100 Years After His Death, Mark Twain’s Autobiography Will Be Published

The memoirs of Samuel Clemens (pen name Mark Twain) will be published this November, a century after his death.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on May 24 2010

Mark Twain, public domain image

Mark Twain is one of America’s much-beloved authors, creating imaginative and witty classics for children and adults alike, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and The Pauper, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain passed away in 1910, leaving behind a legacy of great literature. But now, 100 years after his death, he’ll have a brand-new book on the shelves: a three-volume autobiography.

No, Twain hasn’t been keeping busy in his grave: it was his wish that publishers wait until 100 years after his death to publish his memoirs, which he spent the last decade of his life working on.

The autobiography totals more than 5,000 pages, and likely won’t be all sunshine and roses: it seems that Twain harbored some resentments against former girlfriends and ex-friends. He also writes negatively about politicians of his day, such as Teddy Roosevelt. It’s likely that he requested such a long lead time for the memoirs because he didn’t want to hurt the feelings of anyone mentioned in his writings.

Although small sections of the memoirs have been previously published, the autobiography has never been available in full, and should provide great insights into the man behind the classic books. The first volume of the set will be available in November, and the trilogy is being published by the University of California, Berkeley.

“There are so many biographies of Twain, and many of them have used bits and pieces of the autobiography,” editor Robert Hirst told The Independent. “But biographers pick and choose what bits to quote. By publishing Twain’s book in full, we hope that people will be able to come to their own complete conclusions about what sort of a man he was.”

Want more Mark now? Check out ten inspiring quotes from the writer.

Filed under: Arts and Culture,

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