So far I have read Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It, the latter which I can highly recommend - his knowledge and stories about mining and the Comstock lode and life in Virginia City Nevada are funny and educational. The fact that the stories he wrote 150 years ago still make me laugh is amazing to me -- his insight into human nature and his ability to find humor in everyday situations is fascinating. He was truly a genius.
Now I am reading Tramps Abroad - he has just walked around Germany, including a walk through the Black Forest and the way he described the houses there made me do some research -- how about that -- he nailed it. What a guy -- he had a good eye and he could write about what he saw. Impressive.
I am currently up to his tramping through Switzerland -- he was in Lucerne and saw the lion that was carved into the living rock as a memorial to the Swiss Guards who died fighting in Paris. It is a very sad memorial, a very expressive piece of sculpture and his description, once again, is spot on.
However, being Twain, he uses that great art as a source of humor while describing the conversations he had and overheard on a steamer roaming around a Swiss lake. The American he describes sounds like a guy we have all encountered at one time or another. So from a very serious, somber subject to laughing with and at a boor -- Mark Twain proves once again that he was a true American Treasure.
I'll wrap this up now with one final story -- years ago I visited his house in Hartford Connecticut. It is a beautiful house in a town that is now so sketchy that I would probably not revisit that area on a bet.
11 comments:
Speaking of a boor.
I meant to say boar just now by that homonym came out instead.
Mark Twain doesn't mention the artist, Bertel Thorvaldsen, was stiffed for agreed upon payment.
And that just flat pissed him off.
So he cut out the shape of a pig to silhouette around the lion.
See for yourself if you think I'm lion.
I meant to say lying just now but that other homonym came out.
[lion of lucerne, bertel thorvaldsen cheated, pig]
Rumour was, and might still be, that Paul Whiteman didn't want Gershwin's new piece for solo piano, he wanted one fully orchestrated. Gershwin had no time for that, so he tossed his score onto Ferde Grofe's lap and said "Here, you do it." And that's how Rhapsody in Blue came to be.
My understanding was that Gershwin, for all his compositional talent and playing skills, did not know how to orchestrate a piece until Grofe showed him how. Gershwin was yet another American genius, one who died way too young. What a gifted musician and composer. I do remember hearing a recording made from a piano roll that Gershwin himself cut for player pianos - and while there is a mechanical interface between what he played and what we hear, it is still kind of cool to think that there is some remnant of his playing floating around out there.
I see it, Chip - you are not lion!
There is nothing lower than the human race except the French....
....is my favorite Twain quote. On the other hand, he also said....
It was wonderful to find America but it would have been more wonderful to miss it.
And lest one be fooled by the cutesy way Twain presented himself....
If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.
That is a motto I learned in sales - nice to finally learn the source.
Twain's "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is laugh-out-loud funny. Literally; I always at least chuckle out loud when I re-read it. It is also a lively and useful little essay on how to be a better writer.
Here it is.
My favorite one-liner from that piece:
"Chingachgook (pronounced Chicago, I think)"
Every time I am walking in the woods and snap a twig I think "Cooper could have written that!" And he probably did.
Had to read "Life on the Mississippi" in school.
Read "Roughing It" because I was a big Bonanza fan, ca 1959 (my mother's family had the complete Mark Twain at home).
God, I loved it.
And, yes, Gershwin was the best, with Cole Porter a very close second.
Many years ago I made a point to spend the night in Hannibal, Missouri because of Mr Clemens. I was young and in a hurry to get somewhere else so I saw nothing. But that's okay, I can still check out another of his books. I don't think my library has banned him but I wouldn't be surprised if they banned him in the children's section. - I just checked and Huckleberry Finn is in the youth fiction section along with a ton of his books in the adult section.
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