BROOKS, VAN WYCK. Ordeal of Mark Twain. *$3 Dutton
20–8431
“This book is primarily a psychological study and yet it is full of biographical detail related to the career of Mark Twain, and supplements the biography written by Mr Paine. It should be stated, however, that Mr Brooks did not undertake this task in the spirit of a chronicler. He started, rather, with the aim of offering a logical explanation of Mark Twain’s well-known tendency to pessimism.” (R of Rs) “The main idea in the book is that Mark Twain’s career was a tragedy—a tragedy for himself and a tragedy for mankind. Everyman who does not live up to his highest possibilities is living in a state of sin. Mark Twain was, therefore, one of the chief of sinners, because his possibilities were so great and he fell so short. There were two villains in Mark Twain’s tragedy—his mother and his wife. His mother was more eager to have him good than to have him great; his wife wanted him to be a gentleman. Between them they tamed the lion and made him perform parlor tricks. This hypothesis is worked out by Mr Brooks.” (N Y Times)
Booklist 16:343 Jl ’20
“Having set up his theory, everything in the humorist’s career is made to contribute to it in the most plausible, ingenious, and stimulating way; the book is so able and interesting that to read it is a delight. Yet, for me, as I strive to realize Mark Twain, remembering the man and reading the author to find the man, the result is not satisfactory, nor do I think Mr Brooks has penetrated to the heart of the secret. He has succumbed to the danger which always confronts the thesis-maker who has to subdue data so that they may buttress his belief.” R: Burton
* + − Bookm 52:333 Ja ’21 2900w
“Not only a subtle psychological study of one of the most prominent figures in the life of the past century, but also a valuable acquisition to the essay realm of American history.”
+ Cath World 112:255 N ’20 700w
Reviewed by R. M. Lovett