Unpublished Essay Collection to Hit in April

Author and blogger Russ Kick of the literary blog Books Are People, Too was kind enough to drop me a line yesterday about the much-anticipated collection of unpublished Twain essays to be released in April, Who Is Mark Twain? Apparently, the publisher has made an entire uncorrected galley of the book available on its website.

If you proceed to his blog, you can check out the table of contents of the book, as well as Kick's own eloquent review. Of particular interest to me was ol' Sam's skewering of one of the canon's most overrated writers, Ms. Jane Austen.

New Book Examines Clemens' Years as a "Journalist"

It was during his time writing for the Virginia City newspaper the Territorial Enterprise during the 1860s that Samuel Clemens transformed on the printed page into Mark Twain. The young upstart cut his teeth writing satirical and often outrageous parodies of real-life news in the mining town, and its that writing which University of Hawaii English professor James E. Caron looks at in his new study, Mark Twain: Unsanctified Newspaper Reporter.

Brian Burnes of the McClatchy Newspapers has written up an interesting review of the book, explaining that although it is clearly a scholarly work and not as populist as Ron Powers acclaimed 2005 biography, it admirably does the job of painting the picture of Sam Clemens finding his literary voice.

Twain wrote for the Nevada Territory paper beginning in 1862, and didn't achieve major success as a published author until The Innocents Abroad ion 1869--providing Caron with a long stretch of fertile ground to cover.

WSJ Reviews New Twain Biography

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday featured a review of the forthcoming book The Trouble Begins at 8, a biography of Twain aimed at young readers.

Although reviewer Meghan Cox Gurdon praises author Sid Flieschman's obviously enthusiastic prose and Twain-like cadence, she also makes the solid point that the book should probably not be aimed at children aged 9-12, many of whom have yet to read Mr. Twain's work.

For the full review, go here. The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West comes out July 29. The book's title comes from the notorious advertisements for Clemens' first lecture in San Francisco.