The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories by: Mark Twain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1535064552 ISBN 13: 9781535064552

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

The £1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories is an 1893 collection of short stories by American writer Mark Twain.The collection was published in 1893, in a disastrous decade for the United States, a time marked by doubt and waning optimism, rapid immigration, labor problems, and the rise of political violence and social protest. It was also a difficult time for Twain personally, as he was forced into bankruptcy and devastated by the death of his favorite daughter, Suzy. Yet the title story still brims with confidence and optimism, marking the moment of hope just before Twain turned to the grim stories of his later years."The £1,000,000 Bank-Note" charts the magical rags-to-riches ascent of a virtuous and resourceful mining broker's clerk from San Francisco who arrives in London with a single dollar in his pocket, and proceeds to ultimate and splendid financial success and fame in London society—a paean to ingenuity and a celebration of its cunning confidence-man narrator. It is illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard. The other pieces include "Mental Telegraphy," a serious essay reflecting Twain's continuing interest in the occult—he and his wife would later try several seances, poignantly and unsuccessfully, to contact their daughter Suzy; "The German Chicago," contrasting Berlin of his era with the American city, "About All Kinds of Ships," about steamboats old and new; plus a tongue-in-cheek "Petition to the Queen of England" for relief from taxes. Also included are: "A Cure for the Blues," "The Enemy Conquered; or Love Triumphant," "Playing Courier," and "A Majestic Literary Fossil."

About the Author:

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American humorist and writer, who is best known for his enduring novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has been called the Great American Novel. Raised in Hannibal, Missouri, Twain held a variety of jobs including typesetter, riverboat pilot, and miner before achieving nationwide attention for his work as a journalist with The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. He earned critical and popular praise for his wit and enjoyed a successful career as a public speaker in addition to his writing. Twain s works were remarkable for his ability to capture colloquial speech, although his adherence to the vernacular of the time has resulted in the suppression of his works by schools in modern times. Twain s birth in 1835 coincided with a visit by Halley s Comet, and Twain predicted, accurately, that he would go out with it as well, dying the day following the comet s return in 1910.