Peter:  This is a fascinating piece, full of pungent, sometimes even valid
criticism, well worth the read, considering Orwell's perspective. Like
Twain, however, he often exaggerates, and he definitely conveys a stylized
version of the American West, perhaps based on reading too many Ned
Buntline or Zane Grey novels.  Orwell seems to align himself with Van Wyck
Brooks' thesis in "The Ordeal of Mark Twain" that Twain was excessively
controlled by the women in his life, particularly Livy, the
"blue-penciller,"  but conveniently forgets that the word "hell" does make
it into Huck Finn.  Social criticism may not have been the full-time
vocation for Twain that it approaches for Orwell, but the author of pieces
like "Only A Nigger," "Disgraceful Persecution of a Boy," "To My Missionary
Critics" and "On Patriotism" certainly  had no hesitation in occasionally
warming up his pen in "hell," even knowing he would be in danger of losing
readers.  Twain may, as Orwell puts it, have had the flaw of the "inability
to despise success," but the comparison to Voltaire, who also enjoyed his
popularity, is perhaps more apt than Orwell would have us believe.
Thanks for this interesting link.
Martin Zehr

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On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 1:31 AM, Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Wow -- I'd forgotten about Orwell's "appreciation" of Twain, a brief &
> wonderfully pungent piece called "Mark Twain -- The Licensed Jester" (you
> can find a pretty accurate version at
> http://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/twain/english/e_twain).
>
> The thing about this fairly scathimg piece is, it seems to contain pretty
> much everything Orwell had to say about Twain. It's hard to imagine him
> contemplating a book about a writer who (he says) "gives all the while a
> strange impression of being about to say something and then funking it."
>
>
>
> On Dec 17, 2017 8:47 PM, "Clay Shannon" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I=E2=80=99m reading a dual biography of Churchill and Orwell. It says
> that
> > O=
> > rwell had wanted to write a biography of Twain, but was unable to
> interest
> > a=
> >  publisher in the project.
> >
> > Is this a well-known factoid?
> >
> > Sent by my Duckbilled Platypus =E2=80=9CWildpinkler=E2=80=9D=
> >
>