Slashdot Mirror
Mark Twain To Reveal All After 100 Year Wait
Hugh Pickens writes "The Independent reports that one of Mark Twain's dying wishes is at last coming true: an extensive, outspoken and revelatory autobiography which he devoted the last decade of his life to writing is finally going to be published one hundred years after his death. Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens, left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century, but in November, the University of California, Berkeley, where the manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain's three-volume autobiography. Scholars are divided as to why Twain wanted his autobiography kept under wraps for so long, with some believing it was because he wanted to talk freely about issues such as religion and politics. Michael Shelden, who this year published Man in White, an account of Twain's final years, says that some of his privately held views could have hurt his public image. 'He had doubts about God, and in the autobiography, he questions the imperial mission of the US in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines,' says Shelden. 'He's also critical of [Theodore] Roosevelt, and takes the view that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel. Twain also disliked sending Christian missionaries to Africa. He said they had enough business to be getting on with at home: with lynching going on in the South, he thought they should try to convert the heathens down there.' Interestingly enough, Twain had a cunning plan to beat the early 20th century copyright law with its short copyright terms. Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
He had doubts about God ...
Indeed. See his later books like Letters from the Earth and The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (claymation here).
Twain also disliked sending Christian missionaries to Africa.
Oh I think that's putting it rather lightly. After reading about Twain's efforts to in King Leopold's Ghost, I read Twain's King Leopold's Soliloquy: A Defense of His Congo Rule in which Twain rips the Belgian King Leopold II apart (in my opinion the farce Twain made of Leopold is better than the more direct Crime of the Congo by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). We seem to think that human rights and anthropology are modern day efforts when historically artists like Twain were very politically active and quite in tune with the truths of corrupt governments (the United States notwithstanding).
... and not until those involved, lampooned and criticized are long gone would the world be ready for this. This will most likely prove to be a delicious read indeed.
I assure you that in Twain's mind at the time of his death, he had many issues that he held from his writings -- most likely because he felt we weren't ready for that level of truth yet. Really the only question for me is whether or not he still felt the need to drench these memoirs in satire and wit when a hundred years from then he can just out and out straight to your face tell you what he feels as he recounts his life. I'd imagine he knew that saying some of this stuff one hundred years ago would be career ending or life threatening
My work here is dung.
Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
Exactly why the limits SHOULD be less then they are now. Back then, the length of the copyright period was actually promoting the publishing of new material.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel
Especially when discussing the Patriot Act. Just saying.
Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
"Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
If he was actually writing that additional content afterwards, he invented Release Early, Release Often.
If the content actually existed and it was a cynical ploy to sell more products, he invented the model Microsoft uses.
In either case, this puts his business acumen over half a century ahead of anyone else. That's genius.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
from a speech which he gave before Congress:
http://www.bpmlegal.com/cotwain.html
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Please don't read the rest of this post until a hundred years after I'm dead.
-----No reading below this point-----
You all suck.
Cheers,
-----No reading above this point (in case you're reading this upside down while you drive in circles with an IPad on the steering wheel).-----
...holding back "premium" material for the purposes of beating copyright. Imagine if DaVinci Code was released as a series every other year (if copyright ended 2 years) just to "renew" it.
From what I've been reading, all this material has been available for a long time to anyone who wanted to visit the library that holds it, and multiple biographies and even "autobiographies" have been published using information from it.
So there are unlikely to be any shocking new revelations here.
People will just get a chance to read things in his own words rather than the paraphrasing of a biographer.
G.
this being Slashdot, everything must automatically connect back to copyright law.
We finally get to hear his side of the story of meeting Guinan and Data.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
"Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
So George Lucas didn't come up with this first. Not that it makes it ok.
In the olden days, authors games the law; they may not like the law, but still obeys the letters of the law. Today publishers BUY the law; they write them and their politicians force them upon the populace.
Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens didn't make any secrets about his political views. If there were personally damaging revelations in there (criminal or moral confession) I could see insisting it only be published after his death. But 100 years later? The only reason I see for that is the autobiagraphies contain socially damaging information about people who were close to him, so that it might not only hurt them but their descendants.
"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool" - Jane Wagner -
Be in 3D and have a tie-in to LOST?
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
ok, he wrote this thing over 100 years ago. So, who owns the copyrights to it?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
This is actually his "spoilers" on the "Lost" show. He was the original author of that too, but didn't want it to be shown on TV until now. He was too ashamed to admit that he wrote something that bad while he was alive.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
"...and takes the view that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel". Mark Twain, 1835 to 1910. World War I, 1914 to 1918. Imagine if work like this would have been taken seriously back then.
Perhaps, for those who can't wait, you should read his Letters From The Earth, published 30 years after his death....
A paraphrase, Lucifer writing to St. Pete: these folks think that there's no sex in heaven... and those who hate utterly boring sermons and harp music are really looking forward to an eternity of that"
mark
Samuel Clemens was a hell of a salesman.
He's going to be dead, he's not going to a dime of those sales.
However, if he puts his writings on hold for 100 years, then, well, that's a bit more of a sale than if he simply sold them posthumously.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I have always enjoyed his works and his point of view. Calling "patriotism the last refuge of the scoundrel" is a statement that is true in our times and should have been stated 10+ years ago even though I doubt it could have stopped the invasion and occupation of Iraq or Afghanistan.
As far back as the beginning of the 20th century, the color of the hat of the U.S. shifted from white to grey... and lately from grey to black. In my opinion, this is simply tragic.
A reason that copyright extends past death is to discourage murder to get access to copyrighted material.
I'm sure that's the spin policymakers put on it when they deformed copyright law. A better approach to discouraging murder would be to have set copyright terms...which coincidentally, was what we used to have. It used to be you could tell if a work was in copyright or not by looking at the copyright notice, subtracting it from the current year, and seeing if the result was greater than the copyright term. If you want the equivalent of "life plus fifty years" to benefit the kids, make copyright equal to the median life span + 50 years, and make that the set term. If you want more innovation, reduce that back to something reasonable, like 20 years.
Making copyright life+50 to avoid a mass of murdered authors is bullshit...that problem goes away as soon as you decouple copyright from an author's demise, as was its original implementation (in the US at least...in the UK, the earliest forms of proto-copyright went on forever, and some works still fall in the category).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
He came from the future in to the past through LHC.
He didn't want them to come out until LHC was nearly ready to go in to full swing.
He placed a bet on LHCs first find so he can get the money in the future and so he can stop himself going back and breaking the loop ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Having worked as a newspaper "printer's devil", he saw his path to the riches required for the life style to which he had become accustomed in the Paige Compositor -- essentially a Victorian Era version of MS-Word implemented largely in hardware, making "leveraged" investments in this invention.
The Paige compositor failed in the marketplace, more sophisticated than its competitor the Linotype -- kind of like the tale of a "death march" failed software or computer hardware project some 100 years later. Twain lost all of his money and then money he didn't have. To make good on his debts, he went on a worldwide lecture tool, essentially doing impressions of Hal Holbrooke pretending to be Mark Twain.
Not only did the speaking fees from this grueling tour pay back his debts in full and then some, it made him immortal. Were it not for the fame of the speaking tour and connecting with audiences around the world with his personal appearances in a day before TV and cable and talk shows, he may as well been forgetten as many a 19'th century humorist.
So remember, what made Mark Twain a household word even into the 21'st Century was one, the man's greed, and two, an antecedant to the personal computer.
So he proposed a scheme that the pharmaceutical companies use today; take a protected work (drug) and modify it just enough as to make it a (derivative) new product and enjoy the benefits of the new span of copyright protection.
By using your definition anyone could use *some* defect in anybody to destitute them from being "great men". I don't care shit that people were not great husband or father (and many will probably do too), as somebody said there is aplenty of them, so why should your definition have ANY bearing ? Heck some people might object declaring somebody a great man or woman because of their religious belief. Try picture "charles Darwin" a great man for some cultural group... [b]Somebody (man or woman) which research/scientific discovery/writing/philosophy/politics/whatever enhanced humanity's culture in a good way, is a great man, independently of his familial success[/b]. "we actually want to ignore "humanity" faults in a person because of his literary work" Indeed we do, and we routinely do so. Because what define a great man, is not being a good neighbour or a good dad. It is doing something great for humanity at large.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Darwin was a christian, put instead anybody else atheist , or non christian. You get my drift on the definition of "great men".
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Why should copyright take care of one's kids almost indefinitely? Sudden death apart, what right do children have to be treated well by their deceased predecessor? Why shouldn't I have to earn my living if my dad was a dead -pun not intended- good writer?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
He also invented that little tie on the back of a men's dress vest that brings it in around the waist and was awarded a patent for it, but to no monetary gain. It originally had uses on other garments as patented and was sometimes detachable, but it's still there on many suit vests.
He also patented a self-pasting scrapbook which did sell really well and a trivia game.
Actually, it would be like saying Turing was bad because he way gay, which he was and people did.
Humanity, not very nice at all.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
To make good on his debts, he went on a worldwide lecture tool
Going on a "lecture tool" makes no sense. Did you mean "tour"?
Isn't Steve Balmer a lecture tool?
Free Martian Whores!
The OLD original book would still have been free of copyright. Copyright would NOT have been extended on the ORIGINAL book. He just hoped that the NEW edition with its own new copyright would be worth buying from him for the new content.
But the OLD content would have been free of copyright. So basically, Mark Twain wanted people to pay him for freshly written new content.
That is not gaming the system, that is called selling stuff. nobody complains that the baker wants paid for his bread today even if you bought bread of him yesterday. New stuff, new payment.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
It is simple, after meeting Guinan and Data (if you don't get the reference, hand in your geek card right now) he got a marvelous idea. He would publish a book a century after his death, collect the royalties, transport them back in time and be the richest man on the planet thanks to reverse inflation. And all that with not a single demand to sign an autograph or appear on chat shows.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Thought I was reading The Onion for a minute.
That whole speech is satire. Try re-reading it with that knowledge & you may understand what he's trying to say.
He wanted to reveal his best kept secret: Meeting aliens from the future http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708828/
you appear to be having an arugment with a dead man.
I recall visiting a public library near Woodstock NY, in September of 2004. The person who was giving me a ride to the bank wanted to use the internet... While I was there, I browsed the stacks and found a copy of 'The Autobiography of Mark Twain'. I haven't read many of his works, but I consider myself to be a fan of his work and literary style. I didn't know he'd written an autobiography, and so I skimmed through it. I remember a short passage in the midst of the book that I flipped to was a remark about writing an autobiography, where he said that it is best to not bother with chronological order and instead tell the story in anecdotes as it comes to mind. As much as this sounds impossible now, it also seems strangely appropriate for Mark Twain.
Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens was a person who came from a humble background and married into wealth, but his appetite for the fine things that money could bring exceeded whatever came his way by way of his wife's family.
Having worked as a newspaper "printer's devil", he saw his path to the riches required for the life style to which he had become accustomed in the Paige Compositor -- essentially a Victorian Era version of MS-Word implemented largely in hardware, making "leveraged" investments in this invention.
The Paige compositor failed in the marketplace, more sophisticated than its competitor the Linotype -- kind of like the tale of a "death march" failed software or computer hardware project some 100 years later. Twain lost all of his money and then money he didn't have. To make good on his debts, he went on a worldwide lecture tool, essentially doing impressions of Hal Holbrooke pretending to be Mark Twain.
Not only did the speaking fees from this grueling tour pay back his debts in full and then some, it made him immortal. Were it not for the fame of the speaking tour and connecting with audiences around the world with his personal appearances in a day before TV and cable and talk shows, he may as well been forgetten as many a 19'th century humorist.
So remember, what made Mark Twain a household word even into the 21'st Century was one, the man's greed, and two, an antecedant to the personal computer.
Uh ... no, not really. Not at all, in fact.
True, Twain put most the considerable wealth he had gained into the development of the Compositor (he himself estimated he spent $150,000 on it, but his biographer A. B. Paine estimated his investment at $190,000, and his friend William Dean Howells put the figure at $3000,000 - and these estimate are all in 19th century dollars). He believed there was both a demand and a need for it, based on his early career as a printer's devil. It did not "fail in the marketplace", however. In fact, only two prototypes were ever built, and the machine "collapsed" prior to its only demonstration before a group of investors in 1890.
It wasn't greed that motivated him. Like modern Internet billionaires investing in private space travel, he believed in the technology, and put his money where his mouth was.
As for the allegations of his being a "poor husband and neglectful father", nothing could be further from the truth. He adored his wife Livy, worshipped his daughters, and was devastated when his only son Langdon died of diptheria at age two. It was at Livy's insistence that he undertook a worldwide lecture tour to repay 100 cents on the dollar of the debts from his various bad investments (Paige's Compositor wasn't the only one), particularly the collapse of his publishing house, The Charles L. Webster Company. And, after their daughter Susy died of meningitis on a visit to their mansion in Hartford, Connecticut while Twain was on tour in Europe, he and Livy were so overcome with grief that they were never able to bring themselves to return to Hartford.
"Poor husband and neglectful father?" I don' theeng so, Quickstraw ...
Check out my novel.
Twain had a cunning plan to beat the early 20th century copyright law with its short copyright terms. Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
Wait, so shortening the terms of a copyright law actually INCREASES creativity by forcing the author to modify, amend and add to his work, instead of resting on his laurels? Perish the thought! No we need indefinite term copyright laws so that works can stagnate and progress can come screeching to a halt.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910
Does that mean someone is going to distill it down to 300 pages, inevitably introducing his own bias and priorities?
Let’s hope it’s not the Texas school board...
Ok, actually let’s hope it’s nobody. (There is no such thing as a physical object without “bias”.)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
One-third more content. Let that sink in for a moment. One-third more content. In a book. Not "modify third of the content", not "improve third of it" or anything like that. Just "Let's sell exactly what we sold before but let's just add some bloat and call it a new version."
Naturally, "content" is somewhat vague term. A book could have more content while not having any less pages, for certain definitions of the word... But if he meant it the way that this description seems to imply, I wish I could punch every genital he owns.
"Twain had a cunning plan to beat the early 20th century copyright law with its short copyright terms. Twain planned to republish every one of his works the moment it went out of copyright with one-third more content, hoping that availability of such 'premium' version will make prints based on the out-of-copyright version less desirable on the market."
Where is the wrath of the slashdot crowd?
Microsoft and a few other companies likely have secret shrines honouring him. The man was a scoundrel or just doing right the capatalism way.....I am don't know what to say, I might do the same thing if I could.
So I wonder what level of Hell he is on? My guess is 1 :-)
The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
I think adding 30% more information at the time the copyright is an ingenious idea! Publishers could really learn from this guy. In fact, I had a similar.... (Copyright 2010, Otaku244) [continued in 16 years]
Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
I think this is a great example of how shorter copyright terms encourage more production.
The original would be public domain and the author would be forced to make it more desirable if he wanted to keep milking it.
Plus other people could also easily make derivative works.
...the destruction of families taking place as women seek divorces and full-time employment at their children's and family's expense.
Yes, they should be kept barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, dutifully following their master's wishes.*sarcasm*
Now, back to your regularly scheduled program....
And what about good mothers and wives?
Since Mark Twain was neither of those things, how is that relevant to the discussion?
Take your bad manners and personal agenda elsewhere.
Note to mod's:
Both this post and parent I replied to should be modded 'into the basement' as 'offtopic', IMHO.
I just felt it needed said, but it contributes nothing to the topic of discussion.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Mark Twain's sceptical views of religion are hardly news. Twain was a prominent member of the Anti-Imperialist League. So, the general outlines of his religious and political views are pretty well known. Perhaps Twain withheld pubiication for 100 years because of personal revelations.
Delaying publication 100 years is a long way to go for getting in the last laugh...
God doesn't exist, period.
Golly! You think Twain was a bad father? Turing was a total loss!
.
- aqk
F U
The best quote from Mark Twain is
"Religion was born when the first con man met the first fool." --Mark Twain
I'd like to buy homeland for our 10 million people. http://twitter.com/mahadiga
If he was a good father he would not have to to do the tour to pay his debts. It seems he picked the lesser of 2 evils to try to prevent his kids from starving, but he had to abandon his family to keep the banks off his ass from decisions he made prior.
"Your life is your own damn fault" - Larry Winget
http://saveie6.com/
Thank you, thank you, thank you for setting the record straight! He was apparently a wonderful father - people who are quick to judge him as not being so need to remember that he did experience depression, lost his infant son (as has been mentioned) and two daughters before they were 30 years of age. That would be pretty tough to deal with. And Latent Heat - I know about Mark Twain through his books, not through the Compositor or speaking tours...and so what if he did do these things? Are you saying that anyone who earns good money by one means or another isn't deserving of acclaim as a great writer or artist? What made Twain a household name is his fantastic stories...
If he was a good father he would not have to to do the tour to pay his debts. It seems he picked the lesser of 2 evils to try to prevent his kids from starving, but he had to abandon his family to keep the banks off his ass from decisions he made prior.
"Your life is your own damn fault" - Larry Winget
Yeah, cause no good father would ever have to leave their family to work and keep them from starving...!! Seriously, come on mate! People make bad decisions all the time and then have to take actions they might not like to fix the situation - it doesn't make them a bad parent, it just makes them human. Or are you saying no one should take risks, because if they do and they fail, Child Welfare will knock on their door for child neglect?
If he was a good father he would not have to to do the tour to pay his debts. It seems he picked the lesser of 2 evils to try to prevent his kids from starving, but he had to abandon his family to keep the banks off his ass from decisions he made prior.
What in the fuck are you talking about?
In what twisted worldview does picking bad investments have to do with the quality of one's parenthood? You are an illiterate troll, and your argument is utter bullshit.
Twain did not "abandon his family in order to keep the banks off his ass", you ass. Did you even read what I posted? His wife Livy INSISTED he pay off 100 cents on the dollar (because it was the honorable thing to do), rather than take refuge in bankruptcy and simply walk away from his debts.
Why don't you go back to sticking crayons up your nose and leave the discussion to adults?
Check out my novel.
No one should take excessive risks after they have kids. Its selfish.
People in jail are full of risk takers. You need to make risks and do what you love to do before you have children. After having kids the importance is on money and stability. As sarcastic as you were it is true that Child Welfare will take your kids away if you can't feed them. This is true whether it is taking a funner higher risk job over your boring stable one or excessive investing or starting a business. You should not do these things until your kids are 18. It is a fact of life.
In the 19th century you could go to debtors prison and lose your kids if you went bankrupt. There was no bankruptcy laws ... at least none I am aware of.
Don't like it? Then do not have kids. Its capitalism and a fact of life. The mistakes need to be low risk as the kids come first in every decision.
http://saveie6.com/
If he made better investments he could have spent more time with his kids and give them a better a life.
Livy insisted this only because he neglected the stability of his family for high risk investing on himself rather than focusing on his kids. It is all about choices when it comes to money and he made a bad one.
People need to relearn this moral as many are losing their homes by record numbers! The kids and spouses end up being screwed by the greed of owning big houses, cars, and ceilings on credit cards. In the end you take the risks and your family pays the price by going into poverty after the bank mortgages most of your income away.
My argument is true. You choose either your kids or yourself whenever you make a risk and investing is a parents soul responsibility. Prove me wrong?
http://saveie6.com/
No one should take excessive risks after they have kids. Its selfish.
People in jail are full of risk takers. You need to make risks and do what you love to do before you have children. After having kids the importance is on money and stability. As sarcastic as you were it is true that Child Welfare will take your kids away if you can't feed them. This is true whether it is taking a funner higher risk job over your boring stable one or excessive investing or starting a business. You should not do these things until your kids are 18. It is a fact of life.
In the 19th century you could go to debtors prison and lose your kids if you went bankrupt. There was no bankruptcy laws ... at least none I am aware of.
Don't like it? Then do not have kids. Its capitalism and a fact of life. The mistakes need to be low risk as the kids come first in every decision.
It's not a fact of life - it's your opinion which you are entitled to. I'm sure he didn't think his investments would fail - and given we weren't there it's impossible to know what facts he had in order to make his decision to invest. I'm also not sure that his children went without food - does anyone have info on this? He also did his best to get things back on track. I'm thinking the lessons he taught his children - take a risk, if it doesn't work then do what's needed to get back on track - are probably good to learn.
If he made better investments he could have spent more time with his kids and give them a better a life.
You are a moron. All investments entail risk - even U.S. Treasury notes. And Twain's children enjoyed a life of fabulous privilege - they met and mingled with celebrities from every field from royalty to captains of industry to artists. They lived in luxury, especially by the standards of the time. They adored Twain, and he them. Because he wrote for a living, and thus worked from home, they had his company 24x7 whenever he was not touring as a lecturer. And they often went on tour with him during summer vacations.
Livy insisted this only because he neglected the stability of his family for high risk investing on himself rather than focusing on his kids.
You are as full of shit as a Thanksgiving turkey. You obviously have never read Twain's correspondence with his wife, nor the parts of his extant autobiography that deal with his financial problems and Livy's part in his decision to tour to repay them. Likewise, you seem not to grasp that Twain had made a good part of his income as a touring speaker from the time he first became a superstar journalist, after reporting on the fire that swept the clipper ship Hornet, and scooping every other reporter by more than a week.
People need to relearn this moral as many are losing their homes by record numbers!
You need to learn to shut the fuck up about subjects where you betray your deep, abiding ignorance with every character you type. You know nothing about Mark Twain. Your sole source is a statement somebody recalls as having been mentioned in "some documentary". You are clearly a pinwit, whose opinion is of no value to anyone other than you.
My argument is true.
Your "argument" is utter, complete, and comprehensive horseshit. Your grasp of the facts would need to improve by several orders of magnitude to achieve "tenous" status. Your imbecilic moralizing reveals your intellectual depth as approximating that of a paper plate.
And you smell like an elephant's butt.
Check out my novel.
Whether or not one agrees with every tenant of Clemens' philosophy, the soon-to-be published work should prove to be a fascinating read. I am particularly interested in Twain's views on President Roosevelt, as both men are representative of the times they lived in.