{"id":1220,"date":"2012-04-13T15:53:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T19:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2012-04-13T15:53:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T19:53:26","slug":"reading-mark-twain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2012\/04\/13\/reading-mark-twain\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Mark Twain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like so many other pre and teenagers I had the wrong idea of Mark Twain imposed on me from a young age.\u00a0 I mean, I liked that thing that Tom Sawyer did where he tricked his buddies into washing the fence for him.\u00a0 But the standard primary school Mark Twain is just not as fabulous as the man could be.\u00a0 It is no where near as fabulous.<\/p>\n

So, at some point in my early teen-dom I made the this-is-how-fabulous-Mark-Twain-really-is discovery when I picked up From a Pen Warmed in Hell<\/em>.\u00a0 Of course I was going to pick it up.\u00a0 I was immature and it had ‘Hell’ in the title.\u00a0 Thumbing through it, there could be no doubt that it was something wonderful even though it contained sundry writings from a guy who wrote stories about precocious southern boys (i.e. not my bag).\u00a0 The more I read, the more I needed.\u00a0 Pretty soon, I had developed a full on love for Mark Twain.<\/p>\n

And that is why, when I was trolling Project Gutenberg for stuff to stock my e-reader with, I downloaded Christian Science<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 I started reading it recently in waiting rooms and on planes.\u00a0 I’m not near done.\u00a0 But already I can’t stop talking about it.<\/p>\n

In his very Mark Twain way, the author is managing to make fun of Christian Science while still somehow convincing me that he thinks its a really good thing.\u00a0 At least that’s how he starts.\u00a0 I’m just waiting for him to open up and start slashing it to pieces.\u00a0 Though I will be no less satisfied if the subtlety continues.\u00a0 His criticisms of organized religion floored me at my first read of From a Pen Warmed in Hell<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s not so much that I wanted to ride the coat-tails of his tirade, or wanted to share in his calculated deconstruction of Christian belief systems.\u00a0 I found his wit and literary strategy invigorating.\u00a0 I am enjoying Christian Science<\/em> no less.<\/p>\n

His criticism, on religion, literature, or government, always seems like an act of love to me.\u00a0 Whether it’s those things he loved or just the human nature that put them in action, I don’t know.\u00a0 Perhaps I am only projecting something of myself in the mix.\u00a0 But consider.\u00a0 How could he spend so much time with those concepts he criticized if he did not love them?\u00a0 It’s like how we might fight and strain and whole-heartedly disagree with our parents while still holding them dear.<\/p>\n

I think perhaps my own reading history had to do with my love of Mark Twain’s criticism.\u00a0 His sharp phrases read like in-jokes.\u00a0 I’m sure that, had I not read the books he referenced, studied the history he spoke of, or known the religion he laid bare, I would not have been as enchanted.\u00a0 That said, if you’ve read The Last of the Mohicans<\/em>, take a moment to check out Mark Twain’s Literary offenses of Fenimore Cooper<\/em><\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Viva Project Gutenberg!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like so many other pre and teenagers I had the wrong idea of Mark Twain imposed on me from a young age.\u00a0 I mean, I liked that thing that Tom Sawyer did where he tricked his buddies into washing the fence for him.\u00a0 But the standard primary school Mark Twain is just not as fabulous… Continue reading Reading Mark Twain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[102,103],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-mark-twain","tag-project-gutenberg"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6031,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/05\/09\/mark-twain-stories-150-years-old-uncovered-by-berkeley-scholars-books-the-guardian\/","url_meta":{"origin":1220,"position":0},"title":"Mark Twain stories, 150 years old, uncovered by Berkeley scholars | Books | The Guardian","author":"leems","date":"May 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Cache shows Twain working as a newspaper man in San Francisco.\u00a0 As a young man at the Berkeley archivists describe, the stash is \u2018like opening up a big box of candy.\u2019 Source: Mark Twain stories, 150 years old, uncovered by Berkeley scholars | Books | The Guardian Are you excited?\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.guim.co.uk\/static\/w-300\/h--\/q-95\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2015\/5\/4\/1430776047323\/9fba8bab-f569-44c5-896b-8643ae338d64-300x180.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7961,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2018\/09\/05\/fan-fail-apologies-to-mr-twain\/","url_meta":{"origin":1220,"position":1},"title":"Fan Fail, apologies to Mr. Twain","author":"leems","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought that I was a fan of Mark Twain's work, though I would usually specify that I enjoyed his essays and sketches more than the novels he is typically known for.\u00a0 I have to admit, I am not a very good fan, perhaps of anything, because it never occurred\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/snip-HannibalJournal18520916-318x600.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7266,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/07\/06\/copyright-forever-less-one-day-youtube\/","url_meta":{"origin":1220,"position":2},"title":"Copyright: Forever Less One Day – YouTube","author":"leems","date":"July 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm not sure I can say that I think copyright should expire before the death of the author, and I adore Mark Twain even if he did declare his belief in perpetual copyright...this video makes some fabulous points.","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7310,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/07\/25\/a-little-obsession-with-author-voices\/","url_meta":{"origin":1220,"position":3},"title":"a little obsession with author voices","author":"leems","date":"July 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Before copyright law there were poets and playwrights who bemoaned the theft of their work and words by others while at the same time they stole words to build their poems and plays.\u00a0 Plagiarism was rampant, though, the act of literary theft was only just termed plagiarism, by one poet's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"copyrightfistfight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/copyrightfistfight-491x600.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":736,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2012\/01\/02\/web-comic-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":1220,"position":4},"title":"Web comic love","author":"leems","date":"January 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When people find out you like to read comics they always ask you which ones you like, you know, to compare with their own list.\u00a0 Webcomics are the same--and, oddly enough seem to have a different cast of fans than regular comics do...maybe it's generational, dunno.\u00a0 Anyway, I am really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In 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"Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1221,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions\/1221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}