![]() He lumps Arabs with Native Americans as dirty savages whose habit of silent watching makes the white man want to exterminate them. The farther East he travels, the more hideous and importunate he finds the beggars and peddlers. He scorns Europeans for never bathing with soap and says things like "Italy is one vast museum of magnificence and misery" peopled by "fumigating, maccaroni-stuffing organ-grinders" and beggars who should exercise some self-reliance and rob the rich churches in their poor neighborhoods. Twain is bracingly-abrasively-politically incorrect. Any conventional wisdom about culture or religion or travel is fair game. At the outset Twain states that one of his purposes is "to suggest to the reader how he would be likely to see Europe and the East if he looked at them with his own eyes instead of the eyes of those who traveled in those countries before him." To do this, with an angry glee he debunks various "frauds" about Europe and the Holy Land perpetrated by idealizing writers and avaricious guides, shop owners, and government officials. Twain and his fellow American "elect pilgrims" on the steamship Quaker City are only ironically "innocents" through popular literature and guidebooks they have imbibed romantic images of the places they visit, and they are guilty, like all tourists, of becoming "asses" abroad. ![]() And some things transcend time: the pyramids and ancient art. At the same time, many things are eerily similar to today's world: packaged tours, "asinine" tourists, passport and quarantine problems, beggars and peddlers, guides in cahoots with shops, etc. One of the most interesting features of Twain's The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrim's Progress (1869) is seeing what the world was like back in the 1860s through his eyes: Italy lurching into unification a prince from Denmark ruling Greece Napoleon III remodeling France America completing the transcontinental railroad Russia being friendly with the USA and cholera threatening Europe. Imagine going on a five-month package tour of Europe and the Holy Land in 1867 with a pre-Tom Sawyer Mark Twain-his acerbic wit aimed at tourists, countries, peoples, artifacts, and monuments. Pre-Fame Mark Twain Does Europe and the Holy Land Grover Gardner has a more pleasing sounding voice than Flo, though. I downloaded this version because it was narrated by a man, but I have to say, I think Flo Gipson captured Twain's irreverent tone better than Grover Gardner. But I've listened to it more than once, it makes great bed-time listening. The first time I heard it, I thought it was horrible. For a long time the only version of "Innocents Abroad," was narrated by Flo Gipson. He gives the straight dope on traveling in Holy Land. Human nature is timeless and there is no better proof of it than the observations of a master. If you travelled to these places you'll get an extra bang out of it. If you have travelled at all you will enjoy it. It is Twain at his best, "Is he dead?" The first time I read it, it made me laugh out loud in public places. Many don't read this and it is one of Twain's hidden gems. If you've not read Innocents Abroad, this is a great way to experience it. Above all he displayed the great energy of his humor, more explosive for us now than for his beguiled contemporaries. He responded with wonder and amazement but also with exasperation, irritation, and disbelief. For the first time he was seeing the great paintings and sculptures of the Old Masters. He was making his first responses to the Old World-to Paris, Milan, Florence, Venice, Pompeii, Constantinople, Sebastopol, Balaklava, Damascus, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem. His adventures produced The Innocents Abroad, a book so funny and provocative it made him an international star for the rest of his life. So Mark Twain acclaims his voyage from New York City to Europe and the Holy Land. “Who could read the programme for the excursion without longing to make one of the party?” His enduring, no-nonsense guide for the first-time traveler also served as an antidote to the insufferably romantic travel books of the period. In June 1867, Mark Twain set out for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle steamer Quaker City.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |