#twainiacs

[everythingshania]

Your People's Choice Country Awards 2024 Host

[good-to-drive]

Louis CK is and always has been a terrible human being but he kind of nailed it when he said Norm Macdonald is the closest thing we have to a modern Mark Twain

[dannyscarbrough2]

Check it out

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

[baddingtonbitch]

not me learning shania twain is 1) white 2) a country singer and 3) CANADIAN omg i thot she was like. the poor woman's Mariah

me as a child with dual lamb and twainiac citizenship

[shaniasstilltheone-blog]

FIFTY FUCKING TWO HOW

[rayannpavichevich]

A newfound love

Twain has a way of weaving in little metaphors that take me on such adventures that I never want to stop reading his work.

[rosscountyhistoricalsociety]

An Evening with Mark Twain

Featuring Stephen Hollen, humorist, storyteller and performer of Dayton, Ohio. Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) ⁠— better known by his pen name "Mark Twain” ⁠— was one of the greatest writers and humorists in American history. He is perhaps most well known as the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Many have tried to portray him, but few have been as successful as award-winning humorst, storyteller, writer, and performer Stephen Hollen. 

Stephen grew up in eastern Kentucky where he honed his southern humor and learned the fine art of storytelling. Considered by many to be one of today's premiere Appalachian humorists, he first became a "Twainiac" at an early age when he began reading Twain's books. It was simply serendipity which led him to impersonate Mark Twain. After hearing many times that he looked like Twain, someone finally told him, "You know ... you like to tell stories, you look like Twain and you love his wit... Why not be Twain?" And so much to everyone's enjoyment, he did. Please join us for a fascinating evening with the great Mark Twain as only Stephen Hollen can portray him.

The event is free and open to the public!

Join us at 45 W. 5th St. Chillicothe, Ohio 45601 Call us at 740-772-1936 if you have any questions.

[ericvick]

Stormfield, Mark Twain’s Connecticut estate, for $4.2m

Mihiro Shimano — Boston.com correspondent

July 9, 2021 5:21 pm

“Stormfield,” the former mansion of author Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, hit the market July 3 for $4,200,000. Located in the middle of the woods in Redding, Conn., the estate was Clemens’s final residence. 

The 6,300-square-foot mansion, which mimics a Tuscan villa, has 11 rooms, including four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, as well as three fireplaces, according to the listing by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. It also includes a detached carriage house and a guest/caretaker cottage with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. The home’s Tuscan style is a nod to the time Clemens spent in Italy. Highlights of the mansion include marble floors, vaulted ceilings, a library, walk-in closets, hardwood flooring, a heated gunite pool, an expansive stone terrace, and a living room with a handpainted, coffered ceiling.

The property, 30 Mark Twain Lane, sits on 28.53 acres in Fairfield County yet is only roughly 60 miles from Midtown, New York City, according to the listing.

The mansion holds a lot of history, especially for the community. “It’s an important home in Redding, arguably the most important home in Redding,” said the real estate agent for the estate, Laura Freed Ancona. “It feels like you step back in time when you’re there.” 

The home last sold in 2003 for $3,450,000 to the current owner, who listed it in 2014 and 2015 for $4,000,000 before taking it off the market.

Shortly after arriving in Redding in 1906, Clemens purchased 195 acres and began building the home, which was completed in 1908. “Upon surveying the countryside from his new home, Clemens exclaimed: ‘How beautiful it all is. I did not think it could be as beautiful as this,’ ” according to the listing. 

He resided there for only two years before he died in 1910. The author’s final estate was passed down to his daughter, Clara. 

“Stormfield” — allegedly named after his short story “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” as a tribute to the financial contributions it made to its construction — attracted many visitors during the short time Clemens resided there. Many of these visits were documented in guest books.

The home burned down in 1923, but the mansion was rebuilt on the same foundation in 1925, retaining the same Tuscan villa style, according to the listing. To this day, the estate continues to attract many visitors, mostly scholars and academics studying Clemens. “Twainiacs,” Ancona said, will contact the library director, who will make an appointment with the owners to set up an invitation to visit the house. 

See more photos of the property below:

Subscribe to the Globe’s free real estate newsletter — our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design — at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter @globehomes.

[xylonaclemens-blog]

The Chronicles of Xylona and a Young Satan

By: Xylona Clemens

When I was 15, my English teacher explained to the class that for a book to truly impact us, it had to come into our lives at the right time. When I was fifteen, I was living in a small, religious town in New England and felt stifled by the conservative views of people who did not understand me or my perspectives. I would try to have conversations with my friends and teachers, but they would always write me off as too critical of the system. During this period of my life, I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find like-minded individuals, and still usually came up short. But then, one day I came across a free version the short-novel “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain in pdf form. As soon as I began reading, I was entranced. Only about eleven chapters long, I did not get up from my desk until I had finished reading this work. I remember walking downstairs to have dinner with my family afterward and telling them, “My life and my way of thinking has been changed forever,” and Twain has been my favorite author ever since. Mark Twain’s legacy as the preeminent American satirist has provided the world with an unrivaled perspective on humanity, one that forces us to realize the only way to make the world better is to stand up to the injustices of the world in whatever form possible.

Most people think of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) as an author of novels for young people, discussing hard topics in outwardly more light-hearted stories, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain had the genius ability to take extremely controversial topics and give them a lighter tone, making his criticism of racism, religion, sexism, speciesism, culturalism, and ableism significantly more palatable for the masses. However, this is by no means the full extent of his literary abilities. In his final stages of life, Clemens was living alone in an apartment in Europe after a bad financial investment caused him to lose most of his fortune and his famous house in Hartford, CT, which was soon followed by the deaths of his beloved daughter and wife. This extremely depressing turn in Clemens’ life caused him to produce a series of books, letters, and short stories that have helped to shape my views of the world as an adult. During this period, Twain actually wrote three different versions of “The Mysterious Stranger”, each one seemingly better than the last.

The most famous version of the story, and the one I read first, is referred to as “The Mysterious Stranger: A Romance” or “The Mysterious Stranger: Chronicles of a Young Satan,” and while the story is starkly lacking in romance of any kind, it is an example of Twain’s dark and sarcastic sense of humor. The plot of this more obscure Twain work is about three young boys living in Austria during the Middle Ages. One day they are playing in the woods when they meet a strikingly beautiful young man, who tells them that he is an all-seeing, all-powerful angel called “Satan”. Satan has the ability to see into the future, the past, and the minds of all individuals on earth, as well as time-travel, teleport, and produce an infinite array of goods. While this seems like the beginning of a fantastical children’s story, it quickly takes a sharp, dark turn. Satan, in the form of a human, tells the boys that they are not allowed to divulge his true identity, and through his angelic powers makes it literally impossible for them to do so. Enamored by Satan's powers, the boys ask him to help their friend, a poor priest called Father Peter, who was at risk of losing his home if he did not pay his debts. Because they cannot say where the money came from, they have Satan leave a purse full of gold coins lying in the road, which Father Peter finds and believes is a miracle from God.

The townsfolk are extremely impressed with this gift from God and praise both their deity and Father Peter. He pays off his debts and feels extremely lucky, until the village astrologer, who hates Father Peter, claims that he is missing the same amount of money that Father Peter has “found”, accusing the poor priest of stealing his money. With no good explanation for where this money came from, Father Peter is arrested and his niece who lives with him is left penniless and with a terrible reputation. When the boys try to explain where the money truly came from, they find their mouths unable to work, due to the powers of Satan. Throughout the short story, Satan continues to quietly create miracles, all of which have terrible repercussions due to the awfulness of human nature, personified by the villagers and the other priest living in the community, Father Adolf. Satan gives a starving, poverty-stricken old widow a magic cat that gives her a gold coin every day, and she believes this to be a gift from God. However, the devoutly-Christian townsfolk accuse her of being a witch and burn her at the stake after torturing her for several weeks. Twain uses this as an opportunity to comment on the witch hunts that took place in the Middle Ages. At risk of giving away too many spoilers, Satan performs miracle after miracle, all of which are bastardized by the suspicions of religious townsfolk. Through the townspeople’s reactions and Satan’s conversations with the boys, Twain explains the depravity of man in the voice of a very cynical angel.

Although Twain wrote the three versions of this book in secret intermediately between 1897 and 1908, it was not published until 1916, six years after Twain’s death in 1910. Due to the highly controversial subject matter, this novel was not widely distributed until the 1960s and has never gained as much popularity as some of his other works. This novel struck me because I had never read such a blatant antipathy for so many aspects of human society stated in such a way, especially by a famous author like Mark Twain. While I do not hate humanity, and neither did Twain, he brings up the importance of questioning and contradicting norms of society such as violence, racism, speciesism, sexism, culturalism, and ableism. Since I first read “The Mysterious Stranger”, I have read as many Mark Twain texts as I could get my hands on, and love every word of his perfectly constructed satire. Having lived in New England I have been fortunate enough to visit Twain’s famous Hartford home in Connecticut on several occasions, and maintain a membership to the “Twainiac Society”. While I have not read all his works, I plan to eventually, and his words provide me with the courage I need to stand up to the inequalities of society throughout the world. 

For anyone who would like to make their own interpretation of this work, here is a link to a free ebook of the “Mysterious Stranger”:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3186/3186-h/3186-h.htm

[kansascityhappenings]

After decades of searching, Mark Twain’s signature was found inside a famous Missouri cave

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Mark Twain made this cave famous through his writings, and speculation swirled for decades that he’d signed his name somewhere inside it.

This week, the owners of the cave can finally confirm: “Sam Clemens,” Twain’s real name, is indeed inscribed inside the Mark Twain cave in Hannibal, Missouri.

Clemens lived in Hannibal for most his childhood, from 1839 to 1853. Back then, the cave, first discovered in 1819 and containing three miles of passageways, was known as McDowell’s cave.

Seen is the signature that was discovered in July.

It was a popular hang-out for locals, and over the years it has amassed nearly 250,000 signatures on its walls, according to Linda Coleberd, whose family has owned the cave since 1923.

The cave figured prominently in Twain’s book, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” published in 1876, and became famous thereafter.

For decades, people have looked over the writing on the walls hoping to find Clemens’ own. In July, Coleberd and her friend, Cindy Lovell, finally discovered his signature.

“My single hope has been that someone would find it during my lifetime,” Lovell said in a statement from the Mark Twain Cave Complex. “Sam knew the cave so well and described it in exact detail. We just knew it had to be in here somewhere.”

Lovell, a former director of the Twain Museum in Hannibal, is a self-proclaimed “Twainiac,” and has been looking for his signature since 1996.

Wikipedia. Portrait of Mark Twain by Mathew Brady, February 1871

The cave is rather dark, and Coleberd told CNN she was shining the flashlight around when Lovell spotted the signature not that far off the main passage way. Clemens was written in pencil about eye level on the cave wall. After analyzing a high resolution image, they also discovered “Sam” was written underneath.

“He probably attempted to scratch his name and then used a pencil to write on top,” Kevin Mac Donnell, a Twain scholar and collector, told CNN.

Mac Donnell, along with another Twain scholar, Alan Gribben, studied the signature and authenticated it.

“First thing, you think it’s a prank, that someone wrote Clemens,” Mac Donnell said. “But when I saw it, I knew it was the real McCoy.”

Mac Donnell and Gribben first compared the signature to those of Twain’s siblings and parents, to mark them off the list of potential Clemenses.

“I am going to go on record as believing this to be Sam Clemens’s handwriting,” Gribben, a retired professor at Auburn University-Montgomery, said in the statement.

“Moreover, his temperament was … far more egotistically assertive than those of either of his brothers, Orion and Henry, which makes it more likely that of the three he would be inclined to inscribe his signature on this site.”

Mac Donnell studied the characteristics of how each letter was formed, the connecting strokelines and then compared it to an 1853 signature from Clemens, shortly after he left Hannibal.

“I’m 99% certain of its authenticity,” Mac Donnell told CNN. “This is a pretty exciting discovery.”

Colebred said they are now trying to figure out the right way to conserve the signature and be able to show it to the public on tours. Other famous signatures, like those of Jesse James and Norman Rockwell, have also been discovered in the cave.

“Hannibal became a tourist destination 143 years ago when Twain published ‘Tom Sawyer,’” said Gail Bryant, director of tourism for Hannibal, in the statement.

“This year, not only is Hannibal celebrating its bicentennial year, the Mark Twain Cave is also celebrating its 200th anniversary of discovery. We are thrilled that at long last Sam Clemens’s signature has been found in the cave that was named for him.”

The cave is open year round for guided tours that last about an hour.

“I’m jealous of the owners of the cave,”said Mac Donnell. “I have signed books, letters, photos, legal documents, checks, autograph albums, and even an opera fan, but no signed cave — not sure where I’d put it if I did have one.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/09/26/after-decades-of-searching-mark-twains-signature-was-found-inside-a-famous-missouri-cave/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/09/27/after-decades-of-searching-mark-twains-signature-was-found-inside-a-famous-missouri-cave/

[everythingshania]

Happy birthday Shania Twain

[epic-flight-academy]

Epic Flight Academy Director of Education Discovers Mark Twain Signature in Famous Cave

Congratulations to Epic Flight Academy's Director of Education, our very own Dr. Cindy Lovell, for discovering the long searched-for signature of beloved author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, in the famous Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri. 

Dr. Lovell is the former director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal as well as the former director of the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut. She has been a Twainiac since she first read The Adventure of Tom Sawyer in fourth grade. This is an unprecedented discovery, and we are so proud that a member of the Epic family can claim it!

http://khqa.com/news/local/clemens-signature-discovered-in-mark-twain-cave

[cutsliceddiced]

NPR News: 'Twainiac' Nick Offerman Reads Aloud About Samuel Clemens' Favorite Foods

'Twainiac' Nick Offerman Reads Aloud About Samuel Clemens' Favorite Foods David Greene talks to Nick Offerman — one of the voices behind Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens — about the series from Audible. Read more on NPR via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

[shaniasstilltheone-blog]

👏 A 👏 STRONG 👏 WOMAN

[teddywinslow414-blog]

'Twainiac' Nick Offerman Reads Aloud About Samuel Clemens' Favorite Foods https://www.npr.org/2018/12/20/678557689/twainiac-nick-offerman-reads-aloud-about-samuel-clemens-favorite-foods?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr Stories from NPR : NPR | Mario Millions

[everythingshania]

I actually prefer her brunette but look at these. 😍