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Twain, Mark (1835-1910) The suppressed chapter of "life on the Mississippi"

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05847 Author/Creator: Twain, Mark (1835-1910) Place Written: s.l. Type: Pamphlet Date: circa 1910 Pagination: 1 v. : 4 p. 21.2 x 14 cm Order a Copy

Leaflet consisting of the suppressed chapter of Twain's book Life on the Mississippi, which was published in 1883. First edition. Marked as number 230 of 250 numbered copies of the first printing. Comparing Northern and Southern society, Twain discusses public indifference. Criticizes the tendency for Southerners to maintain similar opinions and to vote the same way. Opens by stating "I missed one thing in the South- African slavery. That horror is gone, and permanently ... half the South is at last emancipated, half the South is free. But the white half is apparently as far from emancipation as ever." Twain also criticizes the fact that Southerners tend to vote alike in elections, and that dissent and discussion about elections and issues are not encouraged.

Preliminary research suggests that Twain's publisher felt the chapter's criticism of the incongruity between Southern codes of honor and gentility, on the one hand, and cruelty toward slaves, on the other, would raise the ire of readers in the South. The publisher therefore suppressed the chapter in order not to limit profits from Southern readers.

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, 1835-1910

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