How to Tell a Story

"I do not claim that I can tell a story as it ought to be told. I only claim to know how a story ought to be told, for I have been almost daily in the company of the most expert story-tellers for many years..." So begins "How to Tell a Story," the first in this collection of eight essays by America's master story-spinner, Mark Twain, presented in a single volume facsimile first edition. Twain takes on such mysteries as the perfect pause and the use of the dead-pan mask, candidly describing his own efforts to perfect these literary tools. In "What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us," Twain lays out a job description for the "native novelist," and in the well-known "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences," Twain offers a how-to guide for the would-be author. Other essays include "In Defence of Harriet Shelley," "Travelling with a Reformer," "Private History of the 'Jumping Frog' Story," "Mental Telegraph Again," and "A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget." Foreword by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Introduction by David Bradley, and Afterword Pascal Covici, Jr. offer valuable commentary and insight.