Humorous Stories and Sketches

Mark Twain

Courier Corporation, Mar 1, 2012 - Fiction - 80 pages

Mark Twain's inimitable blend of humor, satire and masterly storytelling earned him a secure place in the front rank of American writers. This collection of eight stories and sketches, among them the celebrated classic "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," shows the great humorist at the top of his form.
Also included here are "Journalism in Tennessee," in which a novice newspaperman is shown the "correct way" to report a news story; "About Barbers," a delightful account of every barbershop customer's worst fear; "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences," Twain's hilarious savaging of that author's style, and four more: "A Literary Nightmare," "The Stolen White Elephant," "The Private History of a Campaign that Failed" and "How to Tell a Story.
"Delightfully entertaining, these charming pieces will find an appreciative audience among students, general readers and lovers of classic American humor.

Contents

• The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: 1
• Journalism in Tennessee 1869: 7
• About Barbers 1871: 13
• The Stolen White Elephant 1882: 21
• The Private History of a Campaign that Failed 1885: 40
• Fenimore Coopers Literary Offences 1895: 59
• How to Tell a Story 1895: 70

About the author

Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He worked as a printer for a time, and then became a steamboat pilot. He traveled in the West, writing humorous sketches for newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was very well received. He then began a career as a humorous travel writer and lecturer, publishing The Innocents Abroad in 1869, Roughing It in 1872, and, co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner, Gilded Age in 1873. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Mississippi Writing: Life on the Mississippi (1883), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Humorous Stories and Sketches; Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories
• Author: Mark Twain
• Publisher: Courier Corporation, 2012
• ISBN: 0486111180, 9780486111186
• Length: 80 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Humorous / General; Fiction / Satire; Fiction / Short Stories (single author); Fiction / World Literature / American / 19th Century; Humor / General