AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

          Twain, Mark. _The Humor of Mark Twain_. Great Authors
          Series, Entertainment Software Inc. Produced by Commuters
          Library.  Read by Thomas Becker, 6 cassettes.
          ISBN 1-883049-72-5. $34.95

          Twain, Mark. "The Double-Barreled Detective Story."
          Commuter's Library of Unabridged Masterworks.  Produced
          by Sound Room Pub., 1996.  Read by Thomas Becker.  Two
          cassettes. 2 1/4 hrs.  $16.95. ISBN 1-883049-11-3

     Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
          Wesley Britton <[log in to unmask]>
          Grayson County College
          Denison, TX

     Copyright (c) Mark Twain Forum, 1998.  This review may not be
     published or redistributed in any medium without permission.


Well, while being a few wisps, drawls, and twangs short of
wonderfulness, most folks will find _The Humor of Mark Twain_ a
fine gift item for specialists and general readers alike.  At just
under $35.00, this handsomely-boxed package of six cassettes
containing both well-known and lesser recorded short stories,
essays, and sketches is a bargain. I can't imagine a true lover of
Mark Twain able to resist it despite some problems in packaging and
selections of material.

Without bells, whistles, musical seques or sound effects,
Shakespearean actor/English teacher Thomas Becker presents twenty-
two unabridged Twain stories in a largely straightforward manner
without the drawling, Midwestern accent typical of most Twain
impersonators.  But, then again, for the most part Becker is not
attempting to be Samuel Clemens but rather a cast of characters
ranging from _Roughing It_ frontiersman to Captain Stormfield.
According to Joe Langenfeld, producer of the "Great Works" series
of audiobooks, Becker threw himself into a variety of character
voices, color-coding each voice on the printed page so he could
keep each aural characterization distinct and true to what he heard
in Twain's words.  While the narrative material is often undramatic
and slow-paced, particularly in the first three tapes, these
characterizations are the set's strong suit even though few
readings reveal much "acting."

Becker does well with such stories as "Punch Brothers Punch" and "A
Canvasser's Tale," but most readings are carried by Mark Twain's
words, not the taped renditions.  The antics of the McWilliams and
the consternation of the distressed essayist in "Political Economy"
need little embellishment, and I enjoyed hearing them anew.
Perhaps the most effective dialogue is between the narrator and his
conscience in "The Facts Regarding the Recent Carnival of Crime in
Connecticut." I am now convinced this is an underrated story and
one that could be most interesting in the modern classroom.  (Is
this perhaps a parody of Poe?)  I suspect "Cannibalism in the Cars"
was the story most in need of color-coding, with a cast of
characters nominating each other for breakfast. Becker is perhaps
at his best with this story.  "Excerpts from Captain Stormfield's
Visit to Heaven," the set's grand finale, is also rendered in fine
form, and I suspect the later stories work better because author
and reader both improved with experience.

Other selections seem out of place.  "Fenimore Cooper's Literary
Offenses" drags on and on and is probably of little interest to the
general reader who's not intimate with the satirized subject.  I
suspect most non-Twainians will be puzzled by much of the content
on tape three, primarily a collection of short essays.  The notes
in the short accompanying brochure do help out, but a non-
specialist might require more background information.  For some
reason, "Tom Quartz" and "A Genuine Mexican Plug," the second and
third stories on tape one, are not listed in the liner notes and no
descriptions of these tales are in the brochure.

Much of this material has been previously released on two-cassette
collections, but this is the first Twain anthology designed to
emulate the vinyl record treasuries of old.  This collection looks
good and gratefully sounds good, but there are a few
disappointments in packaging and production.  As each cassette sits
in the plastic binder without individual boxes, it is difficult to
take one cassette out to read in the car.  It would have been nice
to have some music in between each story to fill in the dead space.

And Becker's voice is recorded clearly, but the engineer could have
turned the knobs up a peg or two for fullness and depth on smaller,
one speaker players.

Still, I can't think of a better way to introduce young readers to
Twain, a generation often more attuned to media than printed pages.
Many general readers are likely to appreciate the chance to read
unabridged great literature with free hands.  And, again, the price
is amazingly right--the frills aren't necessary when so much
material is available (over six hours).

One oversight should be mentioned here--the lack of any information
about the reader.  According to Langenfeld, this is by design; the
company wants to emphasize the writer not the reader.  This is a
common trend in bargain-line audiobooks these days, keeping prices
down by not using well-known actors.  Still, some mention of
Becker's background would be useful without being distracting from
the series' purpose.

Also, it would be helpful to have known the time length of each
tale and the total time on each side.  This is useful information
that would not drive up the costs of packaging in any way.

***

Becker also reads the unabridged "A Double-Barreled Detective
Story" on a two cassette set from Commuter's Library.  After
hearing the story anew, I now see this tale as a precursor to post-
modernism, pre-Faulknarian in its jumps of perspective, tone, and
voice.  A la John Barth or John Fowles, two seemingly unrelated
narratives are spliced together, the author interjects himself as
a character, and Twain even provides literary criticism of himself
midway in the text.  In this instance, Becker's performance
defiantly enhances the text, providing distinct, comic voices for
Fergeson, Wells Fargo, Ham Sandwich, and Fetlock Holmes.  Becker
provides subtle humor of his own--the Sheriff riding in to save the
day bears a remarkable resemblance to John Wayne, both textually
and aurally.

Packaged in perhaps the most durable plastic on the market,
Becker's rendition suits the material nicely; any puzzlement is due
to Twain's unusual story, one booed by Sherlock Holmes fans as
being the worst parody in the canon of similar attempts.

***

Below is a listing of the selections in _The Humor of Mark Twain_,
largely read in chronological order.

Tape 1
"The Notorious Jumping Frog"
"Tom Quartz"
"A Genuine Mexican Plug"
"What Stumped the Blue Jays"
"The Story of the Old Ram"
"The Great Landslide Case"

Tape Two
"Buck Fanshaw's Funeral"
"How I Edited an Agricultural Paper"
"Journalism in Tennessee"
"The Facts in the Great Beef Contract"

Tape Three
"The Art of Authorship"
"An Author's Soldjery"
"First Interview with Artemus Ward"
"Punch Brothers Punch"
"Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offence"

Tape Four
"The Canvasser's Tale"
"Political Economy"
"Experiences of the McWilliams Family and Membranous Croup"
"The McWilliams and the Burglar Alarm"

Tape Five
"The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut"
"Cannibalism in the Cars"
Tape Six
"Excerpts from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" (both sides)