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Mark Twain <em>Finally</em> Releases New Book
By
Jen Carlson
Published May 24, 2010
Modified May 24, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published May 24, 2010
Modified May 24, 2010
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Oh hell yes. Turns out we haven't heard the last of Mark Twain—the author wrote a 5,000 page memoir that has never seen the light of day, but is currently getting polished up for publication. He did this during the last decade of his life, and demanded the work not be published until 100 years after his death (which was in 1910). So here we are.
The Independent reports that many of the pages are dedicated to his views on politics, religion and scandalous gossip! In fact, some scholars believe the topics at hand are what had him dictate the 100 years of dust collecting before the world could read it. During his lexical lashing, historian Laura Trombley says he may come across "completely at odds with the impression most people have of him." He even goes in to detail about a secret relationship he had with his secretary, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon, who allegedly once bought him an electric vibrating sex toy! He goes on to call her a slut, and one historian says he basically "spent six months of the last year of his life writing a manuscript full of vitriol, saying things that he'd never said about anyone in print before. It really is 400 pages of bile."
Will he discuss that time in 1867 when he was tossed in the New York City slammer for disorderly conduct? Find out this November, when the University of California releases the first volume. Until then, visit his former residence at 10th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the West Village—where you may even run in to his ghost!
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mark twain
memoir
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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