James Marcus in TLS in 2025: ‘Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835. His father, John Clemens, had already failed at several businesses, moving his increasingly impoverished family from one town to another. As Chernow writes, this string of failures “must have formed the mental weather of [Twain’s] childhood”.’

And: ‘Twain’s colloquy with the river [the Mississippi], as a metaphor for life and liberty and the loopy progress of America itself, would continue into his old age.’

Also: ‘Twain stumbled into the world of letters, he later wrote, “as a man falls over a precipice that he is not looking for”.’ Twain’s sunset is summarized by William James: ‘The poor man is only good for monologue, in his old age, or for dialogue at best, but he’s a dear little genius all the same.’

A dear little genius. A compliment and a verdict all at the same time.

(a sf 2122)