TWAIN-L Archives

Mark Twain Forum

TWAIN-L@YORKU.CA

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Jan 2022 00:06:13 -0800
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (65 lines)
I do have a copy of the paperback edition of "A Tramp in Berlin" and I 
do recall reading the bit about the Berlin postal system. Unfortunately, 
I was not thinking of such things at the time I was reading it.  The 
quote in my edition begins on page 97.  Twain's essay must exist in some 
form, however, as David Graeber was aware of it and referenced it by 
title.  I did check the index before writing to Twain-L and was 
disappointed that the essay was not referenced by title so I thank you 
all for reminding me of this passage.

On 1/5/22 4:52 PM, Eva Schweitzer wrote:
> Twain's story about the Postal service in berlin was originally published in our book
> Eva Schweitzer
>
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Dr. Eva C. Schweitzer
>
> ________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, January 6, 2022 1:46 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Postal Service
>
> See page 100 of Austilat’s book — A TRAMP IN BERLIN. I don’t have a copy at
> hand but amazon has a preview with quotes about the Berlin Rohrpost system.
> Perhaps Austilat references the sources of the quotes from that essay in
> his bibliography.
>
> Barb
>
> On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, Wolfgang Hochbruck <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I would have surmised it was included in Andreas Austilat's 2013
>> edition _A Tramp in Berlin_, but not only is the essay itself not
>> there, i can't even find a mention of it in the volume.
>>
>> best
>> w
>>
>> On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 12:21:04 -0800
>>   Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> I recently came across a reference to an essay by Mark Twain entitled
>>> "Postal Service".  This was in a series of essays written by David
>>> Graeber included in a book entitled "The Utopia of Rules".  He
>>> remarked "Mark Twain, who lived briefly in Berlin between 1891 and
>>> 1892, was so taken with it that he composed one of his only known
>>> non-satirical essays, entitled “Postal Service,” just to celebrate its
>>> wondrous efficiency.".  This was in reference to the German postal
>>> system.  I have been unable to locate this essay by Twain.
>>>
>>> I'm casting about for interesting bits about Twain's dealing with
>>> bureaucracies.  I know there are far too many of them to deal with
>>> this comprehensively but I do hope to catch the flavor.
>>
>> Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck
>> Dept. of English
>> Centre for Security and Society
>> Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg
>> Rempart St. 15
>> D-79098 Freiburg
>> Germany
>>

ATOM RSS1 RSS2