h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: UPDATE: Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain - A87789235
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

This is an update to:
A195662 Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain
Original Author: Blatherwkite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit U49720

We haven't ever done an update before, so we apologise if we did anything wrong.

We've added a few modest factoids to the original Entry, which we think will improve it somewhat. We think Mr Clemens might have approved.

The Entry got a bit on the long side, but Twain wouldn't stop writing. We decided that if we listed everything he wrote, nobody would read it at all.

But at least maybe we've answered Icy North's question about whether this guy ever said anything at all.

Dmitri and Elektra

Well done for taking this on.


I shall read it properly tomorrow. Until then it is 'd


lil x

Noodle.. I forgot to perview

It looks good on a quick read. I'll try and give it a detailed look through in the next couple of days.

Can you please put a tag at the end of your quoted paragraphs just before the dash, so that the dash and the author attribution go on a new line.

Will do. (Forgot and did it Post style. )

The most important things when doing an update are:

1. Try to keep as much of the original author's content in the entry as possible. Don't exclude it just because you don't like the style. Only leave it out if you're going to say the same thing elsewhere, or if it is wrong or outdated.

2. Put the word UPDATE in the title.

All the facts from the original Entry are there, I believe - although there's a fair amoutn in between.

Actually, I tell a lie.

The 'fact' that Twain's works are not considered classics is not in there. Because it is not true.

A number of Twain's works ARE considered classics - in fact, they are frequently included in editions of 'classics'.

It is also not true that Twain's works are not studied in schools, at least in the US.

For example, a recent online US history course included 'To the Person Sitting in Darkness' as a reading activity.

As to the statement that 'more has been written about Twain than by him', that may be true - but it tends to be true of most writers who've been dead for a century.

Much improved on the original

One note, in your into thread message you have the link to to original as the first word on the line. For some reason Pliny will not activate links that do not follow another word. I read that on here so I am sure it is on one of the lists. Ripley is doing maintenance, so I am screaming and shouting into the 21st century

One small thing I noticed in the 'Passing With the Comet' section you have a 'm' that really wants to be an 'in'

I will read this a few more times - fair warning

FS

Found and changed. And thanks for reading it - my co-author will tahnk you, too, but she's away from the keyboard.

Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain A195662 is that update number, if that helps.

Yes, that link works fine

You can find the other one but you have to cut and paste it into the browser bar, some people don't know how to do that

FS

There is one thing I have wondered about for many years;

With Mark Twain's fascination with Halley's Comet, did he ever get to see it?

You state that he died of a heart attack the day after its closest approach, so maybe he did, if there is anything recorded one way or the other it might be an interesting addition.

Just my own little thought.


FS

I'll bet he did, come to think of it.

We'll see what we can find.

I'm sorry, I couldn't find anything about the comet's appearance itself. We only have the quote he gave the year before.

If anybody stumbles across anything, let us know.

He passed away the day after the closest approach. Did he? if he could have he surley would have.

I'm sure you're right - I'm sure he was out in the yard, looking at the comet.

But I don't have any newspaper accounts of that. They might not have thought that was respectful.

Here's Twain's obituary from the NY Times, though:

http://www.twainquotes.com/19100425.html

I notice a bit of local Elmira politics in the obituary, which made me chuckle. That statue of Beecher is still there in, er, 'downtown' Elmira. My dad's personal opinion of Dr Beecher was not very high.

My folks lived in the area for about a decade, causing us to be familiar with Twain bric-a-brac such as the study on the college campus, as well as eponymous commercial structures: the Mark Twain Hotel, the Tom Sawyer Motel, the Huckleberry Finn Motel...I remember my dad's boss describing that last motel's steam heat in terms that would have made Twain laugh his head off...

Here's a picture of his study, which is an attraction at Elmira COllege:

http://www.elmira.edu/academics/distinctive_programs/twain_center/study

It was originally placed where Twain could see the Chemung River. However, claims that this vista reminded Mr Clemens of the Mississippi used to make us laugh rather a lot, considering the relative sizes of the two rivers.

Here's the Chemung:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chemung_River.jpg

This is at fairly high water.

Here's the Mississippi at Hannibal, Missouri:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mississippi_at_Hannibal,_MO.jpg

You dont know weather it could be seen in the area that night if it could be seen, on the balance of probability he did see it.

No, we can not speculate on whether he saw it or not, however a brief note that some people wonder about it might not be amiss. He was far to young at its first passing, and he was old and infirm at the second one.

You have to include the link to the obituary, it is too good to leave out!

The poor little Chemung River, bless its heart, I am sure it tried.

F S

Okay, we'll put in the obituary.