| Title | : | A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0393043762 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780393043761 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1876 |
A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage Reviews
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The history of the story is more interesting than the story itself. The story is not Twain's finest. Nevertheless, middling Twain is better than most other author’s best. The foreword and afterword by Roy Blount Jr. make the whole read worthwhile -- providing context for the story and also the author’s writing of it. The illustrations of the inimitable Peter de Sève merit an extra star for the book. The artwork brings the story to life and elevate this book from one good enough to retain on the shelf to being a worthy tabletop keeper.
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Kendisi benim kütüphaneden ödünç alıp okuduğum ilk kitap olma özelliğini taşıyor.
Ders arasında kitaplıkları turlarken keşfettim, zaten başkaca da karşıma çıkmazmış.
30 küsur sayfalık bir öykü üzerine yazılmış 40 küsur sayfa bir inceleme vardı kitabın sonunda.
Hikayede pek bir iş olmadığı yetmezmiş gibi, inceleme yazısı da birbirini tekrar eden paragraflarla doluydu ki zaten okumayı bitirmedim, illallah geldi bir süre sonra.
Ha bu yazıdan öğrendiğiniz bir şey yok mu, var tabi. Mesela Mark Twain, Jules Verne'den hiç hoşlanmazmış. Bir Cinayet, Bir Sır ve Bir Evlilik uzun yıllar boyu taslak halinde kalmış çünkü hikayenin ilk halinde çıkış, bir uçan balon sayesinde olmuşmuş ama Twain tam bu öyküyü yayımlatacağı sırada Verne Balonla Beş Hafta -ya da öyle bir şey- isimli öyküsünü yayımlatıp tüm dünyada büyük yankı uyandırmış. (O zamanlarda uçan balon en son ve en büyük yenilikmiş.)
Böyle böyle Mark Twain Jules Verne'ye iyice zıt almış ve bu öyküsünde onu biraz iğnelemeye karar vermiş.
Öykünün sonunda, kitabın temelini oluşturan cinayeti işleyen kişi, Jules Verne'nin yazdığı maceraları yaşayan yardımcısı çıkıyor. Yani adam gidiyor, dünyayı geziyor kah balonla kah denizaltıyla; geliyor Verne'e anlatıyor, sonra bam bam 'Büyük Yazar Verne'nin Yeni Kitabı XXX'.
Bu kişinin öykünün geçtiği yere gelişi de balonla çıktıkları seyahatte Verne'yi balondan aşağı atmasından sonraya tekabül ediyor zaten.
Sanırım öykünün mizahi yönü de burası; Twain'in Verne'nin yazdığı maceralarla dalga geçmesi :/
"Çocuk musunuz abi ya!" tiradınızı yoruma bırakınız ^_^
Sevgiler <3 -
Interesting short story.In 2000 the Buffalo and Erie County Public library acquired the rights tot publish the book and did so in 2001. Mark twain has a notable history in Buffalo NY ,it seems appropriate that this book would be published by the Library.The Central library has an extensive collection of twain's work and history on exhibit.The Foreward and Afterward by Ray Blount was quite interesting on its own! Interesting little read on its own,but no comparison to Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn.
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Molto carino, ma, ahimè, troppo breve.
Ma a Mark Twain si perdona questo e altro :) -
Another disappointing take down of Jules Verne (cf. Tom Sawyer Abroad).
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Adoro queste edizioni da pausa pranzo. In poche pagine sono stata trasportata nel vecchio Missouri, nella casa di un padre arrivista e della sua figlia candida e pura come un giglio, e del suo spasimante. tutto va bene finchè non arriva in paese una persona presumibilmente più importante dei villici locali.
La trama gialla è banalissima, si capisce fin da subito che il colpevole non è colpevole. Il colpo di scena arriva invece dalla biografia del colpevole, decisamente originale! -
I read this story back when it appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (complete with illustrations from Peter de Seve.) When I saw the story in book form, I bought it, although I did not re-read it right away. I have to say that the Foreword and the Afterword by Roy Blount, Jr., add much to the story by giving it a context and a history.
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I forgot how much I love Twain's sense of humor and will have to read more of him soon. This story of his was never published and is a novelette so it's not really "fleshed out". It is an entertaining story but the ending comes out of nowhere and is both hilarious and baffling. The foreword and afterword put it all in context.
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J'ai adoré cette nouvelle (n'en déplaise à l'auteur francophobe).
Quelque chose dans la narratuon me rappelle les contes de fées, et j'ai adoré me plonger dans ce cours récit et en découvrir rapidement les dénouements.
Je vais le mettre dans les mains de ma fille, et chercher à mettre dans les miennes ses autres ouvrages. -
Un po’ per volta il signor George Wayne - perché così sosteneva di chiamarsi - aveva rivelato il proprio segreto, in via strettamente confidenziale, ai vecchi del paese, e loro, in via strettamente confidenziale, avevano riportato i fatti agli amici più stretti, che li avevano subito estesi, in via strettamente confidenziale, a tutta la comunità.
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funny but forgettable
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An interesting book, certainly not one up to the standards of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, but interesting nonetheless. A very short little book...only an hour or so to read. More interesting than the story itself was Twain's idea of giving a group of authors all the same skeleton and each writing his own version of the story. It's too bad that his idea never came to fruition. I've heard of this kind of idea being used in an English class, but one can only imagine how much more intriguing it would have been to read such a story written by some of America's greatest authors.
If you decide to read this book, don't skip the introduction and the afterward. Both have more information about the story itself and about this icon of American literature that I found worth the time it took to read. -
A short, witty story by Twain where the hero/ine of the story isn't any singular character but true love itself.
I found myself rolling my eyes at the bride-to-be, a hopelessly docile damsel in distress, who does absolutely nothing when her lover is accused of murder and sentenced to death. This made me realize how much I am a product of my time, as much as Twain was a product of his. I am looking at this through post Wonder Woman/Captain Marvel/Fourth Wave Feminism lenses while Twain wrote this at the height of Victorian era. In the end it's the Victorian mores of patience and longsuffering that win out.
The best parts of this story are the plotline itself and Twain's unexpected shots at Jules Verne. -
I have a complicated relationship when people publish an author's works after they've passed (or are so sick they don't have a say about the publication). Unless they expectedly die in the middle of writing, theirs usually a reason these old discarded manuscripts weren't published by the author.
This is mediocre at best, and the not so veiled references to Jules Verne were tasteless at best. The forward/afterword and context for the story are interesting, but never should the only positive thing you have to say about a work be "Oh the forward was very interesting."
This is not Twain's best, but it wasn't even supposed to be out there, so you can't judge the man for that. And unlike some, he won't be judged for something he didn't choose to have published. -
Simpático, más por la picaresca en la narrativa y los típicos personajes (amén de las deliciosas ilustraciones que por sí valen la edición) que por la trama corta y bastante obvia, quizá por la verdadera intención de Twain al idearla y que se explica en la segunda mitad del librito: su sueño (¿de editor?) no logrado de armar una estructura argumental y proponerla como ejercicio a varios autores de su época.
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This was much shorter than it looked because of the background they gave for the story. It wasn't published during Mark Twain's life but only afterward. I will have to say it is NOT my favorite Mark Twain but they chose a great artist to illustrate and I enjoyed the pictures. It feels like an unfinished story which may be why he never published it.The background information given was very interesting and contained a lot I didn't know.
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Twain's very funny novelette written in 1876 about the same time as he was working on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Roy Blount's foreword and afterword are also very insightful. A little treasure of a book.
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This definitely isn't Mark Twain's best, but it's a fun story, and the background behind the story was really interesting. I love how he threw in the bit about Jules Verne at the end. I really liked the illustrations in this edition.
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This is a previously unpublished Twain story, and I found it to be an entertaining read. The real value of this edition, however, is in the background and analysis offered by Roy Blount Jr.
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Un misterio, una muerte y un matrimonio es un cuento breve con algún toque de fantasía que nos introduce en la narración desde la primera línea. El nombre del pueblo, del protagonista y su situación son la presentación ideal para que nos acerquemos a la psicología del personaje, John Gray, un campesino que ansía mejorar su posición a través del matrimonio de su hija Mary.
Un pero incontestable
Sin embargo, como es propio de este autor, nuestro protagonista no querrá solo un matrimonio favorable para su hija. El humor de Twain aparecerá en este primer momento, ya que, además, gracias a este matrimonio podrá tener una pequeña venganza contra su hermano. Enemistados ambos, a pesar de que David sí que desea lo mejor para Mary, este odia a Hugh Gregory, el prometido de su sobrina, por lo que este matrimonio a parte de ventajoso es un «darle en los morros» al hermano rico que no ayuda al hermano pobre.
No sé cuánto de esta relación se ha dado en la literatura, pero por lo que he leído de Twain, sí que trata con cierto resquemor a esos personajes que no son capaces de repartir la riqueza. En este caso, el segundo en discordia no tiene nada de voz en la obra, quedando como un viejo huraño al que Mary le cae bien por una iluminación del cielo.
De todos modos, como os imaginaréis, la historia no se queda así. La boda está proyectada, pero aparece un joven en mitad de la nieve, un joven que dice que es un conde francés y al que se le presupone una gran fortuna. La verdad es que la aparición de este personaje se vuelve altamente sospechosa, vamos a decir que el autor nos desvía del camino con él y el lector, aunque no quiera, va detrás de esta quimera narrativa.
Y así comienza
Y así comienzan los enredos, lo que dicen unos y otros se pone casi por sagrado, lo que se creen los demás también y mientras tanto se va sucediendo en secuencia lo que dice el título: un misterio, una muerte y un matrimonio. En este momento de confusiones, lo que nos ofrece la narrativa del autor son sucesiones de escenas cómicas, de intriga, alguna de cierta sorpresa, pero sobre todo mucha retranca. Lo que va ocurriendo se aproxima más a una revuelta vecinal que a un problema donde hay algo tan grave como una muerte.
De este modo, el lector comienza a elucubrar no solo en lo que sería posible realmente, sino en lo que le gustaría que pasara a los personajes. Inevitablemente nos posicionamos a favor de unos o de otros, nos dejamos conmover o nos dejamos engañar, a pesar de que en nuestro fuero interno podamos saber la verdad. La lectura entretiene, por tanto, no solo por la trama en sí, sino por lo partícipes que nos hace de ella.
Ya que estamos con criticones…
Como podemos deducir de lo que he dicho hasta el momento, John Gray es un personaje un poquitín detestable o, al menos, alguien con cierta mala leche. No diremos dónde ni el por qué, pero Twain aparte de aparecerse así con el personaje de Gray nos deja un poquito de su propia mala leche en la novela.
Esta aparición la veremos en una crítica mordaz y feroz a la literatura de Julio Verne. Recordemos, o mejor pongamos en contexto, que Julio Verne es visto en algunos círculos como padre, desde luego, de la fantasía moderna, pero también desde algún punto de vista de la ciencia ficción. Sin querer decir yo sí a esto, porque llevaría a un debate literario largo y para el cual ahora no estoy preparada, sí que en su época se hizo notar por lo prolífico de su producción y lo fantasioso de sus obras.
Se ve que esta manera de producir y, sobre todo, el contenido de sus novelas no era muy del agrado del novelista y, por ello, encontramos casi un capítulo entero a dedicar tan bellas palabras al autor como:
«escribió sus grandes obras a partir de las cutres anécdotas y experiencias de su ayudante»
Y lo curioso de todo esto es que, aunque parezca mentira, esta crítica tan directa está relativamente bien incrustada en la historia, ya que, aunque peca de algo de fantasía y mentira, es justo un ejemplo de lo que Twain dice que hacer Verne. La simulación del relato del autor francés se convierte en el arma para su propia crítica.
Lecturas de tarde
La verdad es que me lo he pasado bien leyendo el cuento, porque, aunque es breve, como hemos visto a lo largo de la reseña, tiene un poquito de todo: cosas ocultas (tanto en la trama como en la realidad del escritor), confusiones, declaraciones fantasiosas y un poquito de mala leche.
Toda esta combinación junto con el estilo de Twain que es sencillo, ameno y cercano, además de que sus personajes son entrañables por ser el prototipo de lo que representan; nos lleva a una lectura fácil, rápida, divertida y que nos puede sacar, un poquito, esa mala leche que llevemos dentro. Espero que os animéis con ella (está gratis en Amazon) y que disfrutéis de los gruñones. -
Un misterio, una muerte y un matrimonio es una obra de Mark Twain, que escribió para la revista The Atlántico Monthly, en 1876, justo antes de publicar Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer, pero no se editó hasta 1945 y de manera muy limitada. Esta obra formaba parte de un proyecto editorial en el que Twain quería implicar a otros autores inéditos y conocidos, para que escribiesen sus propios relatos sobre un trama propuesta por él. Finalmente el proyecto no se llevó a cabo y todo se quedó con este relato.
John Gray es un pobre granjero de Deer Lick, un pueblecito profundo y olvidado de Missouri, al que la fortuna no le sonreía nunca. Su granja y sus tierras, solo le dan para vivir modestamente y sus únicas esperanzas de algún día hacerse rico es heredar de su acaudalado hermano David, un viejo gruñón y desquiciado, con el que no se habla o que su hija Mary se case con un hombre rico. La suerte parece cambiarle, cuando su hija Mary conoce a un caballero rico llamado Hugh Gregory, ambos se enamoran y se prometen en matrimonio. John se encuentra encantado con la noticia, hasta que se entera que su hermano David, ha hecho testamento a favor de su sobrina a Mary a quien quiere mucho. Lo que ocurre es que David odia a muerte a Hugh Gregory, preso del malhumor por su suerte, después de prohibir a su hija volver a ver a Hugh, sale a dar un paseo y se encuentra con una persona bien vestido, tendido e inherte en medio de un páramo, John lo socorre al desconocido, que no estaba muerto, además se fija que el hombre no tiene huella de la nieve, y se pregunta cómo ha llegado en ese lugar. Desde ese momento pasaran cosas sorprendentes, a John, Mary, Hugh Gregory, David y todo el pueblo.
Esta obra ambientada en un recóndito pueblecito de Missouri, ciudad natal del autor, se trata de una historia con ingenio, entretenida, intrigante, sorprendente y divertida, cuya lectura es imprescindible para todo aquel que busca un respiro. Desde sus peculiares personajes, su interesante trama, su sorprendente y genial confesión final, mantiene al lector en vilo y con una sonrisa en los labios.
Lo recomiendo a todos, es una pequeña joya. -
Review title: An odd new Twain story with a history
This very short story neither augments nor diminishes Mark Twain's luminous literary legacy, but does add to our knowledge of his biography. Yes, Twain has been dead for more than a century, but this story was first published in this 2001 edition because of its "filed-away" (lost in the sense of the Ark of the Covenant in the National Archives) discovery in an out-of-the-way cabinet. And the history behind its creation and failure to see the light of day in Twain's lifetime is the most interesting part of this slim volume, in the forward and afterward by Roy Blount Jr.
The story itself takes is a short story involving the three major events of the title. One reason it is so short is that Twain's vision was that it would be a plot framework that the major American writers of his day would separately write their own story using the same plot framework and publish as a compendium for readers to compare and enjoy the different resolutions and writing styles. There were two problems, as Blount documents:
--Twain was not known for his strong plots, and this plot is a bit of a clunker.
--Those other writers (such as Brett Harte, James Russell Lowell, and Henry James) had no interest in Twain's experiment.
Blount, himself a well known contemporary writer on sports, culture, and humor, uses the story and its backstory to illuminate Twain's personality, literary style, and political beliefs as he was writing his great American novel Huck Finn. This afterward is the best and most useful part of this slim but nicely-printed book; the paper and binding are high quality, and the illustrations by Peter de Seve capture the period style. -
This short story is something of a historical curiosity. Twain wrote it in 1876, intending to use a skeletal outline of the plot as the launching point for a competition. Twain urged his friend, William Dean Howells, editor of the Atlantic, to invite other prominent writers of the day each to add flesh to the skeleton to turn it into a story. The project never got off the ground, and Twain’s version was believed to have been lost for many years. Now it is published with a foreword and afterword by Roy Blount, Jr.
The plot of the story is that John Gray, a farmer in a small Missouri town, is plotting to marry off his daughter to the son of the town’s wealthiest family. When a mysterious stranger is found in the snow on the farm and claims to be of French royalty, the farmer changes his plans, resulting in a murder. It ends with a just-in-time revelation of the murderer and a science fiction-like explanation of how the mysterious stranger appeared via the good offices of Jules Verne. -
I haven’t read a lot of Twain other than “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The story itself was kind of meh although the ending to Twain’s story was my favorite part and the most imaginative. The better part of the book is the foreword and afterword. If you aren’t going to read either might as well not read the book at all because that is where the real substance lies.
Were this just Twain’s story I’d give it 2/5.
The foreword/afterword provides the historical context and timing of Twain’s “skeleton novelette”, his political views, and how the story demonstrated a shift in his writing. I found it very interesting. I’d recommend reading “Huckleberry Finn” prior to reading this as many of the references in the analysis pertain to Twain’s “Huck Finn”. -
I LOVE Mark Twain's main novels. The interesting thing for me about this one was how bland it was to read. The unearthing of a previously unknown Twain story made a fascinating story. The story itself was a bit...odd. Twain appears to have been obsessed with an idea to get many authors of the time to take his suggested skeleton outline and write to it, thus giving the Atlantic Monthly several different but same stories!
His is amusing in parts, bafflingly complicated in others. It's a short story to read so easy to make up your own mind.
Peter de Sève's artwork is BRILLIANT! Charactures of such ferocity, yet homeliness! -
De entrada, me sorprende que este cuento no esté mejor valorado.
Y dicho esto, tengo que dejar claro que al principio este relato corto parece una obra costumbrista de época, con intriga, mentiras y un final trágico. Pero nada más alejado de la realidad, porque el último capítulo lo cambia todo. Es metaliterario y muy esclarecedor de ese misterio que ocupa su título en primer lugar. Lo descoloca todo y le da esa chispa de genialidad que era inimaginable al principio de la lectura y que implica a uno de los genios del siglo XIX. Y no digo más para no estropear la sorpresa.
¿Lo recomiendo? Absolutamente sí. -
I really enjoyed this 120-page book. The Twain story itself is fin-- cute and interesting albeit a little predictable. The foreword and afterword, I devoured. They explain how the story came to be and outline the timeline of Twain’s works in progress and the American political scene, and how this affected Twain’s writing. The writing is informative, but not dense or heavy in style.
The illustrations and replications of Twain’s story notes as pictures in the book also add to the appeal. It’s an easy read for an evening and well worth a trip to the library. -
I saw this in my local library a couple years ago & recently stumbled across it again. Since I had not heard of this Mark Twain story before the initial stumbling, I was intrigued. It doesn’t seem that many people know about this book. (I mean outside of Twain scholars. People who actively study Mark Twain know this book exists, right?)
It’s not Twain’s best story but it definitely has his fingerprints all over it. I did enjoy the feel of the book even if the story wasn’t on point. The forward & afterward were interesting. The pictures were great. -
I haven't read Mark Twain since I was in high school. I stumbled upon this (very) short story at the library, and figured... why not? The story itself was pretty straightforward and even predictable (except for Jules Verne somehow being the catalyst who turned the antagonist evil??? What??!)--but Twain's matter-of-fact writing style still made the book entertaining. There was actually more foreward and afterward to read than story. And while I wanted to revisit Twain, I'm not a big enough fan that I wanted to read that much history. I skimmed it, and that was enough.
