Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Mark Twain
Author: Ron Chernow
Narrated By: Jason Culp
Ron Chernow (Author, journalist, biographer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the American History Prize for his 2010 book “Washington: A Life”.
No stranger to historical biographies, Ron Chernow has written an interesting biography of the peripatetic humorist Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, two weeks after Hailley’s Comet passed Earth in 1835, he died in 1910 when Hailey’s Comet made its closest approach to Earth in 1910. Chernow’s biography explains how Clemens became a steamboat pilot, frontier journalist, author, and American gadfly in his journey through 74 plus years of life.
Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain reminds one of Donald Trump without the power of the Presidency.
Clemens is noted as a stretcher of truth who told stories of his time that illustrated the contradictions of race, slavery, and morality that live through today. Twain is shown to express himself in humorist ways that challenged racial norms and societal conflicts which made some laugh, and others cringe with disgust or anger. Chernow argues Twain’s use of language shaped American literature. He gave American literature a unique voice that blended humor with criticism. Twain humanized the Black community and the iniquity of slavery, but Twain’s upbringing suggests he did not escape the false belief of innate Black’ inequality. Chernow painted a picture of Twain that showed how society was filled with the promise and pitfalls of Americans’ character.
Chernow shows how Clemens reinvents himself, not from formal education but from life experience.
At 21, Clemens begins training himself as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi river, a highly praised, prized, and well-compensated position. Chernow suggests Clemens found his nom deplume, Mark Twain, based on the language of riverboat pilots. (“Mark Twain” is the 12 feet of depth needed for safe navigation of a riverboat.) As material transport changed after the steamboat era, Twain had to find a new career. He traveled to Nevada with the hope to become rich as a silver baron during the gold and silver rushes of the late 1850s. However, he never struck it rich, lost other people’s money, and turned to earlier work experience in newspapers when he lived in Missouri. He had learned the typesetting business and had written a few articles for the paper in his hometown. He settled in Carson City, Nevada, eventually becoming a journalist. On the one hand his stretching of the truth got him in trouble as a journalist but, on the other, it opened him to another career. His wit and way with words led to a role as lecturer and performer.
Chernow shows Twain changes jobs based on his innate abilities and external events.
The development of mass media, America’s Civil War, the industrialization of America, and the growth of a celebrity’ culture influence Twain’s life and made him a cultural symbol of America in the same way Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Chinua Achebe became symbols of their countries. Twain exemplified American life, its contradictions, its greed, and its biases that were blended into the personal tragedies and experiences of his own life. He turned his life experience into an art that reflected America’s growth as a nation. He became a writer and lecturer.
Chernow explains how Twain did not just read his lectures, i.e., he performs and acts their meaning to an audience.
Twain blends storytelling with satire and theater to entertain his audience. His reputation as a public speaker is made in California, but he becomes a global star. He performs in London, Berlin, and Bombay with what became cultural events about American humor and American foibles. His lectures are folksy with tinges of intellectualism that make him revered, respected, and laughed about by his audiences. Chernow believes he created an image of one who speaks truth to power about imperialism, religion, and human folly.
Chernow does not sugar coat truth about Twain.
Like all human beings, Twain had his blind spots. He was silent about lynching and its immorality, and he was trapped in his vision of racism by treating it as a troubling fact of American life despite his championing of civil rights. At best, he appears to be an agnostic when it comes to religion. There is criticism of Twain’s close relationship with teenage girls that he dismisses as a public concern by saying “It isn’t the public’s affair”. Twain is reckless with other people’s and his own money and investment. He exhibits behavior that suggests a gambler’s view about getting rich quickly. Twain could be vindictive, and melancholic because of his gloomy view of humanity. His family life suffers from his impulsivity and emotional distancing toward his wife and daughters. In one sense, Chernow makes Twain more human by noting he is like most of us except for his insightful sense of humor and talent for extemporaneous public speaking.
The archive of Twain’s letters is in the thousands which spans his entire adult life.
Chernow gathers much of his understanding of Twain from his personal letters rather than his books. He does note a number of Twain’s family members and friends are models for characters in his novels. However, Chernow’s focus is on Twain the man who appears morally inconsistent, a poor manager of other people’s money, and prone to anger when aggravated by other’s opinions. Whether this is fair or not, it describes many people today.
Chernow’s biography is a mirror of Twain’s time and life. Chernow implies Twain could see imperfections of society without seeing his own. Twain’s genius to entertain America and readers around the world is not diminished by Chernow’s well written book.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 