful. The story teaches us that goodness must come from within--it cannot come from Sunday school books nor can it come from how society perceives and treats us. While Twain mocks the typical Sunday school method of teaching, he is presenting the same message in that we must desire to be good and that desire must be our compelling force in life.
Twain purposefully begins with Jim's bad behavior as what appears to be harmless. For example, his first bad at is replacing the jam with tar. This seems harmless enough. That act is followed by stealing apples from Farmer Acorn's apple tree. We are told that Jim "and the limb didn't break, and he didn't fall and break his arm, and get torn by the farmer's great dog" and he "stole as many apples as he wanted and came down all right."
Another interesting aspect of this story is how Twain is how Jim continues to live a bad life even as an adult. The sequence is essential to Twain's notion that evil, if allowed to grow, will take over a person's life. Jim's evil actions were innocent enough when he was a boy. However, they progressively become worse. For example, he moves from stealing apples to stealing a knife and then planting the knife in George Wilson's cap and allowing George to be punished. In fact, the incident with George reveals much about Jim's personality. We are told:
"No meddling old clam of a justice dropped in to make trouble, and so the model boy George got thrashed, and Jim was glad of it because, you know, Jim hated moral boys. Jim said he was `down on them milk-sops.' Such was the coarse language of this bad, neglected boy."
These statements reflect how Jim is growing more evil. He not only finds joy in doing evil things, but he also delights in the fact that good and innocent people suffer for crimes they did not commit. Jim moves from becoming a mischevious boy to an evil boy that hates good boys. This is a subtle action but it reflects how evil can subtly take over an individuals' life. In this sense we can see how people are not born completely evil. Instead, they wander through gray areas of life committing one evil act after another until they are transformed. The message here is that people rarely set out to be evil; rather they become evil after repeating one offense after the other.
Twain moves through the events of Jim's life to illustrate that although bad people do not always get caught, they end up with a life that is not pleasing or desirable. In the beginning of the story, the events Twain describes are what we would consider normal for an average boy. Stealing is something to which we can all relate. By introducing us to such events, Twain is engaging us as readers. When we read about Jim, we think that there is nothing wrong with him. However, as the story progresses, we realize that Jim's behavior begins to have negative effects on other people. Not only that, but Jim has little regard for these people. First, it is George then it become Jim's innocent family. By moving swiftly through these events, Twain is demonstrating how quickly a person can become evil.
I found this story to be fascinating in that its message is not terribly overt. I also enjoyed it because it is realistic. Many people do not get caught or punished for their crimes. But the most fascinating aspect is how Jim's character develops into a truly evil person. He goes from stealing jam to braining his entire family. At the end of the story, we are told that he "got wealthy by all manner of cheating and rascality; and now he is the infernalist wickedest scoundrel in his native village, and is universally respected, and belongs to the Legislature." Clearly, while this message seems to support the message that crime pays, it also indicates that Jim became an evil person one step at a time. In fact, Jim is probably not even aware of his own evilness.
It is also interesting that the narrator refers to Jim as lucky more than once. I also believe this is part of Twain's technique because at first glance, it would appear that Jim is lucky. he is never caught and is never punished for his crimes. In fact, he is well respected in his community. It would seem that he does have the best of luck. However, the underlying message is that we cannot rest on what society perceives as lucky when it comes to finding meaning in life. Jim's so-called luck is simply another one of society's misguided messages. In reality, Jim is not lucky at all.
In the end, Jim might have been considered lucky to some but more importantly, he was sinful. The story teaches us that goodness must come from within--it cannot come from Sunday school books nor can it come from how society perceives and treats us. While Twain mocks the typical Sunday school method of teaching, he is presenting the same message in that we must desire to be good and that desire must be our compelling force in life.
reviewed by shagdag on November 29, 2006 7:17 PM
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Ok, now I don't think I need to go on about Mark Twain's genius and how it is essential reading for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of classic American literature, he's number two on my list of great American writers. His work is of the sort that will make you laugh out loud no matter how much you try to hold it in. It's easy to look crazy when reading Mark Twain in public. Now about the edition...is it bad? Well not in this reader's opinion and certainly not to the extent that like a fellow reviewer I'd give it 1 star. The content is there and is far from the exaggerated description given in other reviews. You don't have to tear the book apart to read it's contents. This is a compact edition and fitting lots of stories in only 600 pages for a very affordable price. Quantity versus quality? Ever heard quantity has a quality all it's own? It applies here. You can get all these stories for one low price. You can even toss it around and not have a guilty conscience that you are dismembering a treasure.
reviewed by ctj on November 29, 2006 7:26 PM