What Is Man and other Essays - Twain, Mark
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What is Man is Mark Twain's treatise on the nature of humankind. Consisting primarily of a long dialogue between an old man and a young man, the book argues that humans are largely mechanistic in their thoughts and actions. Our nature is pre-determined, and our lives are shaped by outside forces. We act, according to Twain, out of self-interest at all times. A very personal project for Twain, and more serious than much of his fiction, What is Man was revised many times and published posthumously. It is a thought-provoking work of philosophy which will make you re-evaluate this much-loved author.…mehr

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Produktbeschreibung
What is Man is Mark Twain's treatise on the nature of humankind. Consisting primarily of a long dialogue between an old man and a young man, the book argues that humans are largely mechanistic in their thoughts and actions. Our nature is pre-determined, and our lives are shaped by outside forces. We act, according to Twain, out of self-interest at all times. A very personal project for Twain, and more serious than much of his fiction, What is Man was revised many times and published posthumously. It is a thought-provoking work of philosophy which will make you re-evaluate this much-loved author.
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Autorenporträt
Mark Twain was the greatest humorist of his time---most would say of all time. But he was always more than a humorist. Even before the height of his success and fame as a humorist, Mark Twain was an 'idea' man, and that never changed. He was as interested in challenging people to think as he was in making them laugh. As he advanced in age, and after experiencing deeply personal losses and hardships, Mark Twain's humor turned darker and his attitude and ideas more cynical. Near the end of his life he wrote a series of six stories commonly known as the 'Adamic Diaries'. Four of the stories poke fun at Christianity and are dark in tone. These stories were not published until after Twain died in 1910. Two of the six stories in the series were published as illustrated books while Twain lived-Extracts from Adam's Diary in 1904 and Eve's Diary in 1906. These two stories are less pointed and much lighter in tone. We intertwined them in this volume by rearranging text and adding a little new material.Contrary to Twain's wishes, the stories were not published in one volume until after his death. Considering them separately, Eve's Dairy is primarily a tender and loving story. It is thought to be Twain's eulogy to his deceased wife, Olivia. Extracts from Adam's Diary goes mainly for laughs. The stories work well apart, but even better when read consecutively (or we think, when blended as in this volume). Twain was often taken to task for his ideas and his willingness to poke fun at people and institutions. After the publication of Eve's Diary, an article in a newspaper criticized Twain for falsifying the bible story of creation by making Eve the namer of things and creatures. Twain responded by saying story-tellers are independent of facts and privileged to rearrange them to meet the requirements of the situation. He said that when he was hot with the fires of production, he would even distort the facts of the multiplication table, let alone the facts of Genesis.