From the Los Angeles Times:
Mark Twain's latest short story
Nearly
99 years after his death, an unpublished short story found in his
archives will be published in The Strand mystery magazine.
By Carolyn Kellogg
March 7, 2009
Almost 99 years after his death on April 21, 1910, Mark Twain will publish a new short story next week in the pages of the quarterly mystery magazine the Strand.
Discovered in Twain's archive -- reportedly the largest collection of personal papers left behind by a 19th century American author -- the never-before-published "The Undertaker's Tale" is a short tale-within-a-tale about a wretched homeless boy who is taken in by a kindly undertaker's family.
According to Strand editor Andrew F. Gulli, who has made a point of publishing classic authors (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ray Bradbury, even P.G. Wodehouse) in his magazine, Twain's "tongue-in-cheek tale about the funeral industry" is as modern as anything being written today.
But lest that seem like Twain was anticipating the glossy HBO mortuary drama "Six Feet Under," it's really more like something by Charles Dickens: His story revolves around a dirty, hungry wretch who finds solace in the undertaker's home; the world is cold, dirty and brutish yet viewed with a wicked sense of humor.
March 7, 2009
Almost 99 years after his death on April 21, 1910, Mark Twain will publish a new short story next week in the pages of the quarterly mystery magazine the Strand.
Discovered in Twain's archive -- reportedly the largest collection of personal papers left behind by a 19th century American author -- the never-before-published "The Undertaker's Tale" is a short tale-within-a-tale about a wretched homeless boy who is taken in by a kindly undertaker's family.
According to Strand editor Andrew F. Gulli, who has made a point of publishing classic authors (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ray Bradbury, even P.G. Wodehouse) in his magazine, Twain's "tongue-in-cheek tale about the funeral industry" is as modern as anything being written today.
But lest that seem like Twain was anticipating the glossy HBO mortuary drama "Six Feet Under," it's really more like something by Charles Dickens: His story revolves around a dirty, hungry wretch who finds solace in the undertaker's home; the world is cold, dirty and brutish yet viewed with a wicked sense of humor.
Read the rest here.
Comments