Following the Equator, Vol. 1

by Mark Twain

Bound on a lecturing trip around the world, Mark Twain turns his keen satiric eye to foreign lands in Following the Equator . The first of two volumes, this vivid record of a sea voyage on the Pacific Ocean displays Twain's instinctive eye for the unusual, his wide-ranging curiosity, and his delight in embellishing the facts. The personalities of the ship's crew and passengers, the poetry of Australian place-names, and the success of women's suffrage in New Zealand, among other topics, are the focus of his wry humor and redoubtable powers of observation. Following the Equator is an ecocative and highly unique American portrait of nineteenth-century travel and customs.

Genres: Classics, Travel

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2011

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[David Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lonely Planet has nothing on Mark Twain! Twain sets sail from Victoria, BC and stops by Hawai'i en route to Australia and New Zealand. I wish I had read this before going to Tasmania last summer. It's funny and wickedly subversive and still quite informative.

[Anthony Bracciante · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Samuel Clemens' travelogues and while not as compelling as his novels it is still an interesting read mainly because of his sardonic wit.

[Linda Puente · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who know Mark Twain through Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this book may come as a surprise. Twain travelled extensively, giving lectures but also playing tourist and bon vivant. In this volume, he recounts his travels from Vancouver to Australia, pausing in Hawaii, Polynesia, New Guinea and Tasmania. His accounts of various ship voyages and travelling by train through several countries are largely factual, but his sketches of people with whom he interacted often stretch the bounds of belief. Some chapters are given to tangential ruminations, but throughout he aims to entertain more than to inform.

[Cps · Rating 5 out of 5]

World traveller

Twain is always a delight, in a satirical, sarcastic and, dare I say, snarky way. These books follow Twain as he tours the World and peppers his observations with his own humour.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like Meh Twain.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 2 out of 5]

High expectations dashed, I found this weak. Very few flashes of Twainsian wit, mostly just straight travelogue, and not of much interest. Long stretches of purported quotes from primary sources, which if they factual or fictional humor were too dry for my sense.

Probably won't brave v. 2.