Product Description

Mark Twain's fantastical last novel took him twelve years--and three long drafts-to complete. Based on boyhood memories of the Mississippi River Valley and of the print shops of Hannibal, the story is set in medieval Austria at the dawn of the printing craft. It is a psychic adventure, full of phantasmagoric effects, in which a penniless printer's apprentice-a youthful, mysterious stranger with the curious name 44-gradually reveals his otherworldly powers and the hidden possibilities of the mind. Ending on a startling note, this surprisingly existential novel reveals a darker side to the author's genius. This long-overlooked work appears here as Mark Twain intended it and replaces the bogus 1916 edition published by Albert Bigelow Paine, which relied on the first, instead of the final, draft, deleted one-fourth of the words, added a character, and misrepresented the ending. In addition, for the first time in the Mark Twain Library edition, a glossary of printer's terms is featured along with expert notes and commentary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135517 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 212 pages

Review
"Vastly entertaining . . . . A wild extravaganza." -- Edward Wagenknecht, The Chicago Tribune

Customer Reviews

Beware!! No.44 and The Mysterious Stranger are not the same
There is much confusion regarding the several editions of The Mysterious Stranger. This volume from the Mark Twain Library is titled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger". It is NOT No. 44 in the series as often listed. More importantly it is NOT the same as the story titled "The Mysterious Stranger" to which most of the reviews refer. This story, only published as part of The Mark Twain Library, is a later manuscript utilizing some of the same themes and characters from the better known story, but otherwise very different. Neither story was published in Twain's lifetime. Following Twain's death his literary executor, A. B. Paine, selected one of three stories written on similar themes, and published it as "The Mysterious Stranger" following some changes and editing including adding an ending which was apparently written for another version. While Paine's changes were controversial, his decision as to which manuscript was worth publishing was certainly correct.

The publishers of The Mark Twain Library series would have us believe that "No. 44" was Twain's own preferred version based primarily on chronology. Twain, however, had a habit of suppressing his own work -- particularly some of his most biting satires (See DeVoto's edition of Twain's "Letters from the Earth.") believing it, perhaps, too controversial for its time.

The story of the evolution of "The Mysterious Stranger" and all three manuscripts as Twain left them can be found in William Gibson's "Mark Twain's Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts."

This story, "No. 44," is a pleasant enough boy's adventure along the Tom Sawyer line, but -- being an unfinished manuscript and having never seen the hand of a good editor-- it rambles around and takes wild unexplained changes in tone and storyline and never really leads anywhere. The grand dark satire of the better known story is missing, or, at best, severely watered down in this version. To add insult to injury, the television film of "The Mysterious Stranger" was based on "no. 44".

I originally wrote this review for a previous edition of "No. 44", but I see that it has been appended to all editions of "The Mysterious Stranger". So let me be clear: I am referring to The Mark Twain Library edition which is entitled "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger".

"The Mysterious Stranger" is a marvelous work. "No. 44" is a curiosity at best.

TWAIN'S LAST, UNJUSTLY NEGLECTED NOVEL IS FINALLY AVAILABLE!
This is literally the last work of fiction by Mr. Twain. Those familiar with his short stories will remember a similarly titled 60+ page story in which the devil makes an interesting visit to a small Austrian village during the dark ages. This novel, while sharing some commonalities with the latter, is essentially its own animal, though not quite as darkly pessimistic. It is a good quick read-something you'll want to read twice in order to fully appreciate. It is very funny at times, at others somewhat predictable, but always entertaining and imaginative. It is remarkable how much insight Twain had into the modern world and its connection to history. Highly recommended.

Twain anticipates Crane in Mysterious Stranger
Aside from Twain's depiction of God as a malevolent and mischevious deity, the story illustrates Twain's pessimistic view of Christianity in general. There is much vitriol spilled - toward God - at the end of the work. Certainly the death of Twain's daughter had much to do with excentuating this antagonism towards God and religion. Mysterious Stranger, especially the chilling conclusion, is a disturbing tale - as Twain no doubt intended it to be. A worthwhile read but be prepared to have your religious moorings and faith shaken.