106: Mark Twain A Life

Join Joy and I as we discuss Mark Twain A Life, a Biography of Mark Twain. 

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Transcript

J Q (00:02)
Hello and welcome to Twin Talk. This is Joy, and I'm here with my sister Angie. Today we will be discussing the book Mark Twain A Life by Ron Powers. But before we get into the book, I think it's worth sharing a little bit of background on the author. Ron Powers actually grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, the same town where Mark Twain spent his childhood. So I think that's really cool that they grew up in the same town. So Twain wasn't just like this historical figure to him, he was literally a part of the place where Powers grew up.

Yeah, and that's probably why he was so interested in writing about him. I think it's because he wanted to understand not just Twain's life but also what Twain represented in American culture. Okay, so a little more about Ron Powers. He's a journalist and historian. He's known for writing really detailed and emotional nonfiction. He's written for major publications like the New York Times and Time magazine. So he has a strong background in storytelling and research and

something else that's kinda cool about him is he has won a Pulitzer and he's won a Grammy. He's done some work in T V. And he's led a very interesting life. Wow, that's pretty cool to win both of those. Yeah. Yeah. So he's also written several well known books, including Flags of Our Fathers, which I think that kinda sounded interesting, which he co wrote and No One Cares About Crazy People.

Love that title. I do too. And I I'm not gonna go off on this too long, but he's had some mental illness in his family and there's been some tragedy in his family. And I watched an interview with him. I think it was on NPR. I like that fresh air with Terry Gross or one of those top shows. And he really gets into our mental health care system in America and he makes some very good valid points, but

So I do think I might try to read that book. Yeah, no one cares about crazy people. I mean just the title caught me right at the first time I saw it. Yeah. So I think what makes him stand out is, you know, he's not just someone who focuses on facts, that's not like dry biographies. He really tries to like with Twain, he tried to get behind what his life was like so he could understand what were his struggles, what were his emotions, you know, what what about his life led into his writing.

Yeah, and you can definitely see that in Mark Twain alive. Because Twain comes across as a real person and not just a you know a boring, stodgy historical person. Yes. And this book really changed how I see Mark Twain because I like like most people, I just saw him as this funny writer, but it's a lot deeper and honestly I feel like a lot of his humor comes from so much of the tragedy that happened in his life. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. So first let's talk about his early life.

So as most people know, well I say most people, Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Clemens, and he grew up in Missouri along the Mississippi River. And of course we know that that river became so important in his life and writing, and we already know that he worked as a river boat pilot before becoming a rider, which I thought was really cool. Yeah, and for those of you who listen to Twin Talk, you know we've already done Huckleberry Finn, and we mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating. Mark Twain actually

is a river term meaning the water is deep enough for safe navigation. And I do think some of the most interesting stories in this biography do come talking about when he was a riverboat pilot and unfortunately he did lose his brother and it was in a riverboat accident. And that's just a whole different story but it's interesting. Yeah. ⁓ I I think it's cool how his

childhood influenced his stories later on, as but you can really see his childhood come through in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. were you aware that the boys on Jackson's Island and Tom Sawyer and the bug in the church and the dog in the church and they thought they had drowned and that these all really happened in his childhood. And I just think that's so cool that he got to retell some of his most precious childhood memories

when he wrote these fictional books. Yeah, that is actually really cool. And speaking of those books, Twain became really, really famous because of them. Yes. ⁓ the adventures of Tom Sawyer and and Huckleberry Finn. So apparently they are what made him a household name. Mm-hmm. Yeah, people just love his humor. I love his humor. But it wasn't just his jokes. he used satire to criticize society. ⁓ to me, one of the really cool parts of the book is how explained

what was popular at the time, what type of literature, what was acceptable at the time. I didn't know this, but it was all very formal and you just didn't say certain things. And here he comes as kind of this wild card from the South, you know, from Missouri, and the way he wrote was kind of considered, I guess, blunt and unrefined for the time. So he was definitely a rebel. Yes, he was a rebel. So people were like, ⁓ well what's this?

the book talks a lot about Bret Hart and some of the other contemporaries during his time, how they just broke the mold of this elegant, refined, snobby European style and people all over the world wanna know what's America like. you know, when he did like the jumping frog and So he Tom Sawyer ⁓

broke etiquette. Yes, he broke etiquette, broke the mold, and people embraced it and loved it. And so people thought he was rough and coarse, but it was popular and he sold a lot of books that way. He he made people laugh, but he also made them think. So it wasn't just coarse humor trying to break the mold, but it also was there was a lot deeper stuff in there. He had a lot of commentary on different things of society in these books.

And I that's probably I'm guessing why his work is still studied today. Yeah. And I guess we're gonna have to talk about his personal struggles. And have you noticed that's kind of a common theme through authors? It does seem like they a lot of these authors they have wild success, but then on the other end of the spectrum, they all have their personal struggles and he was no exception to this. ⁓ he suffered more than most. Yeah, and this was honestly one of the most surprising parts of the book for me. Yeah, so he went through a lot

His dad was a very honest man. Mm-hmm. And his dad would give loans to people. He'd run a general store in good faith that they would ⁓ pay back, you know, they would let people buy stuff on credit, on good faith that they would pay it back and a lot of times they didn't and he all but if he owed somebody money, they said he would work

morning till night to make sure he paid back his debt but other people didn't do him that favor. You're talking about his dad. So that's why his dad had to declare bankruptcy. So his dad was super honest, but he paid a high price for it. And but I think it did rub off on Mark Twain that you know that you need to be honest in in business dealings. And Mark Twain, same deal with him. Now let me say this, I feel like

Mark Twain was not very good with his money. ⁓ he liked to spend it, okay, and he liked to be very extravagant with his money, but he got himself in a bond and he had to go on a worldwide lecture tour just to pay off all of his debts. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and his personal life was really sad too. He lost several family members, including his wife and his kids. Yeah, and that is really sad how it does go the book does take you through each personal loss and how he handled it and that's interesting.

So Ron Powers really emphasizes how these losses affected Twain emotionally and it makes you look at his literature a different way. As you're reading through anything that talks about death or suffering, I kind of see it through a new light now. I'm like, ⁓ he's I'm seeing it through his pain now and not just through his like it's fiction, you know. So, ⁓ I'm trying to remember, did he had he lost his wife and kids before he wrote?

Tom Sawyer and how that is a great question 'cause it's been a little while since I've listened to the book. ⁓ There were so many deaths I can't keep up with what was written when wouldn't it not be interesting to know like w when he wrote certain stories or certain books, like who he had lost at the time? And I think you could read more into the passages knowing who he had lost. If I had a yeah, you're right. It'd be and the book does a great it does set up a great timeline.

You know, when he wrote what and who died and when he got married and all that stuff. But it's so much there's so much information it's hard to keep it all straight. So we've definitely established that he was using humor to cope with a lot of his pain. Yes. I do think that that so many of our great writers it's really sad, but it's because they've experienced so much pain that they are able to write such great literature because they pull from a really deep place. Right.

Another thing I found really interesting was his views on society. Yeah, you know, he did s he spoke a lot about racism. He talked about politics, he talked about human nature. There really wasn't a lot he didn't touch on. And even though he lived back in the eighteen hundreds, you know, some of the I ideas still feel relevant today. ⁓ absolutely. You know, his criticism of hypocrisy, that's what I love about his writing is, you know, you'll just be reading through something and you don't even realize it until you've read a passage that

He was brilliant in describing the hypocrisy of a situation. Right. And what's so ironic to me, Huckleberry Finn was on the banned list ⁓ a book from libraries for a long time. I think it was like in the fifties. Because of the N word and the ra there were some racial stereotypes. Yeah. But the whole book was about him choosing the right moral choice choice of supporting a slave. Yes. I mean the whole book was about him doing the right thing, yet the book was banned.

And and then be and he's been called a racist. Yeah. And which is cra it I bec it's crazy. So people can't see beyond that he's using some of the language. Yeah, the language but he was portraying the language of the time but they're missing the force for the trees. Yes. Because his whole purpose was to show how slavery was wrong. Yes. Exactly.

So some of the things he wrote that it does kind of make him sound racist. But then there's a lot a lot of stuff in the book that shows how he loved black people and how he had a ⁓ a lady that practically raised him who he just mourned her death, you know, and how he took up he always took up for the underdog, the disabled, anybody that was the underdog, he was for them and he took up for them. So I thought that was cool. Mm-hmm. So back to Ron Powers. ⁓ I just like I said

I just really loved how he wrote the book. I loved how he didn't sugarcoat anything. He he showed all of Twain's flaws, struggles, and contradictions. He didn't just show one side of Twain. He showed the good, the bad and the ugly, but really there was a lot of bad, but there was also a lot of good. Yeah, which it actually made me respect Twain more because he felt more human to me. Yeah, and it like it.

It shows him like as a person, not just some legendary figure that you can't really know. You can't relate to. Yeah, that's exactly. Yeah. Okay, so tell me, what was your favorite part of the book? for me, my favorite part of the book was just once you know his real true life and the stories there and you're going, ⁓ that's why he wrote that in Tom Sawyer or that's why he wrote that in Huckleberry Finn, because that really happened to him or he saw it happen.

So would you recommend people read this book first if they've never read any of his actual his other books? Definitely. ⁓ I think you mean the the book we're talking about? Okay, this yeah, his biography. For sure. If you're interested in Mark Twain at all, this is a super in depth book it's gonna tell you from before his birth on and it's gonna tell you all kinds of stories you've never heard of, has all kinds of documented stuff in there.

It's super interesting if you're a fan of Mark Twain. Mm-hmm.

⁓ I forgot to do a rating for the book. And we've already done how many Mark Twains, right? ⁓ I can't remember what we did on that yet. ⁓

Give the book if you're a Mark Twain fan, I'm gonna give it four stars since I can't come up with a rating right on the spot. But anyway, is there anything else you wanna add here? No, I can't think of anything. I just I'm still I am a Mark Twain fan. I think he's very funny and I can't think of anything he's ever written that I didn't really enjoy. I don't think I've ever told you this, but I also read Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's. ⁓ you did read that. What do you have anything to say about that? It's been so long

⁓ but I do remember a lot of satire in it and it was it was funny. There was a lot of humor in it. And I remember because of the setting, it was like in King Arthur's day and everything. And I remember it was very it was funny. I would like to read The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County because it is based on an actual story he grew up into over and over.

I would almost say he was a I would definitely think he's a pessimist and not an optimist. Wouldn't you? Yes, he definitely comes out as a grumpy curmudgeon. Yes, exactly. So I'll give the book four curmudgeons. Okay. All right. That's great. Four curmudgeons. Okay. Well I think that about wraps everything up.

Okay. All right. Thank you for joining us, and we will see you next time on Twin Talk.