Satan's side of the story
|
|
Letters from the Earth is an assortment of unpublished-for-60-years writings by Mark Twain. They cover a wide span of subject matter ranging from critiques of the prose style of another writer to the author's construction of the Old Testament and God from the perspective of Satan. In addition to Letters From Earth (Satan's), the contents includes Papers of the Adam Family, The Damned Human Race, Something About Repentance, Was the World Made For Man, In the Animal's Court, The Intelligence of God, The Lowest Animal and others. Readers who are offended by careful examinations of the meaning and implications of holy or sacred writings of the Old Testiment will not enjoy this book. The author, whatever his actual religious beliefs, probably wasn't an Old Testiment Christian. In this series of short writings he takes specific stories from the OT and holds them into the light away from the long traditions that accompany them in most of our minds. He examines the evidence of the stories for hints of what sort of creature God must be if the OT is true. He extropolates what Satan might be. I'm an admirer of this author and I believe everything he ever wrote is worth reading and digesting. I put this book alongside his best. But I also admit that if I harbored a microbe of religious fanatic somewhere inside me I'd be hard-pressed to enjoy reading Letters From the Earth.
|
|
|
Way ahead of his time
|
|
As much as I enjoyed his more famous books, it is actually this work that makes him even more genius to me. I was totally taken aback. His opinions on religion and the hypocrosy of it all were almost exactly as mine as I read along. I thought that no one was like that... let alone back then... but indeed he was. To know that such a great man felt the same way as I did regarding the Bible and human behavior brings me great comfort. I only wish he were alive so I could personally thank him.
|
|
|
I can't believe no one has reviewed this book.
|
|
I'm a big Twain fan but I'll keep it simple. This book, a collection really, is short and sweet. If you have any interest in: sociology (particularly American), religion (particularly American), cultural commentary (particularly American), trying to explain the human condition (not particularly American) or comedy, this is a very good selection. And it will take you only a matter of hours to dip into some of Twain's funniest--and prickly--thoughts. I mean it.
|
|
|
He is a great philosopher, I believe.
|
"Mark Twain? He is not a philosopher.
His writings are not seriously accepted as a Philosophy!
...P>I dislike this words. I accept him as the serious philosopher.
In "Letters from the Earth", he opens his doubt freely.
He do not believe God is merciful, thoughtful.He picked up Medians in the old testament,
and there he saw God's cruel attitude towards men. ....
I respect him. I adore him as he did for Jeanne d'Arc.
Twain saw mercy only in the death. ...
|
|
Not everyone was religious in the old days
|
|
The final two-thirds of this book is made up of bits and pieces from Twain's unpublished tinkerings, some fairly interesting (such as the hallucinatory novella that concludes the volume) and some pretty dull. Of course, the main reason to check out this book is the white-hot assault on organized religion, "Letters From The Earth", that opens things up and from which this volume draws its title. Agree or disagree, you won't soon forget Twain's memorable tirade. No wonder, though, that he chose to keep it to himself while still nurturing his publishing career.
|
|
|
