The first volume of the complete autobiography of Mark Twain has just been released, in the form in which he wrote it. Much of the material has been published previously, but editors tidied it up by reorganizing it in chronological order. Twain wrote it much as a blogger writes now. Here's what he said about his method:
“I intend that this autobiography shall become a
model for all future autobiographies when it is
published, after my death, and I also intend
that it shall be read and admired a good many
centuries because of its form and method--a
form and method whereby the past and the
present are constantly brought face to face,
resulting in contrasts which newly fire up the
interest all along, like contact of flint with steel.
Moreover, this autobiography of mine does not
select from my life its showy episodes, but deals
mainly in the common experiences which go to
make up the life of the average human being,
because these episodes are of a sort which he
is familiar with in his own life, and in which he
sees his own life reflected and set down in print.
The usual, conventional autobiographer seems to
particularly hunt out those occasions in his career
when he came into contact with celebrated persons,
whereas his contacts with the uncelebrated were
just as interesting to him, and would be to his
reader, and were vastly more numerous than
his collisions with the famous.”
He was never the most modest of men but who knew he was a century or so ahead of his time? Generally I'm still into actual books, but this one, at more than 700 pages, seems a good candidate for purchase of the ebook version. I can't think of a more pleasant travel companion than Mr Twain.
