MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 04502cam 2200493Ia 4500
001 ocm29490949
003 OCoLC
005 20210629115313.0
008 931214t19911962nyu b 000 0 eng d
010 $a 90056427
040 $aPAI$beng$cPAI$dOSU$dBAKER$dBTCTA$dYDXCP$dOCLCG$dOQP$dB9K$dOCLCQ$dALEML$dTXHLC$dTXBXL$dT7Q$dOCLCO$dOCLCQ$dOCLCF$dTAMSA$dOCLCQ$dCDS$dOCLCO$dOCL$dOCLCQ$dOCLCO$dCUY$dOCLCA$dSJG$dOCLCQ$dJTH
019 $a24956959$a732641469$a1035804418$a1097589342
020 $a0060921056$q(pbk.)
020 $a9780060921057$q(pbk.)
035 $a(OCoLC)29490949$z(OCoLC)24956959$z(OCoLC)732641469$z(OCoLC)1035804418$z(OCoLC)1097589342
050 0 $aPS1322$b.L482 1991
082 04 $a817$bT911l
100 1 $aTwain, Mark,$d1835-1910.
240 10 $aLetters from the earth.$f1991
245 10 $aLetters from the earth /$cMark Twain ; edited by Bernard DeVoto ; with a preface by Henry Nash Smith.
250 $aFirst HarperPerennial edition.
264 1 $aNew York :$bHarperPerennial,$c1991.
264 4 $c©1962
300 $aix, 303 pages ;$c21 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
500 $a"Cover design © One Plus One Studio. Cover photographs courtesy Culver Pictures."--Back cover.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (page 303).
520 $aOne of Mark Twain's posthumously published works, most of it written shortly before his death. It was written during a difficult time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and two of his three daughters. Initially, his sole heir, daughter, Clara Clemens, objected to its publication in March 1939. She felt that probably because of its controversial and iconoclastic views on religion, that it presented a "distorted" view of her father. But she changed her mind in 1962, feeling that "Mark Twain belonged to the world" and that public opinion had become more tolerant. Another reason for Clara's approval was that she felt that the Communist's claim that her father's views were suppressed in America was incorrect. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. The title story consists of eleven letters written by the archangel Satan to other archangels. This is Mark Twain at his darkest, raw, jeering, pulverizing yet still a brilliant humorist. Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man. Like some of Mark Twain's lesser-known short pieces, some of these just don't land the knockout punch but there are some in this book that do and that is why we still read Twain today. Because no one knew how to tell a joke so well, could tell the unvarnished truth so searingly well & still be liked. A must-read!
505 0 $aLetters from the earth -- Papers of the Adam family : Extract from Methuselah's diary ; A later extract from Methuselah's diary ; Extract from Eve's autobiography ; Passage from Eve's autobiography ; The world in the year 920 after creation ; Two fragments from a suppressed book called "Glances at history" or "Outlines of history" ; Extract from Shem's diary of 920 A.C. -- Letter to the earth -- A cat-tale -- Cooper's prose style -- Official report to the I.I.A.S. -- The Gorky incident -- Simplified spelling -- Something about repentance -- From an English notebook : The Albert Memorial ; Old Saint Paul's ; The British Museum -- From the manuscript of "A tramp abroad": the French and the Comanches -- From unfinished burlesque of books on etiquette : At the funeral ; At a fire ; Visiting cards -- The damned human race : Was the world made for man? ; In the animals' court ; Zola's La terre ; The intelligence of God ; The lowest animal -- The great dark.
650 0 $aAmerican literature.
650 0 $aScience fiction.
650 7 $aScience fiction$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01108566
650 7 $aAmerican literature.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00807113
700 1 $aDe Voto, Bernard,$d1897-1955,$eeditor.
700 1 $aSmith, Henry Nash,$ewriter of preface.
710 2 $aOne Plus One Studio,$ecover designer.
938 $aBaker & Taylor$bBKTY$c13.00$d9.75$i0060921056$n0001975086$sactive
938 $aBaker and Taylor$bBTCP$nbl 99009358
938 $aYBP Library Services$bYANK$n28934
029 1 $aAU@$b000023294324
994 $aZ0$bP4A
948 $hNO HOLDINGS IN P4A - 289 OTHER HOLDINGS