# So what did mark twain write in his autobiography that was worth a 100 year old wait ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639 "2016-05-01T22:25:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/1 "2016-05-01T22:25:57Z")
My nephew was reading tom sawyer a while back and the bio mentioned the autobiography in a 100 years thing and we wondered what he actually said about people to warrant the wait The thought was it was just probably family things he didn’t like and said so then decided he didn’t want people reading it back then As I seen the tom sawyer book the other day and unaware if anyone other than a college or university printed or read it … I thought id ask if anyone knew here about what was in actually in it ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/2 "2016-05-02T02:01:01Z")
Here’s Wiki: [Autobiography of Mark Twain - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_Mark_Twain) The most interesting to most people is the inclusion of the Ashcroft-Lyons manuscript, a rambling diatribe against his secretary (Lyons) and business manager (Ashcroft), who mishandled his finances and embezzled from him, and manipulated his relationship with his youngest daughter, Jean, resulting in her unnecessary residence in sanitariums for three years. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/3 "2016-05-02T02:06:23Z")
I read some of it. It’s not an autobiography in the usual sense, but rather a series of essays on his life and experiences. More like a scrapbook than a narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/4 "2016-05-02T02:16:48Z")
first version was huge, a very heavy book. They released an edited version. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/5 "2016-05-02T02:45:56Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > first version was huge, a very heavy book. They released an edited version. Edited for weight? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/6 "2016-05-02T11:54:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I read some of it. It’s not an autobiography in the usual sense, but rather a series of essays on his life and experiences. More like a scrapbook than a narrative. I’ve read the whole thing. I’m a big Twain fan, but if you’re not, you might not be interested. It really _isn’t_ an autobiography, aside from the few attempts they put at the beginning where Twain really _was_ trying to write an autobiography. What Twain seems to have been doing was to put together a piece of writing that could be published and the proceeds used to support his daughters after his death, particularly Jane Lampton “Jean” Clemens (Olivia Susan had died, to his immense grief, years earlier, and Clara – who lived into _my_ lifetime! – had just married pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch). Instead of writing in hius usual way, he mostly dictated this one, and I don’t see him pursuing it as a serious or disciplined work. It rambles all over the place in subject matter, style, and tone. And a lot of it isn’t “autobiography” in the usual sense at all. That this was his intent – to use it as a money maker and tax dodge - is clearly shown at the end, when he explicitly says that with Jean’s death there was no longer a point to the exercise. He ends it with her funeral. The Ashcvroft-Lyons manusdcript, alluded tro above, was never meant to be part of his autobiography. It doesn’t even seem to have been intended for publication. But it was there, and related to his life and opinions, and hadn’t been published before, so they threw it in. After Twain’s death, his amanuensis, Albert Bigelow Paine, besides writing his own biography of Twain, cobbled together Twain’s earliest bits of autobiography (reproduced in the first volume of the recently-released set) along with some bits from the parts published in the North American REview that actually did seem to be autobiographical, and published it as his “autobiography”. Two other such put-together autobiographies appeared over the years, but it wasn’t until 2010, the centennial of Twain’s death, that the whole shebang, including dictated parts not reproduced since the NAR publication, and things even not published in the Review, were put together, carefully footnoted and annotated, and published in three volumes. Why wait 100 years? It was a sort of standard time to wait for such things. The hundred year mark was supposed to guarantee that no one mentioned in it was still alive, and wouldn’t be harmed by any of the revelations. I doubt if he had any particular revelations in mind. It was just a matter of form. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/7 "2016-05-02T16:25:17Z")
thanks I might find it eventually … ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/8 "2016-05-02T17:49:29Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > first version was huge, a very heavy book. They released an edited version. Oh good. I love Mark Twain, but I tried reading his autobiography and didn’t get very far. I remember thinking that the book really needed a good trimming down. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/9 "2016-05-02T18:19:45Z")
> [@Wednesday\_Evening](#): > > Oh good. I love Mark Twain, but I tried reading his autobiography and didn’t get very far. I remember thinking that the book really needed a good trimming down. If you want an autobiography that is “trimmed down” and actually _reads_ like an autobiography, look for the Albert Bigelow Paine-edited version I mention above (not to be confused with the Biography of Mark Twain that Paine wrote): > **[Amazon.com: Autobiography of Mark Twain \[Volume 1 & 2 \] \[Original Classics...](https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Mark-Twain-Original-Classics-ebook/dp/B00QQU462Q)** > > Autobiography of Mark Twain \[Volume 1 & 2 \] \[Original Classics Edition\] - Kindle edition by Twain, Mark, Bigelow Paine, Albert. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and... There’s also the Neider-edited edition, and _Mark Twain In Eruption_ by Bernard de Voto. > **[Amazon.com: Autobiography of Mark Twain \[Volume 1 & 2 \] \[Original Classics...](https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Mark-Twain-Original-Classics-ebook/dp/B00QQU462Q)** > > Autobiography of Mark Twain \[Volume 1 & 2 \] \[Original Classics Edition\] - Kindle edition by Twain, Mark, Bigelow Paine, Albert. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and... ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/10 "2016-05-02T18:26:39Z")
He also goes on a seemingly endless diatribe against an American born landlady in Florence who he absolutely hated- even calls her a bitch IIRC. Keeps going LONG after you care. Also includes a complete inventory of the Florentine villa he rented and other such matters. He makes accusations about her relations with one of the caretakers that might have been considered scandalous in 1900 but today you see 50x more shocking living situations on an episode of Judge Judy, though I’ve wondered if he wanted them sealed so she wouldn’t sue for libel. You also get some idea of his editing process. When he tells a story, including a couple of funny ones, they go on for so long that you lose interest, though when you read an edited account of the same it’s funny again. It ironically reminds me of Twain’s routine on “Grandpa and the Ram”. The Autobiography- volume 1 at least, I haven’t checked out anything since- is something that I can only see being of interest to Twain scholars. Being a Twain fan but not a Twain scholar, I much prefer the Bigelow edited autobiography, which actually is an autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-did-mark-twain-write-in-his-autobiography-that-was-worth-a-100-year-old-wait/753639/11 "2016-05-02T20:13:13Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > My nephew was reading tom sawyer a while back and the bio mentioned the autobiography in a 100 years thing and we wondered what he actually said about people to warrant the wait Whilst not wishing to expose myself to obloquy, and not liking to give offence to those kind enough to enjoy my writings, I should say that it is possible I have doubts, of a decidedly diffident kind, to the existence of an omniscient and beneficent Creator.