'I am afraid of nothing more than of growing old too soon, of having my body worn out before my soul is past childhood. I’m not having a permanent Twain collection. As a matter of fact, when I find that other copy of this somewhere on one of my many book shelves, it will go out as well. Next time I leave The Dungeon for the Upper Realm, I’ll bring it with me and take it strait to the sale/donation pile. I read almost all of it, skipping some of “The Great Dark” and most of the editor’s notes.

I’m glad I read this as it tells me much more about Twain. This is the second piece I’ve read of Twain’s that pans Cooper. Writing styles were different and had changed a lot in those years. Cooper wrote a several decades before Twain began. I found the article on James Fenimore Cooper’s writings overly critical. I don’t know if Twain was an atheist, but would conclude so just based on reading this book. Some about sin and man’s relationship to God presented a skeptic’s or atheist’s viewpoint on Christianity. Some of his thoughts on women’s sexuality came from a different perspective and included things I’d never thought of. Some I found interesting, if not illuminating. These vary in length from a few pages to fifty pages.

From an Unfinished Burlesque of Books on Etiquette.

From The Manuscript of “A Tramp Abroad” the French and the Comanches.

Thus, the book is a hodgepodge of materials, most of them dealing with religion and man, particularly relations between men and women. The editors found value in these writings and published it in 1938, more than twenty years after Twain’s death.

Perhaps other things caught his interest. Perhaps he realized the project didn’t make sense. Like many authors, Twain started things, working toward some grand plan, then never finished them. The book was pulled together posthumously by editors from writings Twain never published, things they found after he died. Actually, I have another copy of this in the house which I saw while looking for something else on a bookshelf.

Some time ago I picked up a used copy of Letters From The Earth: Uncensored Writings By Mark Twain. Twain’s miscellaneous writings published after his death: good to read but not worth keeping.

Mark twain letter to the earth