Fionnuala’s review of The Prince and the Pauper > Likes and Comments

Parenthetically, is the seasoned reader's jacket white - with matching vest and pants?

Wow Fionnuala
I adored this book, read when I was still too young to note the author.

Ha-ha. Very good about Twain and Saramago switching places, too. I barely remember this book, but I do remember its similarities to PUDDN'HEAD and other twins and swaps and such, all to Twain's liking as well as to his strengths.

I love the reference to "snags and sandbars" in a book set in Tudor England. It made me chuckle to think about these metaphors jumping to your attention after Life on the Mississippi!

Tony wrote: "Parenthetically, is the seasoned reader's jacket white - with matching vest and pants?"

When I was writing this review, it absolutely was, Tony!

Delightful review, Fionuala. Twain's Awful German Language helped me get through the dreadful ordeal of learning German in grad school. Hadn't thought of it for decades!

Magdelanye wrote: "Wow Fionnuala
I adored this book, read when I was still too young to note the author."

It's a book to read when you're young, Magdelanye!

Switching places with Saramago? Now I must read done Twain. I use parentheses too much and I am not even German. It’s time to change. Thank you for this advice Fionnuala (or Mark Twain). Damn I did it again!

And now, Fionnuala, after all what you've been through (I mean read) you discover that you like Twain's non fiction better than his fiction? Quite a revelation (I'm overwhelmed, maybe you are too?). Anyhow I do hope Twain will forgive you all the parentheses (Because I love them (and that's an understatement (but who am I? (Just one of your humble GR friends...)))).

When i see the signs of an activism against any punctuation mark hidden between a pretence of anti-intellectual snobbery (even if presented by a prominent writer (who (like many of us) prone to digressions himself), even if in the form of a semi-aphorism (that many of his followers would admirably quote afterwards), I start strongly suspect the presence of an intellectual fog that is neither 'luminous' nor witty (also indicative of certain anti-german prejudices) that many would consider rather regrettable. (;-))

So no need to apologise to Mr Twain, Fionnuala:-)) I am totally in awe of your managing to close 4 parentheses at the same place: )))) I am definitely not aware of a single german writer who would pull it off:-) (Even if he would read Dilion's 'Suppose a sentence':-)) - Bravo!

Seems everyone is OK with parentheses, but it's not my go-to punctuation in a punch--that'd be the daring dash (much cleaner).

Another delightful review Fionnuala (especially lovely to read about a book I am unlikely to read myself). Damn, I was not going to use parentheses, but started one and then thought it would be wrong to delete it.

I find it hard to find a clean distinction between Twain's nonfiction and fiction - the fiction has lots of factual information (like Huck Finn giving a lot about the river, but maybe not as much as Moby Dick), and the non-fiction is so literary, so 'written' that it is hard to say that it is plain facts, and it includes recounting tall stories which are not at all facts.

I haven’t read Twain in decades and I’m sure I was too young to miss all of those connections. A reread is in order so I can appreciate his skills, then I can be cocky in a “Mark Twain way”:). Nicely written insights, F.

Ken wrote: "Ha-ha. Very good about Twain and Saramago switching places, too. I barely remember this book, but I do remember its similarities to PUDDN'HEAD and other twins and swaps and such, all to Twain's liking as well as his strengths..."

Saramago came into my head, Ken, because someone reminded me of his book, Cain last week just as I was reading Twain's Letters from the Earth, and I was struck by how alike the two books are in their questioning of the logic of the God of the Old Testament. They both have hilarious sections on the flood and the ridiculousness of an ark full of representatives of the animals of the earth! Their voices are almost interchangeable, both very witty, both unafraid to call out injustice and vengeance schemes—especially on the part of the deity.
In the exchange of clothes part of this story, I remembered how Huck Finn swopped his clothes for a dress and bonnet in order to go ashore and find out what was being said about Jim's and his own escapes. And doesn't Tom Driscoll in Pudd'nhead also swop his clothes for a dress and bonnet when he wants to go incognito. Yes, Twain did seem to like this theme of switching and going incognito.

Alison wrote: "I love the reference to "snags and sandbars" in a book set in Tudor England. It made me chuckle to think about these metaphors jumping to your attention after Life on the Mississippi!"

There was a lovely passage when the prince walks through the countryside on a dark and foggy night, Alison, and it sounded exactly like how Twain describes a riverboat trying to navigate the Mississippi on just such a night. Here it is:
"All his sensations and experiences, as he moved through the solemn gloom and the empty vastness of the night, were new and strange to him.  At intervals he heard voices approach, pass by, and fade into silence; and as he saw nothing more of the bodies they belonged to than a sort of formless drifting blur, there was something spectral and uncanny about it all that made him shudder.  Occasionally he caught the twinkle of a light—always far away, apparently—almost in another world; if he heard the tinkle of a sheep’s bell, it was vague, distant, indistinct; the muffled lowing of the herds floated to him on the night wind in vanishing cadences, a mournful sound; now and then came the complaining howl of a dog; all sounds were remote; they made the little King feel that all life and activity were far removed from him, and that he stood solitary, companionless, in the centre of a measureless solitude."

Lisa wrote: "Delightful review, Fionuala. Twain's Awful German Language helped me get through the dreadful ordeal of learning German in grad school. Hadn't thought of it for decades!"

Who but Twain could make learning the German language sound so funny, Lisa. And when I think about it, I doubt I have ever read a truly humorous German book...No, I have, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, except that I had the impression that it wasn't intended to be funny, or at least not as ridiculously funny as I found it!

Fionnuala, I think Twain is starting to rub off on your personality! And what’s that all about with the dropping of caps? Have you been reading Saramago on the sly? Tsk, tsk…

I didn't really like this or A Connecticut Yankee.... Both plots are much better when viewed through Warner Bros./Bugs Bunny lenses. Also found Tom Sawyer detective novels neither bad nor good. Check out The Gilded Age. It was his first published novel, cowritten with another. For someone interested in 19th century US history and living through the daily nightmare here, I liked it the first time I read it and was blown over going over my notations last night. Will have to revisit sometime this year.

David wrote: "Switching places with Saramago? Now I must read Twain. I use parentheses too much and I am not even German. It’s time to change. Thank you for this advice Fionnuala (or Mark Twain). Damn I did it again..."

I feel they have a bit of DNA in common, David, maybe the 'do not accept anything anyone in authority ever tells you' bit!

Noam wrote: "And now, Fionnuala, after all what you've been through (I mean read) you discover that you like Twain's non fiction better than his fiction? Quite a revelation (I'm overwhelmed, maybe you are too?)..."

I could feel this preference coming on while I was reading Life on the Mississippi, Noam. Puddn'head Wilson and Huckleberry Finn were fine in their own way, but when Twain is in the grip of a plot, he lets it rule—no matter that it might have played all its best cards early in the game. There were maybe two good cards left at the end of Puddn'head but none at all at the end of Huck Finn. In this book too, there were nearly none. No, I'm wrong, there was one good one: did you know the origin of the term 'whipping boy'? Well, it seems that princes had whipping boys in those days. If the prince made mistakes in his Latin or Greek lessons, the teacher punished the whipping boy! Anyway, it was by means of the unfortunate whipping boy that the resolution of the plot managed to happen.
(and by the way, I'm glad you also like parentheses:-)

Katia wrote: "When i see the signs of an activism against any punctuation mark hidden between a pretence of anti-intellectual snobbery (even if presented by a prominent writer (who (like many of us) prone to digressions himself), even if in the form of a semi-aphorism (that many of his followers would admirably quote afterwards), I strongly suspect the presence of an intellectual fog that is neither 'luminous' nor witty.."

I can see you holding your own in a debate with Mark Twain, Katia, and even winning it!
I do like a series of parentheses, but I'm not nearly as skilled at building them as our mutual friend, Jan-Maat. Perhaps he'll hear his name mentioned and drop in to add his opinion on brackets and spoilers and such like...

Ken wrote: "Seems everyone is OK with parentheses, but it's not my go-to punctuation in a punch--that'd be the daring dash (much cleaner)."

So you're like Twain, Ken, disdaining the modest (I'm a bit shy) parenthesis in favor of the more daring—and speedier for scanning—dash. But they both amount to the same thing surely: the opportunity to add a qualifying thought?

Fionnuala wrote: "I could feel this preference coming on while I was reading Life on the Mississippi, Noam. Puddn'head Wilson and Huckleberry Finn were fine in their own way, but when Twain is in the grip of a plot, he lets it rule..."

A whipping boy? What an astonishing story indeed. I'm happy times have changed, Fionnuala.

Your explanation about Twain's novels is very understandable. Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I would say the proof of the book is in the reading, so chapeau for you, for reading Twain novels and daring to conclude they are not truly your cup of tea! (Pudding... tea ... chapeau... Am I the Mad Hatter?)

I really enjoy the picture of the author that is coming across in these reviews. I'm seeing his preoccupations in the books you've reviewed, as well as refinements and iterations of those ideas.

Clinton (Back from break, slowly catching up) wrote: "I find it hard to find a clean distinction between Twain's nonfiction and fiction — the fiction has lots of factual information (like Huck Finn giving a lot about the river, but maybe not as much as Moby Dick), and the non-fiction is so literary, so 'written' that it is hard to say that it is plain facts, and it includes recounting tall stories which are not at all facts."

You've summed up Twain's writing very neatly in one parenthesis-and-dash containing sentence, Clinton. Yes, I'd begun to realise that the non-fiction is not strictly non-fiction, and that a supposedly fiction book such as 'Letters from the Earth' contains no fiction at all except what's implied in the title: that someone is sending letters 'home' from the earth. So to my mind that one easily belongs on the 'non-fiction' side of his output, and I got more from it than from 'The Prince and the Pauper' for all the good points PP made about privilege versus poverty. So perhaps I can restate my position as preferring Twain's fiction-containing-non-fiction to his fact-containing-fiction (and those kinds of strung together words are the real issue Twain had (though possibly pretended to have) with the German language: that Germans stick a lot of words together as the need arises and don't even use the humblehyphen).

Judith wrote: "I haven’t read Twain in decades and I’m sure I was too young to miss all of those connections. A reread is in order so I can appreciate his skills, then I can be cocky in a “Mark Twain way”:). Nice..."

I'm glad to have come to his non-fiction later, Judith—but Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn suited me very well when I was young, and when I was reading them purely for the adventure elements. This book would have suited that younger reader too—there's plenty of adventure here of exactly the type I used to like: children struggling against the world, as in one of my favorite books as a child, The Children of the New Forest, set just a little later than this book. And I noted that Twain mentions its author, Fredrick Marryat, in Life in the Mississippi and in Innocents Abroad so he may have read it too.

Peter wrote: "Fionnuala, I think Twain is starting to rub off on your personality! And what’s that all about with the dropping of caps? Have you been reading Saramago on the sly? Tsk, tsk…"

Ah, Saramago is an old favorite of mine, Peter, so it's very easy for me to conjure his voice in my head—and I'm guessing Mark Twain will become just as easy to conjure up in the future:-)

Greg wrote: "I didn't really like this or A Connecticut Yankee.... Both plots are much better when viewed through Warner Bros./Bugs Bunny lenses. Also found Tom Sawyer detective novels neither bad nor good. Check out The Gilded Age..."

I see what you mean, Greg. This story would make for a good animated film. I sampled a bit of the Joan of Ark book and just couldn't take it seriously either. But The Gilded Age, I might try—though I'm kind of eager to move on too...

Noam wrote: "...Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I would say the proof of the book is in the reading, so chapeau for you, for reading Twain novels and daring to conclude they are not truly your cup of tea! (Pudding... tea ... chapeau... Am I the Mad Hatter?).."

And it's not even March!

path wrote: "I really enjoy the picture of the author that is coming across in these reviews. I'm seeing his preoccupations in the books you've reviewed, as well as refinements and iterations of those ideas."

I do feel I'm getting to know him quite well, path, and I'd be surprised if he surprised me at this stage. Famous last words perhaps;-)

Fionnuala wrote: "Greg wrote: "I didn't really like this or A Connecticut Yankee.... Both plots are much better when viewed through Warner Bros./Bugs Bunny lenses. Also found Tom Sawyer detective novels neither bad ..."

I get it, I went through my "Twain phases" years ago. You're at fault for awakening my interest again. Joan is definitely an acquired taste and takes some patience. Only for Joan junkies. You'd like Library of America's two volumes of his collected articles, notes, letters, etc. Get your local library to buy them. But take some time off first!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (I got carried away with this one.)

Fionnuala wrote: "Clinton (Back from break, slowly catching up) wrote: "I find it hard to find a clean distinction between Twain's nonfiction and fiction — the fiction has lots of factual information (like Huck Finn..."

This made me laugh out loud!

Fionnuala wrote: "And it's not even March!"

Quite right, though I guess the hare won't agree with us... ;-)

I was once told that the Parenthesis Disease, of which I am victim and patient (which is a true thing) is when a sentence can't say what it means .... (whatever that means!)

They compared it to a dinner guest who just won't leave, always leaning over and muttering, interjecting one other thing., interposing, immediately doubting itself, -- then doubting the doubt -- then opening the back door and sidling out (presumably to the woodshed to be whipped!)

You make reading such fun, Fionnuala.

And you write the funniest comments, Julie. I can easily visualise my sentences as excited dinner guests, trying to say everything on their mind at once. They'd be willing to let others take a turn, I think, and they might even listen to what the other says, but they'd be ready to jump in as soon as a pause arises and pack as much as they could manage (parentheses included) into the opportunity!

Greg wrote: "I get it, I went through my "Twain phases" years ago. You're at fault for awakening my interest again. Joan is definitely an acquired taste and takes some patience. Only for Joan junkies. You'd like Library of America's two volumes of his collected articles, notes, letters, etc.."

I read your excellent review of that compilation, Greg. It sounds super comprehensive. Thanks for pointing me towards it.

Clinton (Back from break, slowly catching up) wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "Clinton (Back from break, slowly catching up) wrote: "I find it hard to find a clean distinction between Twain's nonfiction and fiction..

This made me laugh out loud!"

Glad to hear it, Clinton.

Noam wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "And it's not even March!"

Quite right, though I guess the hare won't agree with us... ;-)"

We'll let the hare sit so, Noam...