Mark Twain

The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories (Annotated) Mark Twain

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories by Mark Twain. The purpose of realizing this historical context is to approach the understanding of a historical epoch from the elements provided by the text. Hence the importance of placing the document in context. It is necessary to unravel what its author or authors have said, how it has been said, when, why and where, always relating it to its historical moment. In his later years, Mark Twain had become a respected literary figure whose views were widely sought by the press. He had also suffered a series of painful physical, financial and emotional losses. The Mysterious Stranger, published posthumously in 1916 and pertaining to Twain's "dark" period, belies the popular image of the affable American humorist. In this anti-religious tale, Twain denies the existence of a benign Providence, a soul, a future life, and even reality itself. As the Stranger states in the story, "nothing exists; everything is a dream"