How to Tell a Story and Others
By Mark Twain
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About this ebook
Mark Twain
Mark Twain, who was born Samuel L. Clemens in Missouri in 1835, wrote some of the most enduring works of literature in the English language, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his last completed book—and, by his own estimate, his best. Its acquisition by Harper & Brothers allowed Twain to stave off bankruptcy. He died in 1910.
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How to Tell a Story and Others - Mark Twain
How Tell a Story and Others by Mark Twain
published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA
established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books
Recommended essays, letters, and speeches by Mark Twain:
What is Man? and Other Essays
Christian Science
Editorial Wild Oats
Essays on Paul Bourget
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences
How to Tell a Story and Others
In Defence of Harriet Shelley
Mark Twain's Speeches
Mark Twain's Letters 1853-1910
feedback welcome: info@samizdat.com
visit us at samizdat.com
HOW TO TELL A STORY
THE WOUNDED SOLDIER
THE GOLDEN ARM
MENTAL TELEGRAPHY AGAIN
THE INVALIDS STORY
HOW TO TELL A STORY
The Humorous Story an American Development.--Its Difference from Comic and Witty Stories.
I do not claim that I can tell a story as it ought to be told. I only claim to know how a story ought to be told, for I have been almost daily in the company of the most expert story-tellers for many years.
There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind--the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one. The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter.
The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the others burst.
The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate art-- and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it. The art of telling a humorous story--understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home.
The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it; but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand