Mark and Livy: The Love Story of Mark Twain and the Woman Who Almost Tamed Him

ISBN-13: 9781138177833 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 366 str.

Resa Willis

Opis

Olivia Langdon Clemens was not only the love of Mark Twain's life and the mother of his children, she was also his editor, muse, critic and trusted advisor. She read his letters and speeches. He relied on her judgment on his writing, and readily admitted that she not only edited his work, but also edited his public persona.Until now, little has been known about Livy's crucial place in Twain's life. In Resa Willis's affecting and fascinating biography, we meet a dignified, optimistic women who married young, raised three sons and a daughter, endured myriad health problems and money woes and who faithfully traipsed all over the world with Twain--Africa, Europe, Asia--while battling his moodiness and her frailty.Twain adored her. A hard-drinking dreamer with an insatiable wanderlust, he needed someone to tame him. It was Livy who encouraged him to finish his autobiography even through the last stages of her illness. When she died in 1904, Twain's zest for life and writing was gone. He died six years later.
A triumph of the biographer's art, Mark and Livy presents the fullest picture yet of one of the most influential women in American letters.

Spis treści

Introduction 1. I feel so frightfully banished 2. A generous free household 3. Quitely and steadily 4. Twenty-two yesterday! Growing old fast! 5. As happy as a queen 6. The clouds will come 7. I believe my heart prays. 8. I feel so incompetent. 9. I feel so rich and thankful for you. 10. Show our babies and our new house 11. So desperately happy 12. We dread changing our manner of life. 13. Women must be everything. 14. This is my work! 15. I love you, I idolize you and I miss you. 16. I wish there was no one in this world troubled for money. 17. Such is life. 18. I cannot afford it! 19. Sombre days 20. The bondage of debt 21. I cannot find Susy & I cannot find the light. 22. If I looked into the eyes of a friend I might talk. 23. We are going to give up our Hartford home. 24. We will save each other in Florence I think.

O autorze

Resa Willis is Professor of English and chair of the English Department at Drury University, in Springfield, Missouri. She has lectured on Twain and Livy in the United States and abroad.