The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories

This book was originally published by Charles L. Webster and Company, which was owned by Twain and was an attempt to solve Twain's financial difficulties.

The title story is a gem, and deserves a much higher rating than I am giving to the book as a whole. The idea being a person with a single impossibly high value bank note and no other money being able to survive without ever having to pay for anything.

There second piece "Mental Telegraphy" - Telegraphy being what Twain calls Telepathy, is a piece where the reader can see Twain's interest in pseudo-science and provides some insight into the Man. However, it is not a humorous piece, nor does it offer much to the reader.

What really pulls the overall book down is the literary criticism show more piece "A Cure for the Blues" where Twain demolishes a very poorly written novella "The Enemy Conquered; Or, Love Triumphant" which quotes much too extensively from that novel, and so pads the piece extensively and while one can enjoy Twain's assessment of horrible writing between quotes, it is overly done.

The next piece is the full reprinting of "The Enemy Conquered; Or Love Triumphant", which the reader has already read much too much of, and again pads the book with writing which isn't even Twain. Between the critique and the Novella itself, over 30% of this book is taken up with very bad writing or a critique of very bad writing.

"About All Kinds of Ships" starts as a comparison of Twain's most recent experience on a luxury liner with what people endured a generation earlier. Stick with it though, as it does improve when he goes back to even earlier sea travel, before returning to the original tone.

"Playing Courier" is probably the second best piece in the book after the fantastic title piece, but there is considerable drop-off. That being said, if it were included with a better selection of writings it would still be a solid contributor.

"The German Chicago" is an essay about Berlin, and contains a rather forced comparison with Chicago. This piece doesn't have much to offer the reader.

"A Petition To The Queen of England" is a short, but humorous, piece where Twain puts forward the idea that he can treat royalty, including the Queen of England", in a familiar way in the discussion of taxes owed for his writing.

"A Majestic Literary Fossil" is Twain looking at science and is in some ways aligned with "Mental Telegraphy" as he looks at what he sees as the sciences of the time, in this case looking at the failures of people in using the scientific method.

When reading Mark Twain, the reader has come to expect excellence, and while they get it with the title piece and hints of it here and there in some of the other pieces, on the whole this collection doesn't hold up. show less

Amusing short story made into a good film starring Gregory Peck. All seems a bit irrelevant in the age of plastic money!

Overall a pretty amusing story and a solid part of Mark Twain's literary collection.

Almost fairy tale-esque. Not as wry as his normal fare.

...in assoluto il libro più ottimista della mia infanzia. Non vedevo l'ora di crescere per provare ad avere la stessa chance.

An excellent entertainer

Amusing film starring Gregory Peck, almost fairy tale-esque, not as wry as Mark Twain's normal fare. I say, though, doesn't all seem a bit irrelevant in the age of plastic money!?