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Short Stories and Tall Tales
A collection of short stories by the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn features such classics as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and How to Tell a Story..
319 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1993
3 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Mark Twain
8,962 books18.7k 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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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 4, 2025
My favorites were: The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, £1,000,000 Bank Note, The Stolen White Elephant, The Man who Corrupted Hadleyburg and A Visit to Niagara.
Not every story was compelling or memorable, don't remember the Barber Story or the Dangers of Lying Down very well.
The stories that stuck out were infectiously funny, dry, witty and well told in a way that puts you in the shoes of the storyteller.
Mark Twain has a journalistic tone and the most human dialogue.
Not every story was compelling or memorable, don't remember the Barber Story or the Dangers of Lying Down very well.
The stories that stuck out were infectiously funny, dry, witty and well told in a way that puts you in the shoes of the storyteller.
Mark Twain has a journalistic tone and the most human dialogue.
February 1, 2022
Only read a few - very dated - can't imagine many reading them unless for an exam.
April 18, 2017
What was interesting about Mark Twain’s short stories was the journalistic tone that made all of these stories seem much more like memoirs than fictional stories. These accounts ranged from people that the narrator had known, such as in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In this, the narrator listens to the story of Jim Smiley and his frog, who continue to celebrate racing victories until his frog is sabotaged. The story is told through the narrator who hears the story from someone he meets one day. The way that Jim Smiley’s story is told is as if he is a legend, a traditional ballad as if told by Shakespeare or Homer.
Something that goes by unappreciated when it comes down to Mark Twain’s writing is the emphasis on character’s dialects. Twain is aware of the differences in speech that differs across the geography of the United States. For example, many apostrophes are used to show the letters that are dropped, especially in characters whose roots stem back to the South. There are also African Americans who speak in his books that also still carry the accent passed down from generation to generation. Their unintelligible accents that are a challenge to read are what makes the story authentic, showing that Twain well-researched in his own world.
What I was most compelled by was the stories that were much more humorous and satirical had satirical messages. I could imagine that these stories being published in various mediums of press and what sort of ideas must have resulted from the publication of these stories. He managed to capture a post-antebellum American South that was in the process of reconstructing after the Civil War had struck. We still see an animosity towards the newly freed slaves. We also see these slaves starting and struggling to adapt to the ever-changing society. Some of these stories are sad, or carry a heavy weight. One of these stories is about Aunt Rachel, who tells her story. It is a moving portrait of hardships that the she has gone through. Other stories however, are told in a more lighthearted manner. All of this is captured in a way that parodies both the Southern and Northern societies.
I found that some stories actually were somewhat bland. Even using his journalistic tendencies, some events are just too ordinary and have no hook. As a result, I found myself uninterested in certain stories. An example of this was “The Danger of Lying In Bed”, which I found to be as far from compelling as possible.
Something that goes by unappreciated when it comes down to Mark Twain’s writing is the emphasis on character’s dialects. Twain is aware of the differences in speech that differs across the geography of the United States. For example, many apostrophes are used to show the letters that are dropped, especially in characters whose roots stem back to the South. There are also African Americans who speak in his books that also still carry the accent passed down from generation to generation. Their unintelligible accents that are a challenge to read are what makes the story authentic, showing that Twain well-researched in his own world.
What I was most compelled by was the stories that were much more humorous and satirical had satirical messages. I could imagine that these stories being published in various mediums of press and what sort of ideas must have resulted from the publication of these stories. He managed to capture a post-antebellum American South that was in the process of reconstructing after the Civil War had struck. We still see an animosity towards the newly freed slaves. We also see these slaves starting and struggling to adapt to the ever-changing society. Some of these stories are sad, or carry a heavy weight. One of these stories is about Aunt Rachel, who tells her story. It is a moving portrait of hardships that the she has gone through. Other stories however, are told in a more lighthearted manner. All of this is captured in a way that parodies both the Southern and Northern societies.
I found that some stories actually were somewhat bland. Even using his journalistic tendencies, some events are just too ordinary and have no hook. As a result, I found myself uninterested in certain stories. An example of this was “The Danger of Lying In Bed”, which I found to be as far from compelling as possible.
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April 9, 2009JC-Twa
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews