> [DeVoto] mentions that Twain translated the Autobiography or Diary
> and I believe he mentions something about Twain having dificulties
> determining whether the Diaries (Adam's and Eve's) were apocryphal
> or not? If this is humor, why does his tone not alter from when he is
> serious?
>
> Am I completely missing the point?

Paul Krassner, editor of "The Realist," uses a similar ploy, allowing the
reader to decide whether a given piece is reportage or satire. This was
sometimes a tough decision, indeed. The most notorious example was called
"The Parts They Left Out Of The Kennedy Book" which is reprinted in
Krassner's "Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut" (New York:1993, Simon
and Schuster).