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A Tramp Abroad
In April 1878, Mark Twain and his family traveled to Europe. Overloaded with creative ideas, Twain had hoped that the sojourn would spark his creativity enough to bring at least one of the books in his head to fruition. Instead, he wrote of his walking tour of Europe, describing his impressions of the Black Forest, the Matterhorn, and other attractions. Neglected for years, A Tramp Abroad sparkles with Twain's shrewd observations and highly opinionated comments on Old World culture and showcases his unparalleled ability to integrate humorous sketches, autobiographical tidbits, and historical anecdotes in a consistently entertaining narrative. Cast in the form of a walking tour through Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, and England, A Tramp Abroad includes among its adventures a voyage by raft down the Neckar and an ascent of Mont Blanc by telescope, as well as the author's attempts to study art--a wholly imagined activity Twain "authenticated" with his own wonderfully primitive pictures. This book reveals Mark Twain as a mature writer and is filled with brilliant prose, insightful wit, and Twain's unerring instinct for the truth.
10 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 1880
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About the author
Mark Twain
8,586 books18.6k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
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August 27, 2011
I bought this book by mistake in one of those charity shops that make any idle and rainy Saturday in Oxford a treasure hunt.
What I thought I had found was actually "Innocents Abroad" by the same Mark Twain, but somehow the word "tramp" was left out of my raptorous glance.
Well, "A Tramp Abroad" revolves around pretty much the same topic of "Innocents Abroad" which is Mr Twain touring Europe proud of being an American but at the same time eager to get all that the Old Continent has to offer to his transatlantic eyes.
A very good reason to grab this book is its humour.
One cannot wonder that Mark Twain was so funny a writer. Or perhaps it's just me having read "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" when I was a kid and getting bored to death with all that exhausting fence painting business and that haughty Becky Thatcher.
And yet "A Tramp Abroad" is funny, witty and it's clear how Twain got amused in writing some of its pages. It's a kind of humour that one may find in a celebrated British author of the same period (1880s) such as Jerome Klapka Jerome, but Twain adds up his American touch: the exaggeration of likelihood.
Where Jerome (an eager traveller too) loved paradoxes and observations about the cultural oddities he found while navigating the Thames or cycling in Germany, Twain liked to put himself at the centre of the scene. But he did so in a very amusing way by pretending to be the bravest person around fooling us and himself in the process.
The travels of "A Tramp Abroad" are not particularly exotic involving Germany, Switzerland and a bit of Italy and Twain is not masterful in telling us how and why he got from, say, Heidelberg to Lucerne. Where he excels is in collecting the local stories, news and legends and reporting them on his account along with amazing fictional dialogues and expeditions deign of a maharaja.
Here you can find many gems like a passionate praise of tasty American food along with a lot of sarcasm referred to European menus thay may disappoint a German or a French gourmet, but it's actually only another example of Twain's comic exaggeration.
Twain is not afraid of despising the sense of perspective and proportions of the Old Masters in painting, in calling St Mark's church in Venice "ugly" and the edelweiss flower "cigar-coloured". There is no arrogance or sense of superiority in doing this, although someone may think and may have thought the opposite.
It seems unbelievable that Henry James lived in the same years and saw a good deal of the same British-American jet-set tourism portraying it in the most solemn and antiquated terms.
And then there are appendixes, introduced by a quote by Herodotus.
Mind you, do not miss these appendixes! And if your edition of "A Tramp Abroad" doesn't include them, raise an official protest with the bookseller who sold it to you!
Appendix D, titled "The Awful German Language", is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Eighteen pages of pure intellectual pleasure dedicated to the struggle Twain had with studying German with all the grammar exceptions, peculiarities and oddities of that language he could recall crowned by eight suggestions to make German better. I have never studied German, but I laughed till tears came to my eyes in reading this stuff. And appendix F "German Journals" is irresistible too. Not to mention appendix C "The College Prison". Etc, etc.
On the whole, this book is huge and heavy and for that reason not quite comfortable to read if you're not surrounded by pillows half-lying on a double bed, but "A Tramp Abroad" is worth a try when you want to cheer up yourselves. Not a book to travel with, but a book to travel for.
What I thought I had found was actually "Innocents Abroad" by the same Mark Twain, but somehow the word "tramp" was left out of my raptorous glance.
Well, "A Tramp Abroad" revolves around pretty much the same topic of "Innocents Abroad" which is Mr Twain touring Europe proud of being an American but at the same time eager to get all that the Old Continent has to offer to his transatlantic eyes.
A very good reason to grab this book is its humour.
One cannot wonder that Mark Twain was so funny a writer. Or perhaps it's just me having read "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" when I was a kid and getting bored to death with all that exhausting fence painting business and that haughty Becky Thatcher.
And yet "A Tramp Abroad" is funny, witty and it's clear how Twain got amused in writing some of its pages. It's a kind of humour that one may find in a celebrated British author of the same period (1880s) such as Jerome Klapka Jerome, but Twain adds up his American touch: the exaggeration of likelihood.
Where Jerome (an eager traveller too) loved paradoxes and observations about the cultural oddities he found while navigating the Thames or cycling in Germany, Twain liked to put himself at the centre of the scene. But he did so in a very amusing way by pretending to be the bravest person around fooling us and himself in the process.
The travels of "A Tramp Abroad" are not particularly exotic involving Germany, Switzerland and a bit of Italy and Twain is not masterful in telling us how and why he got from, say, Heidelberg to Lucerne. Where he excels is in collecting the local stories, news and legends and reporting them on his account along with amazing fictional dialogues and expeditions deign of a maharaja.
Here you can find many gems like a passionate praise of tasty American food along with a lot of sarcasm referred to European menus thay may disappoint a German or a French gourmet, but it's actually only another example of Twain's comic exaggeration.
Twain is not afraid of despising the sense of perspective and proportions of the Old Masters in painting, in calling St Mark's church in Venice "ugly" and the edelweiss flower "cigar-coloured". There is no arrogance or sense of superiority in doing this, although someone may think and may have thought the opposite.
It seems unbelievable that Henry James lived in the same years and saw a good deal of the same British-American jet-set tourism portraying it in the most solemn and antiquated terms.
And then there are appendixes, introduced by a quote by Herodotus.
Mind you, do not miss these appendixes! And if your edition of "A Tramp Abroad" doesn't include them, raise an official protest with the bookseller who sold it to you!
Appendix D, titled "The Awful German Language", is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Eighteen pages of pure intellectual pleasure dedicated to the struggle Twain had with studying German with all the grammar exceptions, peculiarities and oddities of that language he could recall crowned by eight suggestions to make German better. I have never studied German, but I laughed till tears came to my eyes in reading this stuff. And appendix F "German Journals" is irresistible too. Not to mention appendix C "The College Prison". Etc, etc.
On the whole, this book is huge and heavy and for that reason not quite comfortable to read if you're not surrounded by pillows half-lying on a double bed, but "A Tramp Abroad" is worth a try when you want to cheer up yourselves. Not a book to travel with, but a book to travel for.
November 26, 2021
Hilarious first chapter (of Vol. 2), walking in the Swiss alps with his agent and courier. He sands his Agent Harris on ahead to scout out and report back, which he does after a few days, “all felt the heat in the climb up this very steep bolwoggoly, then we set out again…until from the Finsteraarhorn poured down a deluge of haboolong and hail” (11-13). Several pages feature such incomprehensible words. Clemens compliments his report, but asks about the words, turns out from Fiji, Zulu and Choctaw (bolwoggoly et al.) Clemens asks, “Why all this Choctaw rubbish?” Harris answers, “Because I didn’t know any French but two or three words, nor any Latin or greek at all.” Twain, “Why use foreign words anyhow?” Agent, “To adorn my page. They all do it.”(20)
Twain encountered the purported suicidal leaping-palace of Pontius Pilate, and the real St Nicholas, who’s buried in the church in Sachseln. “He has ranked for ages as the peculiar friend of children…He had ten of them, and when fifty years old he left them to become a hermit.” “St Nicholas will probably have to go on climbing down sooty chimneys Christmas Eve, forever, and conferring kindness on other people’s children, to make up for deserting his own”(24). During his hermit life, he partook of communion bread and wine once a month, but for the rest, he fasted. So Santa Claus was skinny. Guess Prof. Clement Moore’s account in 1823, the “right jolly old elf” displaced the thin saint.
Great stories of carriage rides slowly until reaching town, then faster “with the dust flying and the horn tooting”(30). Shocking to think stages drove faster through towns, to show off.
New to me, Twain’s words “Nooning,” which means lunch, and “alpenstock,” though that’s a climbing stick with an iron point. In the giant mountains, Twain finds rare cabins or hostels, near one shack— for builders of a stone house— he buys a beer “but I knew by the price it was dissolved jewelry”(74).
On one of the narrow paths by the side of a torrent when he heard a cowbell he hunted for “a place that would accomodate a cow and a Christian side by side.” That torrent was so fast he had his Agent race it, and “I made a trifle by betting on the log”(58).
When he gets to Florence, he assails Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” as the "foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses,” which appallingly signals how very far from us was this writer who seemed so close in his humor. Even more astonishing his wondering that “Art is allowed as much indecent license today as in earlier times, but the privileges of literature in this respect have been sharply curtailed in the last eighty or ninety years [since Fielding and Smollett]”(267). Modernism— James Joyce and D.H.Lawrence-- would reclaim literary license.
Around 1880 when this was written, Europe had not yet learned to make coffee (Germans using chicory), nor heat their “vast and chilly tombs [homes]”; I experienced a virtually unheated room in Perugia where I had to take a hot bath to warm myself. No breakfasts, and the rest of the food he critiques, excepting fish and grapes. “Sometimes there is a tolerably good peach, by mistake…Roast chicken, as tasteless as paper…One vegetable, brought on in state usually insipid lentils, or indifferent asparagus…A monotonous variety of unstriking dishes”(261ff).
Now began Volume I, Twain takes up birdtalk: "A raven can laugh, just like a man" -- A Tramp Abroad (Vol I, p.23). Only one man understood birds, Jim Baker, a miner. "A jay is the best talker." One jay filled a hole in the roof, dozens of acorns, but it didn't fill. When he called over other jays, they saw all his acorns had fallen to the floor of the abandoned cabin, and they mocked him. A jay's mockery is a terrible thing. "Come here," he said, "hang'd if this fool hasn't been trying to fill up a house with acorns." Thousands of jays came, and each "fell over backward with laughter, and the next jay took his place and done the same"(p.31, Uniform edition, Vol I). Jays seldom use bad grammar. A jay's interests andfeelings cover the whole ground. "A jay hasn't got any more principle than a Congressman"(25).
He visits Heidelberg and its university, the students more relaxed than they were in nine years of gymnasium (grammar and HS). But dueling plays a big part, the five "corps" distinguished by the color of their caps. They duel with swords, with body protections, but their head vulnerable. They duel in a large open room with tables where they eat. "I had seen the heads and and faces of ten youths gashed in every direction by the keen two-edged blades, yet had not seen a victim wine"(50). "Newly bandaged students are a common spectacle in the public gardens of Heidelberg"(55). "It was of record that Prince Bismarck fought thirty-two of these duels in a single summer term"-- twenty nine of them after he earned the right to retire from fighting (after 3 duels, none tied, of acceptable length).
Twain becomes second in a duel with tiny silver pistols; he stands behind a huge man 35 paces from the other pistol-wielder. Two shots ring out--German law allows only one bullet--and the huge man collapses on Twain. No need for the two coroners, nor the hearses, but yes, the surgeons: no injuries to the principles, though Twain is injured by the weight falling on him: Surgeons diagnose, "I would survive my injuries"(75).
Visiting a production of Lear, he notes German order, no late patrons seating themselves, no applause to interrupt, though he thinks this makes acting lonelier. American applause can urge actors onward. He finds German love of opera unfathomable, because they applaud formerly great tenors who can no longer sing. "Why do we think Germans stolid? They are very children of impulse. They cry and shout and dance and sing." Their language is filled with diminutive endearments.
On that language, Twain appends his "Awful German Language" essay, where three months with tutors, a couple of whom die, results in his one perfect phrase, "Zwei bieren," two beers. He's amused that in German a woman is female, but a Weib, a wife is not. Neuter. He complains about compounding of words forming words not in the dictionary, some very long. An English woman is "die Enlangerinn" or "she-Englishwoman."
Twain encountered the purported suicidal leaping-palace of Pontius Pilate, and the real St Nicholas, who’s buried in the church in Sachseln. “He has ranked for ages as the peculiar friend of children…He had ten of them, and when fifty years old he left them to become a hermit.” “St Nicholas will probably have to go on climbing down sooty chimneys Christmas Eve, forever, and conferring kindness on other people’s children, to make up for deserting his own”(24). During his hermit life, he partook of communion bread and wine once a month, but for the rest, he fasted. So Santa Claus was skinny. Guess Prof. Clement Moore’s account in 1823, the “right jolly old elf” displaced the thin saint.
Great stories of carriage rides slowly until reaching town, then faster “with the dust flying and the horn tooting”(30). Shocking to think stages drove faster through towns, to show off.
New to me, Twain’s words “Nooning,” which means lunch, and “alpenstock,” though that’s a climbing stick with an iron point. In the giant mountains, Twain finds rare cabins or hostels, near one shack— for builders of a stone house— he buys a beer “but I knew by the price it was dissolved jewelry”(74).
On one of the narrow paths by the side of a torrent when he heard a cowbell he hunted for “a place that would accomodate a cow and a Christian side by side.” That torrent was so fast he had his Agent race it, and “I made a trifle by betting on the log”(58).
When he gets to Florence, he assails Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” as the "foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses,” which appallingly signals how very far from us was this writer who seemed so close in his humor. Even more astonishing his wondering that “Art is allowed as much indecent license today as in earlier times, but the privileges of literature in this respect have been sharply curtailed in the last eighty or ninety years [since Fielding and Smollett]”(267). Modernism— James Joyce and D.H.Lawrence-- would reclaim literary license.
Around 1880 when this was written, Europe had not yet learned to make coffee (Germans using chicory), nor heat their “vast and chilly tombs [homes]”; I experienced a virtually unheated room in Perugia where I had to take a hot bath to warm myself. No breakfasts, and the rest of the food he critiques, excepting fish and grapes. “Sometimes there is a tolerably good peach, by mistake…Roast chicken, as tasteless as paper…One vegetable, brought on in state usually insipid lentils, or indifferent asparagus…A monotonous variety of unstriking dishes”(261ff).
Now began Volume I, Twain takes up birdtalk: "A raven can laugh, just like a man" -- A Tramp Abroad (Vol I, p.23). Only one man understood birds, Jim Baker, a miner. "A jay is the best talker." One jay filled a hole in the roof, dozens of acorns, but it didn't fill. When he called over other jays, they saw all his acorns had fallen to the floor of the abandoned cabin, and they mocked him. A jay's mockery is a terrible thing. "Come here," he said, "hang'd if this fool hasn't been trying to fill up a house with acorns." Thousands of jays came, and each "fell over backward with laughter, and the next jay took his place and done the same"(p.31, Uniform edition, Vol I). Jays seldom use bad grammar. A jay's interests andfeelings cover the whole ground. "A jay hasn't got any more principle than a Congressman"(25).
He visits Heidelberg and its university, the students more relaxed than they were in nine years of gymnasium (grammar and HS). But dueling plays a big part, the five "corps" distinguished by the color of their caps. They duel with swords, with body protections, but their head vulnerable. They duel in a large open room with tables where they eat. "I had seen the heads and and faces of ten youths gashed in every direction by the keen two-edged blades, yet had not seen a victim wine"(50). "Newly bandaged students are a common spectacle in the public gardens of Heidelberg"(55). "It was of record that Prince Bismarck fought thirty-two of these duels in a single summer term"-- twenty nine of them after he earned the right to retire from fighting (after 3 duels, none tied, of acceptable length).
Twain becomes second in a duel with tiny silver pistols; he stands behind a huge man 35 paces from the other pistol-wielder. Two shots ring out--German law allows only one bullet--and the huge man collapses on Twain. No need for the two coroners, nor the hearses, but yes, the surgeons: no injuries to the principles, though Twain is injured by the weight falling on him: Surgeons diagnose, "I would survive my injuries"(75).
Visiting a production of Lear, he notes German order, no late patrons seating themselves, no applause to interrupt, though he thinks this makes acting lonelier. American applause can urge actors onward. He finds German love of opera unfathomable, because they applaud formerly great tenors who can no longer sing. "Why do we think Germans stolid? They are very children of impulse. They cry and shout and dance and sing." Their language is filled with diminutive endearments.
On that language, Twain appends his "Awful German Language" essay, where three months with tutors, a couple of whom die, results in his one perfect phrase, "Zwei bieren," two beers. He's amused that in German a woman is female, but a Weib, a wife is not. Neuter. He complains about compounding of words forming words not in the dictionary, some very long. An English woman is "die Enlangerinn" or "she-Englishwoman."
started-and-not-finished
June 4, 2022This isn't an actual review, just a note as to why I didn't finish the book. Though Twain is one of my favorite authors on the strength of his fiction, I've never been as enamored with his nonfiction. I've also never been a fan of reading other people's travel narratives. (I'll turn 70 in August and have been reading independently at least since I was six; I've read exactly two of them in my life, and wasn't bowled over by either one.) The only reason I tried this one is that it was picked as a common read in a group that I help moderate, and I feel an obligation to join in with those (since the group only does one a year). But although I gave it an honest, good-faith effort, reading 71 pages of it, I just got to the point where it was a time-consuming chore, and the contrast between soldiering on with it vs. reading something I would actually enjoy became too sharp to ignore.
A problem with Twain's nonfiction for me (and that's based mainly on The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, which I actually did read in its entirety as a teen) is that, whereas in his fiction he can employ a serious tone where it's appropriate, without the discipline of a fictional plot and the demands of verisimilitude, his temptation to play court jester tends to take over, and over-the-top humor gets dragged into serious discussions, making it hard to take him seriously. And while I enjoy humor as much as most people, much of Twain's humor takes the form of satirical ridicule --whether the targets really deserve ridicule or not. Here, the main objects of his ridicule (at least in the first 71 pages) are the French and the German people, in ways that come across to me as invidious and as cheap shots in a medium where the victims can't reply. This is not a book which attempts to be a serious account of his actual travel experiences, as I'd initially expected; and the one case in the first 10 chapters where he does provide this is a description of the grisly dueling practices of German students, which he recounts with a morbid fascination that I definitely didn't share. So, in my third session with this tome, I decided to bail, and the effect was like a weight lifted off of me!
A problem with Twain's nonfiction for me (and that's based mainly on The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, which I actually did read in its entirety as a teen) is that, whereas in his fiction he can employ a serious tone where it's appropriate, without the discipline of a fictional plot and the demands of verisimilitude, his temptation to play court jester tends to take over, and over-the-top humor gets dragged into serious discussions, making it hard to take him seriously. And while I enjoy humor as much as most people, much of Twain's humor takes the form of satirical ridicule --whether the targets really deserve ridicule or not. Here, the main objects of his ridicule (at least in the first 71 pages) are the French and the German people, in ways that come across to me as invidious and as cheap shots in a medium where the victims can't reply. This is not a book which attempts to be a serious account of his actual travel experiences, as I'd initially expected; and the one case in the first 10 chapters where he does provide this is a description of the grisly dueling practices of German students, which he recounts with a morbid fascination that I definitely didn't share. So, in my third session with this tome, I decided to bail, and the effect was like a weight lifted off of me!
February 26, 2025
___________________
This book has its ups and downs, and they are not all in the Alps.
In 1869, Mark Twain published The Innocents Abroad, a humorous travelogue about his real-life adventures on one of the earliest organized tours of the lands around the Mediterranean. It was a significant success for Mark Twain and became his first major hit and one of the best-selling travel books of all time. Twelve years later, Twain decided to climb that mountain again—this time concentrating on a “walking tour” through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland––A Tramp Abroad, Walking Tour, Innocent vs Tramp. Oh, now I get it. HA!
Here are some samples.
One of the first stories reported in A Tramp Abroad is about dueling clubs at Heidelberg University. If you have ever watched old movies or TV stories with a German villain, you probably noticed that many of these Germanic cads had a scar on their face. There were dueling clubs at the university that fought each other with swords. Real swords. The tips were blunted--so no sticking just nicking--but the edges were razor sharp. Getting a facial scar in a duel was a badge of honor. [I suspect this fad began as a Tik Tok challenge, but I might be wrong.]
My favorite sketch in the book is called The Awful German Language; however, it may not appeal to everyone. When I first went to college, I was determined to become a chemist, and one requirement for a degree in chemistry was taking 2 years of German. I was convinced though that this German requirement was the school’s way of discouraging hippies from studying chemistry.
Here are some of Twain’s remarks about the difficulties of learning gender/article/pronoun relationships in Teutonic philology.
“. . .In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip is feminine. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. To continue with the German genders: a tree is male, its buds are female, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless, dogs are male, cats (even tomcats) are female— A person’s mouth, neck, bosom, elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head is male or neuter according to the word selected to signify it, and NOT according to the sex of the individual who wears it — for in Germany all the women wear either male heads or sexless ones; a person’s nose, lips, shoulders, breast, hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair, ears, eyes, chin, and legs are male … .”
“This explains why, whenever a person says SIE to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.”
Some of the chapters contain more filler than a fast-food hamburger. For instance, when Twain ran out of things to write about, he decided to recite a couple of Germanic folk tales to the readers. He found them in a book he found in a local bookstore. Are they funny? No! Are they interesting? No! They do, however, take up some of the time that you would otherwise waste swearing and shaking your fist at the nightly news on the TV.
Here’s something I learned from Tramp Abroad. You know those coin fed telescopes that sprout up everywhere there is an interesting view today. Well, these tourist telescopes have been around since Twain’s time. They weren’t coin operated then. An entrepreneur would set up a powerful telescope and then charge the tourist for a peek at the peak. In Tramp Abroad, one such view vendor had set up his telescope at the base of a mountain where tourists could watch the mountain climbers making their way up toward the summit. Twain thought that peering through a telescope might be an attractive way to climb a mountain, but:
“… if the tourist elects to attempt [this telescopic Alpinism], let him be warily careful of two things: chose a calm, clear day; and do not pay the telescope man in advance. There are dark stories of his getting advance payers on the summit and then leaving them there to rot.”
Another one of my favorite sketches is on French duels. According to Twain:
“French duel is ridiculed by certain smart people; it is in reality one of the most dangerous institutions of our day. Since it is always fought in the open air, the combatants are nearly sure to catch cold.”
🌟🌟🌟 Stars
This book has its ups and downs, and they are not all in the Alps.
In 1869, Mark Twain published The Innocents Abroad, a humorous travelogue about his real-life adventures on one of the earliest organized tours of the lands around the Mediterranean. It was a significant success for Mark Twain and became his first major hit and one of the best-selling travel books of all time. Twelve years later, Twain decided to climb that mountain again—this time concentrating on a “walking tour” through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland––A Tramp Abroad, Walking Tour, Innocent vs Tramp. Oh, now I get it. HA!
Here are some samples.
One of the first stories reported in A Tramp Abroad is about dueling clubs at Heidelberg University. If you have ever watched old movies or TV stories with a German villain, you probably noticed that many of these Germanic cads had a scar on their face. There were dueling clubs at the university that fought each other with swords. Real swords. The tips were blunted--so no sticking just nicking--but the edges were razor sharp. Getting a facial scar in a duel was a badge of honor. [I suspect this fad began as a Tik Tok challenge, but I might be wrong.]
My favorite sketch in the book is called The Awful German Language; however, it may not appeal to everyone. When I first went to college, I was determined to become a chemist, and one requirement for a degree in chemistry was taking 2 years of German. I was convinced though that this German requirement was the school’s way of discouraging hippies from studying chemistry.
Here are some of Twain’s remarks about the difficulties of learning gender/article/pronoun relationships in Teutonic philology.
“. . .In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip is feminine. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. To continue with the German genders: a tree is male, its buds are female, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless, dogs are male, cats (even tomcats) are female— A person’s mouth, neck, bosom, elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head is male or neuter according to the word selected to signify it, and NOT according to the sex of the individual who wears it — for in Germany all the women wear either male heads or sexless ones; a person’s nose, lips, shoulders, breast, hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair, ears, eyes, chin, and legs are male … .”
“This explains why, whenever a person says SIE to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.”
Some of the chapters contain more filler than a fast-food hamburger. For instance, when Twain ran out of things to write about, he decided to recite a couple of Germanic folk tales to the readers. He found them in a book he found in a local bookstore. Are they funny? No! Are they interesting? No! They do, however, take up some of the time that you would otherwise waste swearing and shaking your fist at the nightly news on the TV.
Here’s something I learned from Tramp Abroad. You know those coin fed telescopes that sprout up everywhere there is an interesting view today. Well, these tourist telescopes have been around since Twain’s time. They weren’t coin operated then. An entrepreneur would set up a powerful telescope and then charge the tourist for a peek at the peak. In Tramp Abroad, one such view vendor had set up his telescope at the base of a mountain where tourists could watch the mountain climbers making their way up toward the summit. Twain thought that peering through a telescope might be an attractive way to climb a mountain, but:
“… if the tourist elects to attempt [this telescopic Alpinism], let him be warily careful of two things: chose a calm, clear day; and do not pay the telescope man in advance. There are dark stories of his getting advance payers on the summit and then leaving them there to rot.”
Another one of my favorite sketches is on French duels. According to Twain:
“French duel is ridiculed by certain smart people; it is in reality one of the most dangerous institutions of our day. Since it is always fought in the open air, the combatants are nearly sure to catch cold.”
🌟🌟🌟 Stars
April 12, 2019
Even after all those years still very amusing.
January 31, 2011
Funny, but not hilarious. Mostly tongue-in-cheek hyperboles, Mark Twain recounts here his 15-month walking trip through Central Europe and the Alps in 1878-1879. I have only one kind of test for humorous, or supposedly humorous, books: the sound test. Five stars if it made me laugh out loud; four stars if it made me chuckle; three stars if it made me smile; two stars if it just made light up inside; a star if I found it funny without any change in me, or if it wasn't funny at all.
In his Introduction Dave Eggers wrote that he "was crying because (he) was laughing" while reading this book. I find this hard to believe. But then again, maybe Mr. Eggers has a lower threshhold for humor. Or hasn't read Jorge Amado. I myself don't remember laughing, or crying, while reading his "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" which I read mainly because of its title which hinted of fun. It turned out to be a mild disappointment.
You see, of course, how many stars I gave this book
In his Introduction Dave Eggers wrote that he "was crying because (he) was laughing" while reading this book. I find this hard to believe. But then again, maybe Mr. Eggers has a lower threshhold for humor. Or hasn't read Jorge Amado. I myself don't remember laughing, or crying, while reading his "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" which I read mainly because of its title which hinted of fun. It turned out to be a mild disappointment.
You see, of course, how many stars I gave this book
December 19, 2019
There are some magic chapters in this rambling tale of Twain's rambles in Europe. His restaurant meeting with a young lady who knows they have never met but strings him along as he digs a hole deeper and deeper for himself. His descriptions of the violent German duels was surpassed by his slapstick version of a French duel. His ordering around of his travelling companion. His fondness for retelling unrelated stories or embellishing an event with impossibly unsuitable adjectives, adverbs or nouns. Still a humorous book after 130 years.
July 30, 2011
First, I'm glad I've already read The Innocents Abroad, or else at some point I'd have little to no idea what Twain is talking about when he refers to incidents on that trip, which happens occasionally. This seems a slightly more 'serious' book than that, too, which shows me some of the changes (not to mention growth) in Twain himself, which adds interest.
Beyond that, there's no easy way to categorize this book: humorous travelogue, social critique of both Europe and the U.S. (in which neither has everything its own way), journey of self-discovery, collection of folk tales, art critique. Twain ventures into all of these areas, and not in exactly an orderly fashion, either. Like a good journey, sometimes one doesn't really know what's coming around the next corner until it arrives.
One rather specialized section near the end will mostly appeal to those like myself who have, starting with English, attempted to master German. In it, Twain offers to reform the latter. I don't know how funny a native speaker would find some of his suggestions, but to me it was in many ways the funniest part of the book.
If you like Twain, this is a must-read. It's a good book to tackle when you have somewhat limited time, since it's divided into longish, but not unconquerable sections, between which you can let the book lie and, once you've come back to it, not have much of a task, if any, to return to the narrative. Those unfamiliar with Twain's longer stuff really may want to start with The Innocents Abroad and then try this, since, although this book can stand on its own, one gets more from it having read the former. That's just a suggestion, though.
Beyond that, there's no easy way to categorize this book: humorous travelogue, social critique of both Europe and the U.S. (in which neither has everything its own way), journey of self-discovery, collection of folk tales, art critique. Twain ventures into all of these areas, and not in exactly an orderly fashion, either. Like a good journey, sometimes one doesn't really know what's coming around the next corner until it arrives.
One rather specialized section near the end will mostly appeal to those like myself who have, starting with English, attempted to master German. In it, Twain offers to reform the latter. I don't know how funny a native speaker would find some of his suggestions, but to me it was in many ways the funniest part of the book.
If you like Twain, this is a must-read. It's a good book to tackle when you have somewhat limited time, since it's divided into longish, but not unconquerable sections, between which you can let the book lie and, once you've come back to it, not have much of a task, if any, to return to the narrative. Those unfamiliar with Twain's longer stuff really may want to start with The Innocents Abroad and then try this, since, although this book can stand on its own, one gets more from it having read the former. That's just a suggestion, though.
March 30, 2007
This is by far my favorite of Twain's works. When you go to Europe you need this book. "Paris and Venice are the two greatest lies ever told." Brilliant. Cause they are. When you read this you must realize that Twain is a sarcastic American debunking all the European myth and glory. Most of what you know about Europe has been sold as a marketing campaign. Twain realizes that reality lays not in a travel brochure but in the real travel and observation of that place. Excellent.
February 25, 2015
Fascinating, fraught and hilarious. I'm pretty much besotted by that part of the world anyway and I enjoyed travelling back in time. This is the book which contains the famous essay "The Awful German Language" - read it for that alone - and it relates an episode which will put you off forever from attempting to scale the Matterhorn.
May 7, 2022
Me lo he pasado muy bien, me he reído y he estado muy entretenida con él. La verdad es que el libro entra por los ojos porque tiene un montón de ilustraciones. Lo recomiendo a todos.
May 9, 2016
I found a 'part 1' on iBooks and read it in about an hour of a 3 hour plane trip. It was fun, made me laugh in parts. Clements was clearly fascinated by the student dueling culture in Heidelberg at the time, observing the rituals with keen interest and some excitement, I suspect. I'm not sure that I'll pursue later parts, but this was perfect in-air reading.
August 9, 2014
Very interesting reading this on the heels of "The Dharma Bums' by Jack Kerouac. There is a key phrase from "A Tramp Abroad", "comparisons are odious" which has always struck me. It appears notably in both of these books. "A Tramp Abroad" is really interesting as a travelogue, a glimpse into 19th century Europe from a sharp and acute observer. Twain's descriptions of villages, hotel's, hotel customs, restaurant fare, mountains and mountain climbing, art and artists, architecture are joys to read. He delves into legends and local lore wherever he and his companion Harris go. He gets a bit tedious when he stretches a joke beyond need, but that's Twain. Overall , very enjoyable. Another comparison between Kerouac's book and this one. Twain being a wit, with a healthy edge and bite to his prose left me bit down. Kerouac's book was filled with joy and good feelings and left me feeling uplifted. one final note, I listened to both of these books as read by Grover Gardner, and that provided an interesting audible comparison as to the "voice" of the "narrator".
June 15, 2016
I love Mark Twain, but this is probably my least favorite book of his. There are parts with beautiful descriptions and parts that made me chuckle, but the stories and legends were annoying and felt out of place. My dad and I just wanted it to be over. He kept saying, "I miss Madeleine," referring to L'Engle, whose books we read together just before starting A Tramp Abroad.
I only recommend this if you're a staunch Twain fan. I'm sure there are other humorous "travel" books out there much more worth reading.
I only recommend this if you're a staunch Twain fan. I'm sure there are other humorous "travel" books out there much more worth reading.
August 24, 2013
This is an enjoyable read but scattered in its organization. Mark Twain is proud of his own wit and sprinkles it all over his descriptions of European culture and landscapes. This book was particularly meaningful for me because I am living in Germany and have had similar experiences as he did well over one-hundred years ago. For example, his descriptions of Heidelberg and its castle ruin are just like my experiences there: the rolling, forested hills above the Necker river; the castle on the hill illuminated during a fire work show (they're still doing that!); the lovely college town, etc. He also spent time in Zermatt, Switzerland, admiring the Matterhorn, something I was also blessed to do, though I was not brave like him and didn't climb any mountains. His descriptions of German manners, friendliness, willingness to help strangers, their profound love of dogs and their complicated language also all ring true to my experiences living among Germans.
Some of the stories are so absurd that they are hilarious, like his attempt to ride a glacier down the mountain so he doesn't have to make the return trip. I cannot imagine he is serious. Twain's deadpan humor makes this semi-travel guide well worth the read. At times he is selfish, like when he is sad the little girl didn't die because it would have been good for literature (again he must be being facetious, I just happen to be gullible).I recommend this book for anyone who is traveling, or has traveled in Western Europe, or who just appreciates Twain for all his humor, intelligence and faults.
Some of the stories are so absurd that they are hilarious, like his attempt to ride a glacier down the mountain so he doesn't have to make the return trip. I cannot imagine he is serious. Twain's deadpan humor makes this semi-travel guide well worth the read. At times he is selfish, like when he is sad the little girl didn't die because it would have been good for literature (again he must be being facetious, I just happen to be gullible).I recommend this book for anyone who is traveling, or has traveled in Western Europe, or who just appreciates Twain for all his humor, intelligence and faults.
October 28, 2012
Twain is absolutely hilarious. His satire is always firmly focused on pretension, and it never misfires. I was laughing out loud throughout the entire book. When there was nobody to humble and no pretension to mock, he could in turn give wonderful descriptions of scenery, peoples, and customs. As imaginative and bitingly hilarious as Swift, but with one foot always firmly on the ground.
November 5, 2015
I'd give it 3 and 1/2 stars if that was possible.
March 31, 2019
Haven’t read a book this humorous in quite a while. Highly enjoyable. Twain probably was a bit of an asshole.
June 8, 2024
I finally got around to finishing this, basically after a complete year. I read half of it when I first got it from the library, then read the other half just recently.
I really enjoyed this, it's extremely funny and charismatic, and Twain has a certain self-awareness and narrative skill that pulls you along even in the most outlandish fictive scenarios. Everything is simultaneously unbelievable and believable. It helps, too, that he's a damn good writer. Incredibly tight, comic prose, that just flows like nothing else.
The first half is especially great, where he spends his time in Germany. I suppose I just relate to it more personally, have never visited the latter places (such as Switzerland). His essay in the appendix on the German language remains one of my favourite essays, ever since I read it for the first time (external to this book, it was what convinced me to read this in the first place!)
It's so damn funny. I have nothing but praise for it. Not a single moment did I find it boring, or loathsome, or troubling. It's just simply good reading.
I really enjoyed this, it's extremely funny and charismatic, and Twain has a certain self-awareness and narrative skill that pulls you along even in the most outlandish fictive scenarios. Everything is simultaneously unbelievable and believable. It helps, too, that he's a damn good writer. Incredibly tight, comic prose, that just flows like nothing else.
The first half is especially great, where he spends his time in Germany. I suppose I just relate to it more personally, have never visited the latter places (such as Switzerland). His essay in the appendix on the German language remains one of my favourite essays, ever since I read it for the first time (external to this book, it was what convinced me to read this in the first place!)
It's so damn funny. I have nothing but praise for it. Not a single moment did I find it boring, or loathsome, or troubling. It's just simply good reading.
January 20, 2019
Good fun, but lacking the exuberant sparkle of his earlier travel books.
September 14, 2025
3.5⭐️
Some great descriptions of experiences in Heidelberg, along the Neckar, in and around Luzern, and finally in Zermatt. These stories are offset by some strange tales that often feel contrived in order to flesh-out the book, and turn the book into a bit of a slog sometimes.
Some great descriptions of experiences in Heidelberg, along the Neckar, in and around Luzern, and finally in Zermatt. These stories are offset by some strange tales that often feel contrived in order to flesh-out the book, and turn the book into a bit of a slog sometimes.
January 25, 2017
Well, it looks like all of Twain's travel books might be getting three stars from me. So far we're three for three at three, but I definitely have a ranking. Roughing It is my favorite of the ones I've read so far because it had more anecdotal asides than the others, and those make the book. Plus I'm an American, and that one takes place in America, so I'm more familiar with the territory. In fact, Roughing It would've been a four star book if it weren't for the last section on Hawaii which was kind of slow.
This one covers his travels in parts of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He walked most of it, but occasionally took a train or diligence. A good quarter of it covers mountain climbing, and that got a little old, but luckily there were fun stories interspersed, just not as many as in Roughing It or The Innocents Abroad.
This is definitely not a time waster, and it kept me entertained at work when I was doing my scanning chores. Since I was busy with a lot of other tasks throughout the year, it took 11 months to read it that way, but it certainly helps the time pass when you're waiting for a machine to finish its work. Two or three minutes at a time courtesy of The Gutenberg Project; that's how I read this, so I wasn't able to get fully immersed in it. That probably affected my opinion, but I still think it would appeal to any fan of Twain's sense of humor. Also, I copy pasted just the text to a word document, and since Microsoft blows, it didn't take any of the pictures with it so I missed all those unless I went back to the site to scope them out which I did from time to time. The pictures are great, so I suggest reading a book that includes them. Some of them were doodles from Mark Twain himself.
This book has six appendixes which are entertaining and instructive. Included among them is his essay on The Awful German Language which is a scream.
Though I've forgotten a lot of the stories since It's been a while since I've read them, one that stands out in my mind is the one about French Duels which is all of chapter eight. I was going to include that entire section here, but there's not enough room. Just click on the Gutenberg Project link a couple of paragraphs back and scope it out, and maybe it will encourage you to read the rest of the book as well.
Solid recommendation for readers.
This one covers his travels in parts of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He walked most of it, but occasionally took a train or diligence. A good quarter of it covers mountain climbing, and that got a little old, but luckily there were fun stories interspersed, just not as many as in Roughing It or The Innocents Abroad.
This is definitely not a time waster, and it kept me entertained at work when I was doing my scanning chores. Since I was busy with a lot of other tasks throughout the year, it took 11 months to read it that way, but it certainly helps the time pass when you're waiting for a machine to finish its work. Two or three minutes at a time courtesy of The Gutenberg Project; that's how I read this, so I wasn't able to get fully immersed in it. That probably affected my opinion, but I still think it would appeal to any fan of Twain's sense of humor. Also, I copy pasted just the text to a word document, and since Microsoft blows, it didn't take any of the pictures with it so I missed all those unless I went back to the site to scope them out which I did from time to time. The pictures are great, so I suggest reading a book that includes them. Some of them were doodles from Mark Twain himself.
This book has six appendixes which are entertaining and instructive. Included among them is his essay on The Awful German Language which is a scream.
Though I've forgotten a lot of the stories since It's been a while since I've read them, one that stands out in my mind is the one about French Duels which is all of chapter eight. I was going to include that entire section here, but there's not enough room. Just click on the Gutenberg Project link a couple of paragraphs back and scope it out, and maybe it will encourage you to read the rest of the book as well.
Solid recommendation for readers.
March 21, 2008
Mark Twain is considered one of the great American writers of the 19th century, yah yah, you’ve heard it all before. While most people know him from the tales of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Twain also wrote non-fiction. In “A Tramp Abroad”, Twain writes about his experience travelling through Europe in the 1880s. It’s actually his second trip, the first trip he wrote about in “Innocents Abroad”.
Then an innocent, now a tramp. Nice.
It didn’t take me long to make up my mind, Twain is dope. His masterful way of telling a story keeps your attention, but he’s also extremely funny, sometimes subtlely, other times outrageously.
I should also point out that the book is lavishly illustrated with hundreds of engravings by an artist friend who went along on the trip. Twain also includes a couple crude pictures he drew as well.
“Tramp” is quite often hilarious, as Twain is almost always poking fun at himself, other Americans abroad, or the Europeans he encounters as he goes through Germany, the Swiss alps, and Italy.
During their travels, he
* inadvertently trashes a hotel room, fumbling around in the dark
* crashes a raft against some bridge pillars, for the hell of it
* tries, and fails horribly, to appreciate the music of Wagner, and German Opera
* gets lost in the fog “mountain climbing” (to get to a hotel at the top of the mountain) only to discover he was only 100 yards from the hotel.
* wakes up early to see a sunrise in pajamas and a blanket, only to realize a few minutes later that he overslept so long, the sun is actually going down, and there is a crowd of people staring at laughing.
* decides to climb a mountain via a telescope, as physically doing it would be much too dangerous.
* has heard that glaciers actually move, so he decides to take a seat and wait for it to get him back to the town below, before figuring out that it will take over 500 years to do it.
By the end of the trip, he’s definitely ready to come home, and goes on one last tirade about European food and the cruelty to the brain that is the German language before bringing the book to an end.
Then an innocent, now a tramp. Nice.
It didn’t take me long to make up my mind, Twain is dope. His masterful way of telling a story keeps your attention, but he’s also extremely funny, sometimes subtlely, other times outrageously.
I should also point out that the book is lavishly illustrated with hundreds of engravings by an artist friend who went along on the trip. Twain also includes a couple crude pictures he drew as well.
“Tramp” is quite often hilarious, as Twain is almost always poking fun at himself, other Americans abroad, or the Europeans he encounters as he goes through Germany, the Swiss alps, and Italy.
During their travels, he
* inadvertently trashes a hotel room, fumbling around in the dark
* crashes a raft against some bridge pillars, for the hell of it
* tries, and fails horribly, to appreciate the music of Wagner, and German Opera
* gets lost in the fog “mountain climbing” (to get to a hotel at the top of the mountain) only to discover he was only 100 yards from the hotel.
* wakes up early to see a sunrise in pajamas and a blanket, only to realize a few minutes later that he overslept so long, the sun is actually going down, and there is a crowd of people staring at laughing.
* decides to climb a mountain via a telescope, as physically doing it would be much too dangerous.
* has heard that glaciers actually move, so he decides to take a seat and wait for it to get him back to the town below, before figuring out that it will take over 500 years to do it.
By the end of the trip, he’s definitely ready to come home, and goes on one last tirade about European food and the cruelty to the brain that is the German language before bringing the book to an end.
July 21, 2011
Mark Twain's voice does seem the quintessential American voice. I haven't read The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims' Progress, so I'm not sure if there is much difference, but I loved this book.
First is the voice, which is a strange, and hilarious, melange of the real Twain (I guess...), his protagonist (a fool), vivid descriptions of the sights, events, and people meet and seen on the way, and opinions that veer between complete humor and ironical common sense. And it is not just the narrator's voice that is so amazing: the Americans on the trip and completely hilarious, especially the young, very talkative student waiting to get sent home by his father.
Then there is the story itself. The normal travel book, a straight forward, descriptions of places gone and adventures often becomes boring. How to counter this? Why not mix in some completely associative anecdotes (check), make the narrator a complete liar (check), and search for oral stories wherever possible (check). So, within the telling of a trip and description of the places--and I for one am very keen to visit the Nekar and Alps now--are also the strange anecdotes about men talking to birds, and the German folklore told by the raft captain.
And finally I loved the complex play with fiction. What is real Twain here and what is not. What is an excuse to tell a very oral anecdote, and what is a more complicated plot. Stories where nothing happens are very popular in the Modernist tradition, I'm thinking of The Magic Mountain in relation to the Alps, but Twain finds a way to both do this, and not making it too slow and obvious for the reader. Nothing happens in this book, but we hardly notice since there are so many discursive plotlines and introductions and descriptions turning this way and that. Combine this with the strangely articulate and often difficult to place narrator, and you have a very original piece of fiction.
First is the voice, which is a strange, and hilarious, melange of the real Twain (I guess...), his protagonist (a fool), vivid descriptions of the sights, events, and people meet and seen on the way, and opinions that veer between complete humor and ironical common sense. And it is not just the narrator's voice that is so amazing: the Americans on the trip and completely hilarious, especially the young, very talkative student waiting to get sent home by his father.
Then there is the story itself. The normal travel book, a straight forward, descriptions of places gone and adventures often becomes boring. How to counter this? Why not mix in some completely associative anecdotes (check), make the narrator a complete liar (check), and search for oral stories wherever possible (check). So, within the telling of a trip and description of the places--and I for one am very keen to visit the Nekar and Alps now--are also the strange anecdotes about men talking to birds, and the German folklore told by the raft captain.
And finally I loved the complex play with fiction. What is real Twain here and what is not. What is an excuse to tell a very oral anecdote, and what is a more complicated plot. Stories where nothing happens are very popular in the Modernist tradition, I'm thinking of The Magic Mountain in relation to the Alps, but Twain finds a way to both do this, and not making it too slow and obvious for the reader. Nothing happens in this book, but we hardly notice since there are so many discursive plotlines and introductions and descriptions turning this way and that. Combine this with the strangely articulate and often difficult to place narrator, and you have a very original piece of fiction.
Read
August 10, 2011When I think of Mark Twain I think of my sophomore year English class in High School. We read Huckleberry Finn. In eighth grade I remember reading Tom Sawyer. In both cases I remember the teacher engaging us in lengthy discussions of youth, naiveté, racism, American culture during the 1800’s, and Samuel Clemens own tramp-like background. Ever since those “teachable moments” in literature I wanted to meet this Mr. Twain. He seemed like my kind of person: witty, tongue-in-cheek, mischievous, idealist, and subtle.
I’m glad I waited till I was twenty-four to read A Tramp Abroad. Mark Twain narrates as a sophisticated tramp; well educated, yet not worldly and experienced. Our narrator describes his journey across Germany and other countries of Europe. In true Twain fashion, he uses the narrator to describe “absurdities” in culture and language. The appendixes produce some of the best material in regards to the German language and customs.
Although the book seemed to plod along in some parts and cause me to doze during the mid-day hours, it did offer the best look some interesting themes. Many have made the comment that the narrator embodies the essence of the “ugly American”- a tourist with no appreciation, education, etc, toward the customs and culture of other, older, nations. Though I agree with the assessment, I think it only goes halfway. I think Twain captured something that still persists among those that desire adventure from the comfort of their desk or living room. Twain’s narrator knows a lot about mountain climbing, but when it comes to make the ascent of the Matterhorn himself he falters and rests easy at the bottom. It seems Twain is satirizing our need as tourists, or as people in general, to experience adventure in a “diet” format. After all, one wants danger, but not the kind that could actually result in negative consequences.
I’m glad I waited till I was twenty-four to read A Tramp Abroad. Mark Twain narrates as a sophisticated tramp; well educated, yet not worldly and experienced. Our narrator describes his journey across Germany and other countries of Europe. In true Twain fashion, he uses the narrator to describe “absurdities” in culture and language. The appendixes produce some of the best material in regards to the German language and customs.
Although the book seemed to plod along in some parts and cause me to doze during the mid-day hours, it did offer the best look some interesting themes. Many have made the comment that the narrator embodies the essence of the “ugly American”- a tourist with no appreciation, education, etc, toward the customs and culture of other, older, nations. Though I agree with the assessment, I think it only goes halfway. I think Twain captured something that still persists among those that desire adventure from the comfort of their desk or living room. Twain’s narrator knows a lot about mountain climbing, but when it comes to make the ascent of the Matterhorn himself he falters and rests easy at the bottom. It seems Twain is satirizing our need as tourists, or as people in general, to experience adventure in a “diet” format. After all, one wants danger, but not the kind that could actually result in negative consequences.
October 3, 2024
A travelogue that is humorous and farcical, at the same time that Twain waxes descriptive and poetic. He relates descriptions of an European journey from Germany, through Switzerland, and into northern Italy. He claims that it will be a tramp afoot, since he and his friend were young Americans. But, at every turn he is quick to admit opting for a more convenient mode of travel, and deludes himself into believing it is still a foot journey.
It is this persistence at appearing innocent and like an uninformed tourist that most reveals his calculated intelligence and sarcasm. At times you are unsure of the punch line because of the slightly archaic language, but you certainly know it is in jest. But, most of the time the humor is hilariously easy to picture, like the French dual he describes, in which he officiated as a second.
I especially enjoyed his attempts to catch an Alpine sunrise that persisted in meeting with failure. In the middle of all the humor, he breaks out into a description of the sun on the mountains that is breathtaking and moves you to tears. You certainly can't trust Mr. Clemens while he is armed with words. He will surprise you on most every page.
I read this classic from both Kindle and Audible in whisper-sync narrated by Grover Gardner and found the voice of good quality. I highly recommend it and it is a book I couldn't put down, but read straight through. This was my stop in Switzerland for my Around the World in 80 Books Journey. The author definitely did an excellent job of describing the landscape and culture. My next stop is Italy.
It is this persistence at appearing innocent and like an uninformed tourist that most reveals his calculated intelligence and sarcasm. At times you are unsure of the punch line because of the slightly archaic language, but you certainly know it is in jest. But, most of the time the humor is hilariously easy to picture, like the French dual he describes, in which he officiated as a second.
I especially enjoyed his attempts to catch an Alpine sunrise that persisted in meeting with failure. In the middle of all the humor, he breaks out into a description of the sun on the mountains that is breathtaking and moves you to tears. You certainly can't trust Mr. Clemens while he is armed with words. He will surprise you on most every page.
I read this classic from both Kindle and Audible in whisper-sync narrated by Grover Gardner and found the voice of good quality. I highly recommend it and it is a book I couldn't put down, but read straight through. This was my stop in Switzerland for my Around the World in 80 Books Journey. The author definitely did an excellent job of describing the landscape and culture. My next stop is Italy.
August 10, 2016
For Mark Twain, humour was best served dry - so dry that sometimes it's hard to tell where one joke end and the next begins. Indeed, I was actually under the impression that this book was 'The Innocents Abroad' when I started reading it, so Twain gets one more jab in post mortem. Germans, Swiss, Americans and the English are all equally laid waste, along with Rhine wine and mountain climbing. And of course, this being the story of an epic journey across Europe on foot, Twain and his companion Harris manage to avoid pedestrian travel almost completely. At one point they even make a trip by telescope. I award this book 3 Chamois out of a possible 5.
JM 01/04/16
JM 01/04/16
March 31, 2012
Its been a long time since I have read anything by Mark Twain. No reason to rush into reading any others too quickly. I finished the book only because it was one of our reading group books. Good news is that it was available free on kindle! The book was about Mark Twain's European travels. Maybe if I had been to these places or knew more about the cities he was visiting I could have related? Some of his adventures were certainly humorous, but many seemed so far fetched that it was just goofy!
May 7, 2017
Another legendary story. Learned a lot about Europe culture, attractions and language. The annex about German language was mind blowing. I don't know how much of this was true but enjoyed the reading. Sometimes the tiny details may bore the reader but those are essential for the story. I savoured his sarcasm towards tourists, opera etc.
October 28, 2013
I'm only on page 20 but blown away by similarities in Twain's observations of the beer-drinking hijinks of university students in His day in Heidleberg and my own observations of modern day university students and their quest of the same sorts of drunken prowess.
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