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American Vandal
Mark Twain Abroad
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2015
About this book
Unintimidated by Old World sophistication or travel to undeveloped parts of the globe, Mark Twain spent a surprising amount of time outside the continental United States. Roy Morris, Jr. focuses on the dozen years he lived overseas and the books he wrote encouraging middle-class Americans to follow him around the world, at the dawn of mass tourism.
Reviews
Morris is a first-rate tour guide. He knows his subject, cites other authorities with respect and presents a good deal of information with easygoing, professional smoothness. [An] entertaining and—despite its title—eminently civilized book.
-- Michael Dirda Washington Post
-- Michael Dirda Washington Post
American Vandal provides a fresh account of the great satirist’s life and work by arguing that his world view was the product of experience that was unusual for a popular American writer in this period. It offers us an account of the dozen years in total which Twain spent overseas, part of a life of travel that included twenty-nine transatlantic crossings, excursions across India, New Zealand, the Mediterranean and Caribbean… One strength of American Vandal is that Morris places Twain’s travel writings at the heart of his achievement.
-- Tom F. Wright Times Literary Supplement
-- Tom F. Wright Times Literary Supplement
If you want a guide through [Twain’s] travelogues or through the experiences that produced them, then you could not find a better one than Twain biographer Roy Morris Jr. He is not merely well-informed about his subject, he is truly attuned to the mind and sensibility of the man… American Vandal shows a consistently sure and wise touch.
-- Martin Rubin Washington Times
-- Martin Rubin Washington Times
In this vibrant, fresh look at the venerable writer, historian Morris traces Twain’s journeys and his evolving perspective on world politics and peoples… A brisk narrative and sensitive insights make this book a delight.
-- Kirkus Reviews
-- Kirkus Reviews
For readers not familiar with Mark Twain’s travel literature, Morris will open up a new facet of his extensive writing career… This lively overview provides an accessible entry point to the lesser‐known works of a great American writer.
-- Publishers Weekly
-- Publishers Weekly
Only an accomplished storyteller should dare to take up the life of our most revered raconteur, and Morris measures up. There is no shortage of Twain biographies; one as well researched and as well told as this one deserves to be among them.
-- Lawrence Howe, author of Mark Twain and the Novel: The Double Cross of Authority
-- Lawrence Howe, author of Mark Twain and the Novel: The Double Cross of Authority
Morris effectively evokes both the personal and political realities behind Twain’s fictions and semi-fictions to demonstrate how Twain himself debunked then-prevalent myths of travel and of national character. American Vandal gives readers a fresh view of Mark Twain while casting a revealing light on American identity.
-- James Leonard, editor of The Mark Twain Journal
-- James Leonard, editor of The Mark Twain Journal
Morris writes smoothly and engagingly about Mark Twain’s travels, through life as much as through foreign scenes.
-- D. E. Sloane Choice
-- D. E. Sloane Choice
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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CONTENTS
vii -
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A Note on Names
viii -
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Introduction
1 -
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1. Innocents Abroad
9 -
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2. Tramps Abroad
63 -
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3. Innocents Adrift
105 -
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4. Stowaways Will Be Prosecuted
143 -
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5. This Everlasting Exile
189 -
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Afterword
235 -
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Abbreviations
243 -
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Notes
245 -
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Index
263
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 10, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9780674425323
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
236
eBook ISBN:
9780674425323
Audience(s) for this book
General/trade;
