The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain

For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain’s inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years.Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant show more summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.” show less

Reviewed March - August 2000

As the title tells us this is Mark Twain’s entire collection of short stories written between 1865 and 1916. Some of his stories are wonderfully funny and witty. “Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightening,” “A Stolen White Elephant,” “The Diary of Adam and Eve,” “The Joke that Made Ed’s Fortune,” and the one story that made me cry, “A Dogs Tale.” A few more stunk, “The Mysterious Stranger,” and “A Horse’s Tale.” Several themes seem to run through Twain’s stories...the common man and the trouble he can get into, as well as, “let me tell you about a friend of mine...” He also spends a lot of time with Christian themes, odd because he was an atheist, maybe these stories were show more commissioned, but if I read with keen eye I notice that he pokes fun at the humor of the ideals of religious people as in, “Was it Heaven? Or Hell?,” or “Extract from Cpt. Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven.” Twain much have spent much time sitting around and listening to people tell stories about themselves, all the while thinking of how he was going to immortalize him into a story some day. I think Twain would have been a political humorist in our time constantly ridiculing our government’s red tape. Who knows? Twain seems to be an insightful clever man who I think privately laughed at all of us. show less

A lot of material, and I chose to tackle it in chunks over a couple months because otherwise the stories got monotonous. There are some real gems among these 60: a hilarious lambast of Niagara tourism in "A Day at Niagara;" poking fun at feminine hysterics in "Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup;" a parody of justice and fairness in "Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale;" and a comic dismantling of military honor in "Luck." I was particularly pleased with his later stories, as his pessimism and hostility toward mankind increased exponentially. "A Dog's Tale," "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," and the absolutely scathing "A Mysterious Stranger" are perhaps the best in the book, in large part because show more they stretch the bounds of Twain's traditional style. show less

To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.

At three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this edition was that it was over 600 pages long with small type; it was very compact.

Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a show more little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.

I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.

I was sorry when I came to the end of the book. It won't be long before I read it again. show less

I know I read the complete short stories a very long time ago for my sophomore year English paper and some had stuck but it was a great joy to read them all again. They are arranged chronologically and it really showed the increasingly cynical and barbed wit but all are so fantastic. I may need to read some of the novels and travel books now.

This was a great collection. Mark Twain's prowess with the written word is unparalleled during his period in American literature. The stories resonate with meaning, at times simplicity, power, originality, and perfected description and dialogue. Although there is certain padding in some, and others miss their mark, the overall collection is very strong and worth reading. The Mysterious Stranger, the final story in the collection, is my favorite.

4 stars-- well worth the read.

They are all here, and of varying quality, but necessary for the enjoyment of the master.