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1601 and Is Shakespeare Dead? (1882, 1909) (The Oxford Mark Twain)
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Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
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Our Price:
You Save: $ 28.00 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Average Customer Rating:
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1601 and Is Shakespeare Dead? (1882, 1909) (The Oxford Mark Twain) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780195114263
ISBN: 0195114264
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1997-03-06
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780195114263
ISBN: 0195114264
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1997-03-06
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Editorial Review of 1601 and Is Shakespeare Dead? (1882, 1909) (The Oxford Mark Twain)
1601 is Twain's hilarious pornographic send-up of Elizabethan England. In Is Shakespeare Dead?, an aging Twain meditates on Shakespeare and on his own chances for immortality.
Customer Reviews of 1601 and Is Shakespeare Dead? (1882, 1909) (The Oxford Mark Twain)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Little-known Twain
Review: This book consists of two parts, the brief 1601 and the longer "Is Shakespeare Dead?" (ISD)
1601 is eleven pages of dense faux-Elizabethan dialog. Between Twain's misleading spelling and the remarkable typography, it takes a while to realize that you're reading the most literate piece of potty humor in the English langauge. During the discourse that discovers the donor of that "most desolating breath," Twain unleashes bawdy that would surprise any school-marm who thinks of Twain only for Puddinhead Wilson and that cohort.
By far the longer piece, ISD starts out as a Shakespeare vs. Bacon argument. Twain largely cites other sources in the debate over who really wrote the works attributed to Wm. S; in the end, he comes down on the side of the brontosaur (go read it yourself to see what that means). His native wit comes through in the end of the piece. From any other writer, it would have been an ad hominem attack against the side Twain opposes - both of them, really. In his case, however, it's merely an observation on human traits of mind that tend to muddle both the facts and the use of them.
1601 is brilliant, if ISD drags a bit. They're both worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend either as an introduction to Twain.
//wiredweird
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Probably the funniest thing ever written.
Review: Yes, this IS a fart joke. In fact, rumor has it that Twain's poker buddies were its first readers. The then Sec'y of the Army had West Point Press publish it.The transcendant skill and humor raises this to greatness, despite the subject. In fact, Twain probably took this as a huge challenge.Keep it from the youngest until they can appreciate it, but read it aloud alone together every Valentine's day.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: 1601 very lewd and very funny
Review: 1601 recounts a naughty fireside chat between Shakespeare and other noteworthy english figures. Twain writes the entire text in a basterdized version of middle english spelled phoneticly. It is quite funny but difficult to read and rather course. In the second half of the book Twain argues that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. It is a prime example of Twain`s wit and one long gentlemanly slight against Shakespeare.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A perhaps deservedly forgotten work
Review: There are two unrelated pieces by Mark Twain in this volume, both of them fallen into (or perhaps, never rose from) obscurity, and deservedly so. "1601" is an lewd & raunchy imaginary conversation at the court of Elizabeth I. The narrator is disgusted by what he has heard -- the author partly shares the disgust and partly is fascinated with the fact that raunchy talk was not always taboo. This story has value as a look into Victorian sensibilities and into Twain's personality, but I did not enjoy reading it. I found it tedious, like Chaucer's Miller's Tale.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderfully Irreverent
Review: This book is fantastic! Twain tells it from the point of view of the Cup Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I, a man who is totally disgusted to see Her Majesty sitting around speaking crudities with such personages as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.
Review Summary: Little-known Twain
Review: This book consists of two parts, the brief 1601 and the longer "Is Shakespeare Dead?" (ISD)
1601 is eleven pages of dense faux-Elizabethan dialog. Between Twain's misleading spelling and the remarkable typography, it takes a while to realize that you're reading the most literate piece of potty humor in the English langauge. During the discourse that discovers the donor of that "most desolating breath," Twain unleashes bawdy that would surprise any school-marm who thinks of Twain only for Puddinhead Wilson and that cohort.
By far the longer piece, ISD starts out as a Shakespeare vs. Bacon argument. Twain largely cites other sources in the debate over who really wrote the works attributed to Wm. S; in the end, he comes down on the side of the brontosaur (go read it yourself to see what that means). His native wit comes through in the end of the piece. From any other writer, it would have been an ad hominem attack against the side Twain opposes - both of them, really. In his case, however, it's merely an observation on human traits of mind that tend to muddle both the facts and the use of them.
1601 is brilliant, if ISD drags a bit. They're both worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend either as an introduction to Twain.
//wiredweird
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Probably the funniest thing ever written.
Review: Yes, this IS a fart joke. In fact, rumor has it that Twain's poker buddies were its first readers. The then Sec'y of the Army had West Point Press publish it.The transcendant skill and humor raises this to greatness, despite the subject. In fact, Twain probably took this as a huge challenge.Keep it from the youngest until they can appreciate it, but read it aloud alone together every Valentine's day.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: 1601 very lewd and very funny
Review: 1601 recounts a naughty fireside chat between Shakespeare and other noteworthy english figures. Twain writes the entire text in a basterdized version of middle english spelled phoneticly. It is quite funny but difficult to read and rather course. In the second half of the book Twain argues that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. It is a prime example of Twain`s wit and one long gentlemanly slight against Shakespeare.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A perhaps deservedly forgotten work
Review: There are two unrelated pieces by Mark Twain in this volume, both of them fallen into (or perhaps, never rose from) obscurity, and deservedly so. "1601" is an lewd & raunchy imaginary conversation at the court of Elizabeth I. The narrator is disgusted by what he has heard -- the author partly shares the disgust and partly is fascinated with the fact that raunchy talk was not always taboo. This story has value as a look into Victorian sensibilities and into Twain's personality, but I did not enjoy reading it. I found it tedious, like Chaucer's Miller's Tale.
"Is Shakespeare Dead?" is a wonderful but misleading title. Actually this piece is about the old controversy of whether Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him, with Twain jousting for the Baconian cause. He admits at the outset that he originally developed his Baconian prejudice merely for the sake of argument with an ardent Avonian. This work adds nothing useful to the Baconian position, and would be of interest only to the most ardent collectors of Twainiana.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderfully Irreverent
Review: This book is fantastic! Twain tells it from the point of view of the Cup Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I, a man who is totally disgusted to see Her Majesty sitting around speaking crudities with such personages as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.
The tale is hilarious, vulgar, liberally illustrated with ranuchy woodcuts that are best left unseen by children and young adolescents (for example, one of a cardinal with a raised surplice, urinating rather graphically, and several of men with, shall we say, large appendages).