I’m currently reading
Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi as
research for my next book. Although I’m enjoying it, I was finding the
structure confusing.
There are many places in Life on the Mississippi where Twain
appears to have thrown in material that doesn’t belong. In one instance he even
admits it, stating at the end of Chapter 35 (as a lead-in to Chapter 36), that:
Here is a story which I picked up on board the boat that
night. I insert it in this place merely because it is a good story, not because
it belongs here—for it doesn’t.
At least he was right
about it being a good story. But in Chapter 52, he tells a story that I didn’t
even find interesting. Although he tried to connect it to the Mississippi River
by placing some of it in St. Louis, the story itself had nothing to do with
life on the Mississippi. As that example shows, Twain always manages to find a
way to transition to the extra material, but the insertion is still jarring.
This is especially disconcerting because Twain is contemptuous of writers who
use what he sees as unnecessary words.
Almost by coincidence, I’m
also listening to a Great Courses lecture series on Mark Twain with Dr. Stephen
Railton from the University of Virginia as lecturer. My confusion cleared up
when I listened to Lecture 4 on “Marketing Twain.” Now I know that he
sacrificed creativity to make money.
According to Dr. Railton (and
to other sources I’ve read in the past), Mark Twain loved making money more
than he loved writing. Unfortunately, he was a terrible business man. But the
one business decision that did bring in an extra profit was selling his books
by subscription—using direct door-to-door sales to customers rather than selling
through bookstores. He liked subscription sales because they brought in more
money, but those customers also demanded longer books and lots of
illustrations. The illustrations may have added lasting value, but I believe the
padded material in the text detracts from it.
Don’t get me wrong. I
love Mark Twain’s humor, and he deserves to be called the greatest American
humorist. But imagine how much greater he could have been if he hadn’t
sacrificed creativity for money.
I don’t have a problem
with writing for a popular audience, and I’m glad Mark Twain’s writing was a
commercial success. I wish my books would do a tenth as well.
But I won’t sell my soul
for it.
__________
The photograph at the
head of this post was taken by A.F. Bradley in 1907. It is in the public domain
because of its age.
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