How to tell a story, and other essays

233 pages

English language

Published July 23, 1996 by Oxford University Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-19-511418-8

(1 review)

How to tell a story. In defence of Harriet Shelley. Fenimore Cooper's literary offences. Traveling with a reformer. Private history of the "Jumping frog" story. Mental telegraphy again. What Paul Bourget thinks of us. A little note to M. Paul Bourget. The invalid's story. The captain's story. Stirring times in Austria. Concerning the Jews. From the "London times" of 1904. At the appetite cure. In memoriam. Mark Twain: a biographical sketch.

11 editions

Jay Stevens reviewed How to tell a story, and other essays by Mark Twain (The Oxford Mark Twain)

Review of 'How to tell a story, and other essays' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Rather abrupt changes with little to no flow between them, although the anecdotes themselves are fine. It wasn't quite what I was expecting; I had assumed the "other essays" mentioned were essays about writing, when in reality they were just whatever Twain had thought of at the moment, including his views on ESP.
This makes sense, however: at the time this was published, Twain was going completely bankrupt. He was churning out piece after piece to make ends meet, these essays among them. The diminishing quality truly does show.

Subjects

Storytelling