If i havnt read Twain before, what do you folks reckon is a good one to start with.
nice and longish, so i dont finish it too quick...
Quote from: barumunk on February 08, 2008, 10:42:44 AM
If i havnt read Twain before, what do you folks reckon is a good one to start with.
nice and longish, so i dont finish it too quick...
If you want Funny wrapped in absurdism, try something along the lines of "The Innocents Abroad" a truish story about his trip around the world.
If you want some heavy philosophy wrapped in absurdism, go with "The Mysterious Stranger"
If you'd like screeds on religion wrapped in absurdism, the The Adam Family Paper, Letters From The Earth and Captain Stormalong Goes to Heaven (All Short Stories)
If you want social commentary wrapped in absurdism, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are always good.
I find that some of Twain's absolute best work comes from his short stories. They read like proto-discordianism and I wouldn't be surprised to find that he played a subtle role in the thinking of later freaks. Many can be found online, some of my favorites:
http://historyofideas.org/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=TwaEnco.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all (http://historyofideas.org/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=TwaEnco.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all)
http://www.twainquotes.com/Era/18630920.html (http://www.twainquotes.com/Era/18630920.html)
http://www.mtwain.com/Is_He_Living_Or_Is_He_Dead?/0.html (http://www.mtwain.com/Is_He_Living_Or_Is_He_Dead?/0.html)
There are many, many more... but those are a small sample of ones I really enjoyed.
For a absolutely beautiful condemnation of some American Christians http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/making/warprayer.html (http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/making/warprayer.html)
Twain and James Thurber are, in my opinion, some of the best absurdest writers of the 19th century and a lot of their stuff still finds relevance today. :)
kul shot alot
Quote from: barumunk on February 08, 2008, 02:58:22 PM
kul shot alot
Twain is personally my favorite author of all time, even RAW takes second place. :fnord:
So have you started on any Twain yet? ;-)
TWAIN is great. from what i've read ABOUT him (not much save for a short bio here and there) he was fond of playing practical jokes on folks and responsible one more than one occasion for false newspaper entries.
Quote from: burnstoupee on February 18, 2008, 05:26:59 PM
TWAIN is great. from what i've read ABOUT him (not much save for a short bio here and there) he was fond of playing practical jokes on folks and responsible one more than one occasion for false newspaper entries.
Yep, I think he fits the archetype of trickster ;-)
He's one of those rare intelligent people who manage to have a lot of personality without the benefit of any mental problems.
Quote from: Ratatosk on February 18, 2008, 05:03:47 PM
So have you started on any Twain yet? ;-)
um not as yet, im trying to finish all the books Ive started recently before moving on (lest the pile gets outta hand)
im busy with 1984 :D
and I plan on reading twain only in hard copy, so thanks to your list i kinda know what to look out for.
and in the interim ive bought "a connecticut yanky in King Arthurs court" by twain, but looks bad (im trusting the overall review of twain as to whether its worth the read) so i'll give it a try.
but im looking out/forward for/to those others you mentioned.
:D
Quote from: barumunk on February 19, 2008, 09:59:10 AM
Quote from: Ratatosk on February 18, 2008, 05:03:47 PM
So have you started on any Twain yet? ;-)
um not as yet, im trying to finish all the books Ive started recently before moving on (lest the pile gets outta hand)
im busy with 1984 :D
and I plan on reading twain only in hard copy, so thanks to your list i kinda know what to look out for.
and in the interim ive bought "a connecticut yanky in King Arthurs court" by twain, but looks bad (im trusting the overall review of twain as to whether its worth the read) so i'll give it a try.
but im looking out/forward for/to those others you mentioned.
:D
I would put Connecticut Yankee toward the bottom of a Twain list, unfortunately...
For the German Speakers out there:
"The Awful German Language"
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html
When I was studying German, I found this very, very appropriate.
Quote from: Dr. Felix Mackay on February 19, 2008, 05:51:02 AM
He's one of those rare intelligent people who manage to have a lot of personality without the benefit of any mental problems.
Phillip K Dick was intelligent without having mental problems.
It wasn't his fault aliens decided to beam messages into his brain.
Quote from: Ratatosk on February 19, 2008, 02:25:25 PM
Quote from: barumunk on February 19, 2008, 09:59:10 AM
Quote from: Ratatosk on February 18, 2008, 05:03:47 PM
So have you started on any Twain yet? ;-)
um not as yet, im trying to finish all the books Ive started recently before moving on (lest the pile gets outta hand)
im busy with 1984 :D
and I plan on reading twain only in hard copy, so thanks to your list i kinda know what to look out for.
and in the interim ive bought "a connecticut yanky in King Arthurs court" by twain, but looks bad (im trusting the overall review of twain as to whether its worth the read) so i'll give it a try.
but im looking out/forward for/to those others you mentioned.
:D
I would put Connecticut Yankee toward the bottom of a Twain list, unfortunately...
yeah the cover didnt look promising, but hey thawt i'd not judge it from the cover. hehehe but the title didnt leave much to teh imagination. I'll keep looking for those others