Mark Twain 
A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings 

This book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark Twain’s private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing.


Mark Twain began to write ‘A Family Sketch’ in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrens’ sayings—’Small Foolishnesses’—is next, followed by the related manuscript ‘At the Farm.’ Also included are selections from Livy’s 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susy’s biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family.

 

表中的内容

Introduction


A Family Sketch

by Mark Twain


A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It

by Mark Twain


A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie and ‘Bay’ Clemens (Infants)

by Mark Twain


At the Farm

by Mark Twain


Quarry Farm Diary

by Livy Clemens


Mark Twain

by Susy Clemens


About the Texts

About the Illustrations

Biographical Directory

Works Cited

Acknowledgments

关于作者

Benjamin Griffin is an editor at the Mark Twain Project, which is housed within the Mark Twain Papers, the world’s largest archive of primary materials by this major American writer.