Appearing on the cover of the July 14th issue of Time magazine is Mark Twain. Several articles explore Twain’s literary legacy and how a century ago he addressed still-familiar issues like race, religion, and war — and why it’s especially fitting to remember his acerbic honesty and deadly wit during an election year.
In a piece titled “The Seriously Funny Man,” Richard Lacayo writes that by the late 19th century Twain was “the first writer to enjoy the kind of fame reserved until then for Presidents, generals and barn-burning preachers.” Lacayo then goes on to explain why today’s political humorists owe a nod to Twain: “Not quite a century after his death, in 1910, we get a lot of our news from people like him — funnymen (and -women) who talk about things that are not otherwise funny at all. This is an election year in which some of the most closely followed commentators are comedians like Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert and the cast of Saturday Night Live. All of them are descended from that man in the white suit.”
The issue also includes a two-page spread highlighting Twain’s success as a travel writer. A map traces his voyages around the world and listed are his travel narratives, which include The Innocents Abroad (his first full-length book and the bestselling of his works during his lifetime), Roughing It (his adventures in the American West and Hawaii), Life on the Mississippi (his tenure as a riverboat pilot, a profession he claimed to love “far better than any I have followed since”), and Following the Equator (a record of the round-the-world lecture tour he undertook to pay off his debts).
Briefly mentioned in the article “Mark Twain: Our Original Superstar” by Roy Blount Jr. is the fact that Twain’s mansion in Hartford, Connecticut, is facing foreclosure due to financial difficulties. It’s shameful that a place where people can go to learn about the life of “our original superstar” might no longer exist. It’s certainly no laughing matter. –Shannon McKenna Schmidt
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July 14, 2008 at 10:50 am
Cliff Burns
We certainly need minds of the sharpness and quality of Twain and Mencken today–commentators in our time are cowed, afraid of offending either their readers or their corporate masters. There’s a “chill” on honest reporting and commentary in our contemporary culture, people afraid of engaging each other beyond the superficial. Jon Stewart or Colbert may have a few similarities to Twain but their LASTING impact is still a matter of question. Folks are still reading and debating Twain a hundred years after his death–dunno if we’ll be able to say the same thing about those other fellas…
March 4, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Micki St James
I enjoyed visiting Mark Twain’s house in Hartford a couple years ago, but readers of Novel Destinations might not realize how much historical Mark Twain tourism is possible for those of us living on the West Coast. Virginia City is in some ways the birthplace of Mark Twain and there is plenty to see; the Angels Camp jumping frog contest is nationally known; my own favorite is the Mark Twain home (cabin) replica atop Jackass Hill.
March 14, 2011 at 7:37 pm
noveldestinations
Hi, Micki. Welcome to NovelDestinations.com. That’s an excellent point about Twain’s West Coast haunts. They do tend to get overshadowed by the attention paid to his Hartford house and the Hannibal sites. I’m currently traveling the U.S. by RV, and when I head West I’ll be on the lookout for these places. Happy travels! –Shannon