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Culture & Religion

Twain’s Fame

Mark Twain was a great American novelist, but Nathanial Rich notes that in his own lifetime—which ended exactly a hundred years ago today—he was read more widely as a travel writer.
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“‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ may be the great American novel and Mark Twain the great American novelist, but in his own lifetime—which ended exactly a hundred years ago today—Twain was read more widely as a travel writer,” writes Nathanial Rich, who looks at the roots of Twain’s fame. But Twain’s travel books “are much closer to anthologies than travel companions.”

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