Mark Twain's Which was the dream? [[electronic resource] ] : and other symbolic writings of the later years / / edited with an introduction by John S. Tuckey

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910455558703321
• Autore: Twain Mark <1835-1910.>
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, 1968, c1966
• ISBN: 1-282-38296-9; 9786612382963; 0-520-90505-9
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (601 p.)
• Collana: The Mark Twain papers
• Altri autori (Persone): TuckeyJohn Sutton <1921->
• Disciplina: 817.4
• Soggetti: Electronic books; LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Which Was the Dream? -- The Enchanted Sea-Wilderness -- An Adventure in Remote Seas -- The Great Dark -- Indiantown -- Which Was It? -- Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes -- The Passenger's Story -- The Mad Passenger -- Dying Deposition -- Trial of the Squire
• Sommario/riassunto: All of these selections in this volume were comosed between 1896 and 1905. Mark Twain wrote them after the disasters of the early and middle nineties that had included the decline into bankruptcy of his publishing business, the failure of the typsetting machine in which he invested heavily, and the death of his daughter Susy. Their principal fable is that of a man who has been long favored by luck while pursuing a dream of success that has seemed about to turn into reality. Sudden reverses occur and he experiences a nightmarish time of failure. He clutches at what may be a saving thought: perhaps he is indeed living in a nightmare from which he will awaken to his former felicity. But there is also the possibility that what seems a dream of disaster may be the actuality of his life. The question is the one asked ; by the titles that he gave to two of his manuscripts: "Which Was the Dream?" and "Which Was It?" He posed a similar question in 1893: "I dreamed I was born, and grew up, and was a pilot on the Mississippi, and a miner and journalist...and had a wife and children...and this dream goes on and on and on, and sometimes seems so real that I almost believe it is real. I wonder if it is?" Behind this naïve query was his strong interest in conscious and unconscious levels of mental experience, which were then being explored by the new psychology.