Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Mark Twain

Twain’s third book, published in 1871, sends up the genre of autobiography, inventing ancestors such as saber-swinging Augustus Twain; John Morgan Twain, who came to America with Columbus; and wilderness adventurer Mighty-Hunter-With-Hog-Eye Twain. Also includes the spoof “First Romance,” an over-the-top medieval tale of court intrigue and impostors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Jul 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411459663

Mark Twain

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the pen name and alter ego of Samuel Clemens, an American humorist, satirist, social critic, lecturer and novelist. He is considered one of the fathers of American literature and is remembered most fondly for his classic novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

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MARK TWAIN'S (BURLESQUE) AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND FIRST ROMANCE

MARK TWAIN

This 2011 edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-4114-5966-3

CONTENTS

A Burlesque Autobiography

Awful, Terrible Medieval Romance

CHAPTER I

THE SECRET REVEALED

CHAPTER II

FESTIVITY AND TEARS

CHAPTER III

THE PLOT THICKENS

CHAPTER IV

THE AWFUL REVELATION

CHAPTER V

THE FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE

A

BURLESQUE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

TWO or three persons having at different times intimated that if I would write an autobiography they would read it when they got leisure, I yield at last to this frenzied public demand, and herewith tender my history:

Ours is a noble old house, and stretches a long way back into antiquity. The earliest ancestor the Twains have any record of was a friend of the family by the name of Higgins. This was in the eleventh century, when our people were living in Aberdeen, county of Cork, England. Why it is that our long line has ever since borne the maternal name (except when one of them now and then took a playful refuge in an alias to avert foolishness), instead of Higgins, is a mystery which none of us has ever felt much desire to stir. It is a kind of vague, pretty romance, and we leave it alone. All the old families do that way.

Arthour Twain was a man of considerable note—a