{"product_id":"the-oxford-mark-twain-29-volume-set-9780195090888","title":"The Oxford Mark Twain (29 Volume Set)","description":"\u003cp\u003eIf any one writer stands at the heart of American literature it is Mark Twain. With his wild head of hair  thick mustache  and brilliant white suit  he is more recognizable than any living writer  and in his time he was  as he himself put it  \"the most conspicuous person on the planet.\" He is certainly Americas most popular writer--arguably the most popular American writer the world over--and the greatest humorist we have ever known  a marvelous teller of tall tales  a genial entertainer  a consistently quotable sage. He is also one of our finest satirists  who penned withering attacks on hypocrisy and corruption (he once said he wrote with \"a pen warmed up in hell\") and in his most serious works  such as Huckleberry Finn and Puddnhead Wilson  he cast a profound light on the darkest recesses of the nations psyche. The twenty-nine-volume Oxford Mark Twain is a major literary event. In addition to gathering together a superb collection of Twains works  editor Shelley Fisher Fishkin has commissioned some of our most eminent living writers to introduce each volume with their personal insights and experiences of Twain. Readers will find  for instance  Toni Morrison reflecting on Huckleberry Finn  Kurt Vonnegut on Connecticut Yankee  Arthur Miller on Twains Autobiography  Roy Blount Jr. on The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County  E.L. Doctorow on Tom Sawyer  Willie Morris on Life on the Mississippi  Garry Wills on Christian Science  and Cynthia Ozick on The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays. Other writers include Gore Vidal  Ursula K. Le Guin  George Plimpton  Ward Just  Russell Banks  Bobbie Ann Mason  Malcolm Bradbury  Nat Hentoff  Sherley Anne Williams  Justin Kaplan  Walter Mosley  Erica Jong  Judith Martin (\"Miss Manners\")  David Bradley  Frederick Pohl  Mordecai Richler  Lee Smith  Anne Bernays  Charles Johnson  Fred Busch  and actor Hal Holbrook (who introduces Twains collected speeches). And each volume includes an afterword by a noted scholar--such as Louis J. Budd  Victor A. Doyno  Leslie A. Fiedler  James A. Miller  Linda Wagner-Martin  Forrest Robinson  M. Thomas Inge  Fred Kaplan  Susan Harris  and David L. Smith--who place the work in the context of Twains career and the literary and social climate of the time. In effect  the set gathers together an literary whos who  all of whom reflect on what Mark Twains work means to them as writers and scholars  and what he means to our literary history and to our culture as a whole. Taken together  these introductions and afterwords provide a major reevaluation of Twain  allowing readers to see his work in fresh ways. But of course the most important thing is the work itself. Here is the full range of Twains remarkably prolific career  including The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County  The Innocents Abroad  Roughing It  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  A Tramp Abroad  The Prince and the Pauper  Life on the Mississippi  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court  The Tragedy of Puddnhead Wilson  The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg  The Million Pound Banknote  Following the Equator  and Extracts from Captain Stormfields Visit to Heaven. Readers will find freewheeling parodies and burlesques  Twains inimitable travel pieces  rich and complex portraits of childhood along the Mississippi  ghost stories and detective stories  irreverent lampoons of corrupt politicians  dark ruminations on the nature of humanity  and sharp-tongued editorials on the events of his day (such as Belgian imperialism in Africa or anti-Semitism in Vienna). Many of the works included here--such as Sketches  New and Old  A Tramp Abroad  The American Claimant  Is Shakespeare Dead? and Joan of Arc--have not been readily available for decades. Equally important  The Oxford Mark Twain is a facsimile of the first American editions of Twains work  and includes all the original illustrations  some of which were drawn by Twain himself  and many of which have not been seen since these editions went out of print. Moreover  in each volume containing art  Fishkin has commissioned an essay on that volumes illustrations and the artists responsible. Captivating in themselves  these illustrations add an extra dimension to the narratives that has been missing for a hundred years. Each volume also includes  as its frontispiece  a specially selected photo of Twain around the age he was when he wrote the book at hand. The Oxford Mark Twain is an unprecedented undertaking and a cause for celebration. Colorful  irreverent  romantic  skeptical  a master of comic asides  a bittersweet humorist  and an unflinching critic of human pretensions  Mark Twain speaks to us across time with verve and wisdom. Combining the works themselves  reflections on Twain by some of our leading writers and scholars  and the original illustrations--all at a very affordable price--this superb twenty-nine-volume set will be treasured by everyone.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67947964760117,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195090888","price":685.54,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-oxford-mark-twain-29-volume-set-9780195090888","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}