The August 9th issue of Newsweek, appropriately subtitled "The Books Issue", is filled with excellent articles featuring the literary world. I am particularly struck by Malcom Jones' writing on Mark Twain, titled "Our Mysterious Stranger."
Twain was, at the same time, both complex and simple. I suppose that is one of the main reasons I find him fascinating. But the other reason would be that words and writing were compulsive for him--to find the right word, to record his thoughts, to breathe life into the mundane--this was his essence.
The quotes below I will keep nearby, because they beautifully articulate that which is dear to my soul as well:
"Words were a compulsion with him, and not just any words. "The difference between the almost right word and the right word," he wrote, "is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightening bug and the lightning."
The last words Twain wrote, were following his daughter's death. He wrote for three straight days. Jones has this to say about his need to process via the written word:
"He said it was the last thing he would write and that it would end the autobiography that he had been dictating for several years......Twain meant to impress no one with that essay. Still, it is worth nothing that, faced with an event that would have paralyzed most people, his first reaction was to reach for his pen and attempt what he had always done so successfully in the past--to write his way out of trouble."
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