Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1

The Complete and Authoritative Edition

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 24 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

“I’ve struck it!” Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. “And I will give it away - to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography.”

Thus, after dozens of false starts and hundreds of pages, Twain embarked on his “Final (and Right) Plan” for telling the story of his life. His innovative notion - to “talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment” - meant that his thoughts could range freely. The strict instruction that many of these texts remain unpublished for 100 years meant that when they came out, he would be “dead, and unaware, and indifferent” and that he was therefore free to speak his “whole frank mind”.

The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death. In celebration of this important milestone, here, for the first time, is Mark Twain’s uncensored autobiography, in its entirety, exactly as he left it. This major literary event offers the first of three volumes and presents Mark Twain’s authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave, as he intended.

Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith and other editors of the Mark Twain Project.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) was born Samuel L. Clemens in the town of Florida, Missouri. One of the most popular and influential authors our nation has ever produced, his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. He has been called not only the greatest humorist of his age but the father of American literature.

©2010 2001 by the Mark Twain Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Transcription, reconstruction, and creation of the texts, introduction, notes, and appendixes copyright 2010 by the Regents of the University of California (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“With the uncensored Twain finally here, we’re the furthest thing from indifferent.” ( Time magazine)

“Twain’s memoirs are a pointillist masterpiece from which his vision of America - half paradise, half swindle - emerges with indelible force.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Mark Twain, always so blithely ahead of his time, has just outdone himself: he’s brought us an autobiography from beyond the grave.” (Ron Powers, author of Mark Twain: A Life)

Can't wait for the next volume

Really enjoyed the stories and the reader does a great job, feels like you're actually listening to Mark Twain. There a couple of drawbacks such as the verbiage describing the project that is responsible for the book and the frequent retelling of the difficulties he had with coming up with the format of the autobiography.

A must read for any Mark Twain fan.

Samuel Clemons' rambling autobiography is, and was meant to be, a study for the making of an interesting autobiography. The performance is great and we learn much about the great author's life, personality, happinesses and tragedies. he often talks of other people he knew more than himself, but we learn much of the man through his interactions. I will eagerly move on to the second volume when possible.

Ate ya freakin kidding! 😂

In this day… put the boring required notes the at END. I’m suffering through 4 chapters so far before actual book begins.
Or…
I could just skip chapters but Im so anal Im afraid I’ll miss something. Guess that’s why they did it… they are like me! 😂
I read the compilation so I know it gets VERY good. That’s why I bought all three volumes. Hang in there or skip ahead if you dare. 😂
PS. Wrote this without my glasses… sorry.

Part diary, part autobiography

Grover Gardner is one of the two or three best narrators of Twain, and he does an outstanding job on this (sometimes) difficult material. The difficulty isn't because of Twain's writing, or in this case speaking -- he dictated most of this material, and you can "hear" him sometimes backing up and correcting himself. Twain's writing is one of the wonders of the natural world, and he's the only writer who can make me laugh out loud on the subway.

The difficulty in this case is the background of the project and Twain's design for an autobiography. The audiobook is basically everything in the printed volume except the footnotes. It includes the extensive introduction (how the editors identified the order of the various typescripts), several hours of "false starts" (autobiographical material Twain published elsewhere before settling on this plan), and extensive captions for each section. Gardner's clear and resonant voice keeps everything in perspective, but there's a lot to digest. If you're a Twain fan, you'll be grateful. If you're not, this book wouldn't be your best introduction. It probably helps to have a good grasp of the essentials of Twain's life before going into this one.

It's chronological -- not according to Twain's life, but according to the order of dictation. Twain wanted to combine aspects of diary and autobiography into a single scheme, one that left him the ability to jump from one subject to another as the spirit moved him. And it moved him quite a bit. A given day's dictation could cover six or seven different topics, each with Twain's eye for the illuminating detail and the perfect self-deprecating turn of phrase.

For diehards like me, it's a feast, a cornucopia, an incredible act of generosity on the part of editors, publishers, and reader. But it does require careful listening.

A Mark Twain enthusiasts must read.

If you could sum up Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyable, Enlightening, Entertaining

Who was your favorite character and why?

Samuel Clemens AKA Mark Twain. Amerca's best ever author.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction. Laugh or cry? Yes to both.

Only if you like research

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Mark Twain never could write an autobiography. As he says, he writes about what interests him--and it obviously is not his own life. Comments about others come easy to Twain but the reader has to dig to get a view of Twain's life. The sections from his daughter Susie, who died young, do give some continuity to this scholarly book. Mainly, it is incidents, thoughts, anecdotes and opinions that Twain puts down in any order and in any way he wants. Luckily, even his random thoughts are interesting. Don't come to this expecting to understand Twain's life. It is more a slice of life seen from Twain's twinkling eyes.

What was most disappointing about Mark Twain’s story?

The most disappointing part is that I came away not having a real sense of his life.

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrator was excellent.

Tremendous, especially if you appreciate Twain...

The old quip, "this is a great book for those who like this kind of book," fits here, in that this autobiography may be rather overwhelming for those who are not already predisposed to admire Mark Twain. There is a great deal of dry historiography about the compiling of this project - the first of three projected volumes - and, frankly, it bogs down. Additionally, the text is far from chronological, and so it tends to be scattered and quite uneven. It includes a variety of fits and starts as Twain himself was ambivalent about the project. Some of the text was carefully written expressly to compose part of an anticipated autobiography, but even that was punctuated by one or two decade-long pauses. Much of the later text was transcribed from free-flowing dictation, as the author decided that a "true" autobiography ought to be based on spontaneous "streams of consciousness," assuming that what the subject recited would not be published until long after his death; preferably 100 years after. However, any reader who sufficiently appreciates the ideas, character and talents of Mark Twain, or simply has sufficient interest to stay with the book, will be richly rewarded. There are passages, quips and stories found throughout this volume that are every bit as insightful and entertaining as those that are better known and have long been lauded in his other works. Grover Gardner is the consummate narrator, whose inflections are so perfect that one is totally unaware of him, hearing only the author himself. The volume is highly recommended.

interesting, but sometimes boring

There are many interesting anecdotes, and Twain's explanation of his own writing is well informative. It is not always enjoyable to listen to, however, because some parts are boring.

One of the best ever!

From the story to the amazing reader, this is one of my most enjoyed books ever from Audible.

Worst book ever written

this is not the autobiography of Mark Twain. This IS a book about the process he used to write his autobiography. very poorly presented and as exciting as watching paint dry..... revision....after the first 8 or so chapters the book became very interesting. I enjoyed the last 75 chapters.