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Sign up todayMark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii
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Learn moreThe Huck Finn of foreign correspondents provides a colorful account of old Honolulu, the island nobility, the City of Refuge on the Kona coast, and the active volcano of Kilauea. These selections of Mark Twain's newspaper dispatches are both charming and informative. The light touch of the great humorist is seldom missing as he reveals the "loveliest fleet of islands that lie anchored in any ocean." This recording evokes the historical era with the eye of a verbal artist and the voice of the performing artist.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Mark Twain spent his youth in Hannibal, Missouri, which forms the setting for his two greatest works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Trying his hand at printing, typesetting and then gold-mining, the former steam-boat pilot eventually found his calling in journalism and travel writing. Dubbed 'the father of American literature' by William Faulkner, Twain died in 1910 after a colourful life of travelling, bankruptcy and great literary success.
McAvoy Layne has performed as a Mark Twain impressionist from Piper’s Opera in Virginia City, Nevada, to Leningrad University in Russia. A specialist in Twain’s Western years, he is the author of the biography Hooked on Twain and portrays Twain in the Discovery Channel’s celebrated documentary The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Reviews
“Provides a fresh, funny portrait of Mark Twain as a young man.”
“The unmistakable touch of his comic genius can be seen, that sly alteration of hyperbole and deadpan understatement in a blend that can only be Twain.”
“An amalgam of workaday journalism, whimsy, shrewd and poetic observation, accurate commercial prophecy...and tongue-in-cheek tall tales.”
“Those who treat themselves to these blustery, spirited letters will experience a journey in every sense of the word…A reminder of why Twain’s legacy has endured.”
“Twain’s superb writing about the history of that exotic paradise and his experiences there delivers a powerful audio experience. Listeners will feel they too are discovering the geography of the islands. One can almost smell the fragrant flowers and experience the balmy breezes.”
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