Mark Twain - by Harold H Kolb (Paperback)

About the Book

Twain is America's best known humorous writer, yet many commentators have thought of humor as merely an attractive surface feature of Twain's writings. Kolb shows that humor is at the center of Twain's talent, his successes, and his limitations, and it is as a humorist that he is best understood.

Book Synopsis

Twain is America's best known humorous writer, yet many commentators have thought of humor as merely an attractive surface feature of Twain's writings. Kolb shows that humor is at the center of Twain's talent, his successes, and his limitations, and it is as a humorist that he is best understood.

Review Quotes

At a time when most literary critics are as giddy as teenagers to embrace the latest intellectual fad, Kolbs his magisterial 500-page study around the disarmingly uncontroversial claim that Mark Twain was, first and last, a humorist.... There are so many highlights in Kolb's discussion that a reviewer is helpless to do more than gesture toward some of the book's more surprising episodes.... If a single image emerges from Kolb's panoramic study, it would be that of Mark Twain as an 'amiable' humorist, a writer whose innate sense of disparity fostered a profoundly sympathetic vision of human beings and the world they inhabit. There are many interpretive treasures in this book.

In Mark Twain: The Gift of Humor, Kolb has assumed the Herculean task of providing a comprehensive study of the core of Twain's lasting attraction to readers over the course of the last 150 years, his understanding of, and incorporation of a depth of understanding of humor far surpassing that of his contemporary 'phunny phellows, ' and many of our twenty-first century practitioners. That he has succeeded in his mission must be regarded as nothing less than an astounding achievement, one which renders this work worthy of including in the library of every serious student of Twain. It can confidently be concluded that Mark Twain: The Gift of Humor is the benchmark on the subject against which any forthcoming attempts will be measured for the next century.

About the Author

Harold H. Kolb Jr. is emeritus professor of American literature at the University of Virginia, where he was the founding director of the American Studies Program and the Center for the Liberal Arts. His writings include articles and monographs on American literature, American history, humor, composition, legal writing, natural history, and education.