Chasing the Last Laugh - How Mark Twain Escaped Debt and Disgrace with a Round the World Comedy

Zusatztext 40746530 Informationen zum Autor Richard Zacks is the bestselling author of  Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York; Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805; Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd; History Laid Bare;  and  An Underground Education.  His writing has been featured in  The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine,  and many other publications. He attended the University of Michigan and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Born in Savannah, Georgia, he now lives in New York City. Klappentext In the 1890s, Mark Twain came back from the dead. The famous author's career was collapsing, his masterpieces were at risk of falling into oblivion, and he was even mistakenly reported dead. But Twain orchestrated an amazing late-in-life comeback from bankruptcy, bad reviews, and family disaster by setting out on an unprecedented international comedy tour to restore his fortunes. Richard Zacks's Chasing the Last Laugh captures some of Twain's cleverest and funniest moments-many newly discovered in unpublished notebooks and letters-as he rode elephants in India, sorted diamonds in South Africa, and talked his way out of hell ninety minutes at a time. This untold chapter in the author's life began with ridiculously bad choices and ended in hard-won triumph. chapter 1 Joys of Self-­Publishing Twain was a proud man, so he kept up a false front of success to all outsiders. In the summer of 1893, he was by reputation America’s greatest humorist and a successful publisher who was married to an heiress. He ranked among the nation’s highest-­paid magazine writers and most prized after-­dinner speakers. His life—­on paper—­marked a fabulous success story, from Hannibal to Hartford to the family’s current address abroad in Paris. Twain owned a publishing house; it was failing. His latest book, a contrived, almost slapstick novella, The American Claimant, hadn’t sold well; his backlist, even including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, was limping along, bringing in small change. The publishing house owed money to bookbinders, paper suppliers, printers, owed rent for a plush office at 67 Fifth Avenue, at 14th Street; meanwhile, their list included underwhelming titles such as Stories from the Rabbis and One Hundred Desserts and Tenting on the Plains by General Custer’s widow. Twain had invested heavily in a typesetter that had 18,000 moving parts but was supposed to revolutionize the printing industry. Twain teetered on the brink of financial ruin. At first he blamed himself for numerous bad business decisions, but once he got that formality out of the way, he unleashed his sizable writing talents on blaming others. He wrote in a private notebook his thoughts on the inventor James W. Paige, whom he had amply funded but who still had not delivered his invention. “[He] and I always meet on effusively affectionate terms; and yet he knows perfectly well that if I had his nuts in a steel-­trap I would shut out all human succor and watch that trap till he died.” Twain and his wife owned their expensive home in Hartford, but they had run out of enough cash to live there in the style to which they were accustomed, with seven servants (a black butler, a gardener, cook, coachman, tutor and maids), and horses and an elegant carriage. They had moved out two years earlier, claiming Livy’s health required a change of scenery and they chose Europe, which sounds odd for financially strapped people, but it was cheaper than their Hartford high life. They chose self-­exile over the public shame of a diminished lifestyle. The beautiful mansion lay empty. “I have never felt so desperate in my life, for I haven’t got a penny to my name & Mrs. Clemens hasn’t enough laid up with [her brother Charles] Langdon to keep ...

Bericht

A colorful and fun read. The Washington Post 

An intimate and fascinating account of what was basically the world s weirdest book tour, starring the funniest writer America has ever produced. Carl Hiaasen
 
An impossible-to-put-down book. . . . Zacks manages the nearly impossible feat of maintaining the momentum of his narrative while filling in the behind-the-scenes factors. . . . The result is a joy to read and a lesson in what can be done to bring an era to life. Mark Twain Journal 

"Zacks s engaging account . . . shows the raconteur at his best and his worst: charming, childish, ribald, and intemperate." The New Yorker

"Zacks is a gifted storyteller in his own right, which is as it should be; a master storyteller such as Mark Twain deserves nothing less. . . . A beautifully researched work. . . . A funny and revealing reminder of just how great he was.   Main Edge
 
Twain could not have picked a better chronicler than Zacks. . . . Zacks writing . . . shines. St. Louis Post Dispatch
 
Dense in action and experience. . . . Brings Twain s comedy close to its wider context, and enlivens both. By situating the writer in his world and his time, biography actually makes Mark Twain funnier. Flavorwire 

Zacks s absorbingly detailed reconstructions of [Twain s] performances the carefully honed timing, the shrewdly reworked and reshuffled greatest hits will increase your appreciation of him as a show-biz craftsman. . . . Zacks packs page after page with the flavorful marvels he s culled.   Bookforum

Zacks does an admirable job of giving us a taste of Twain s performances and quoting his best commentary. . . . Zacks also casts new light on Twain himself. Washington Free Beacon

Deeply entertaining. . . . Zacks s narrative is well-researched with rich detail and it will strike ardent Twain fans and history lovers as fresh and inspiring. Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

An amusing, singular account of the world tour by the nation s most famous humorist. . . . [A] rollicking history perfect for Twain s countless fans. Kirkus 

Fast-paced. . . . A diverting and revealing look at a neglected episode in Twain s life. Booklist

Impeccably researched and thor­oughly engaging. . . . Zacks . . . is an accom­plished guide through Twain s travel escapades. Bookpage 

Funny and poignant. . . . Zacks has a brilliant eye for detail and the narrative gifts needed to bring out all that is strange, zany, and ultimately inspiring in this remarkable story of money, honor, and literary genius. Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author The Swerve: How the World Became Modern and Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
 
Mark Twain s own notes and letters enrich every chapter, illuminating not only his cranky genius but the private fears and turmoil that compelled him to pack up his family and hit the road. Carl Hiaasen, bestselling author of Bad Monkey and Strip Tease
 
Chasing the Last Laugh is something of a miracle. This book will be a joy and revelation for Twain fans. There is a lot new here. Twain s trip around the world in which he speaks truth, through humor, everywhere is a wonderful lens through which to see the dawn of America, the collapse of the British Empire, the early stirrings of colonial discontent in India. A new world is just being born and we re along for the ride as the sharpest observer watches and narrates it all. It is, also, a really good business book. Adam Davidson, Co-Host of NPR s Planet Money
 
  If you read only one book on Mark Twain, I would recommend Chasing the Last Laugh. There is everything you could want here: Twain s infinite humor and forbearance, the glistening world of the British Empire at its peak, five years on the road with possibly the funniest and wisest American of his time. Richard Zacks manages this vast subject with enviable skill. It s a great read, entertaining as well as deeply moving. Jay Parini, author of Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal and The Last Station
 
A fresh and absorbing account (involving carbuncles, platypus jokes, and a surprising bottom line) of an aging Mark Twain s outlandish passage from ruin to glory. Roy Blount Jr., author of Save Room for Pie

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Richard Zacks
• Verlag: Anchor Books USA
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 28.02.2017
• EAN: 9780345802538
• ISBN: 978-0-345-80253-8
• Seiten: 450
• Abmessung: 132 mm x 203 mm x 24 mm
• Themen: Belletristik > Comic, Cartoon, Humor, Satire > Humor, Satire, Kabarett; Geisteswissenschaften, Kunst, Musik > Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft > Englische Sprachwissenschaft / Literaturwissenschaft