The Autobiography of Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain Summary | Introduction Summary

Introducing this volume in 1959, editor Charles Neider attempts to give the reader an account of Mark Twain's autobiography. Twain began making notes for it as early as the 1870's, but it wasn't a completed work when he died in 1910. By that time, he had switched to dictating his memories to a secretary. Twain found that when he used his pen, the narrative was more literary that he wanted it to be.

Twain wanted to create a new kind of autobiography. Its main difference from other such books was its focus on the everyday events of life. Since Twain himself was so famous, there are episodes in his life that feature other famous people. Twain was most interested, however, in sharing the ordinary events of his life that he found interesting. He thought his readers would relate most to those.

Twain experimented and struggled to find a method for writing this new kind of autobiography. In general, what he final chose was to talk about a memory or subject that interested him, and then drop it, when he found it no longer interesting. He even wanted to have it published in random order, rather than chronologically.

When Albert Bigelow Paine first published Twain's autobiography in 1924, he tried to follow Twain's wishes, with the result that the book was a confused jumble of great and trivial work. Paine left out whatever he felt was irrelevant or might be offensive to certain people. The book was not received well by critics or readers.

In 1940, Bernard DeVoto published a complementary volume that worked with the parts of the manuscript that Paine had left unpublished. This version had more clarity and organization, but it depended upon the earlier version to be complete. It was not an improvement on the earlier version.

In this current form, first published in 1959, Charles Neider explains that he has used mostly chronological order and focused on the truly autobiographical. There were several chapters that Twain's surviving daughter asked him not to publish. These had to do with her father's unconventional ideas about God and religion. In order to protect his family, Twain wrote that these chapters were not to be published until at least 2006.

Neider closes this introduction by reminding the reader that not everything Twain says is fact. As Twain writes, when telling a story in a later chapter, "I don't believe these details are right, but I don't care a rap. They will do just as well as the facts."