The Devil's Race-track

by Twain, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780520238930
• ISBN10: 0520238931
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-17
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Mark Twain explores the darker side of life in these lesser-known later writings dealing with personal tragedies, nightmarish world events, and a doubtful cosmic order. He views his own situation as that of a ship trapped in a fearsome Bermuda Triangle-like region, the Devil's Race-Track.He sees history as a treadmill of endlessly and monotonously repeated events. And he conceives of a universal food chain, a vast round of devourers who in their turn become victims, humankind and God included. The tone of these writings is lightened considerably by Mark Twain's sagely ironic humor and his warmth, which together balance his tough-mindedness. And even when he shows the human race caught in some vicious circle, he may be seen courageously seeking a way out and at times believing he has found it.

Table of Contents

A Note on the Texts	vii
Introduction	ix
Little Bessie	3	(11)
Little Nelly Tells a Story Out of Her Own Head	14	(3)
The Ten Commandments	17	(2)
Thoughts of God	19	(4)
The Synod of Praise	23	(2)
The Passenger's Story	25	(3)
The Enchanted Sea-Wilderness	28	(11)
Which Was the Dream?	39	(41)
The Great Dark	80	(49)
The Mad Passenger	129	(9)
Which Was It? (excerpt)	138	(23)
Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes	161	(121)
The Refuge of the Derelicts	282	(87)
The Fable of the Yellow Terror	369	(4)
Passage from ``Glances at History'' (suppressed.) Date, 9th century	373	(3)
Passage from ``Outlines of History'' (suppressed.) Date, 9th century	376	(2)
Passage from a Lecture	378	(4)
History 1,000 Years from Now	382	(2)
Old Age	384