Mark Twain's Speeches
by Mark Twain 
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One of the most renowned public speakers of his day, Mark Twain was often asked to give speeches to mark public holidays or important anniversaries, for school graduations, at banquets for distinguished visitors, and at events sponsored by charitable organizations, reform groups, and the like.Published a few months after his death, this wide-ranging collection of speeches, spanning more than four decades, covers the gamut of Mark Twain's interests. Here are speeches on women's rights, on show more cigars and billiards, and on the extension of the copyright law. We find occasional pieces, banquettoasts and introductions that, in addition to being amusing in themselves, provide a vivid glimpse of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social rituals. Also present are some of Twain's most controversial and daring speeches, such as the notorious "Whittier Birthday" Speech, in which he pokedfun at three giants of New England literary culture to the horror of his audience; and "The Babies," which closes with a memorable image of the guest of honor: an infant Ulysses S. Grant attempting to put his toe in his mouth. show lessTags
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Playboy Magazine, back in the 1960s or 70s, published a speech that Twain delivered to a London men's club of some sort. The speech was about the joys of self-abuse. Being 70 years old last November, I was privileged to read that speech when I was still a young man. It is indeed a screech, a howl, and a holler. The audience was undoubtedly laughing so hard by the time it was over that they all wrecked their undershorts.
Young fellers are hereby advised to go to a big library somewhere, find that speech, and make a copy. Read it to your girlfriend(s) in bed, on a cool-but-sunny April morning. See what happens, just for fun.
Young fellers are hereby advised to go to a big library somewhere, find that speech, and make a copy. Read it to your girlfriend(s) in bed, on a cool-but-sunny April morning. See what happens, just for fun.
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Author Information
2,761+ Works 208,845 Members
Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He worked as a printer, and then became a steamboat pilot. He traveled throughout the West, writing humorous sketches for newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was very well received. He then began a show more career as a humorous travel writer and lecturer, publishing The Innocents Abroad in 1869, Roughing It in 1872, and, Gilded Age in 1873, which was co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mississippi Writing: Life on the Mississippi, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Mark Twain has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1910
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 100
- Popularity
- 322,639
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 30
- ASINs
- 10
