Letters from the Earth is a posthumously published work of American author Mark Twain (1835–1910) edited by Bernard DeVoto.
Content
Letters from the Earth consists of a series of commentaries in essay and short story form. Many of these pieces express Twain's discomfort with and disdain for Christianity, both as a theological position and a lifestyle. The title story consists of eleven letters written by the
archangel Satan to archangels
Gabriel and Michael,
about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of Man's religions. Other pieces in the book include a
morality tale told as a bedtime discussion with Twain's children, Susy and Clara, about a family of cats, and an essay explaining why an
anaconda is morally superior to Man.
Date of writing
Letters from the Earth was written after the deaths of Twain's daughter
Susy Clemens (1896) and of his wife Olivia (1904). Textual references make clear that sections, at least, of
Letters from the Earth were written shortly before his death in April 1910. (For instance, Letter VII, in discussing the ravages of
hookworm, refers to the $1,000,000 gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help eradicate the disease, a gift that was announced on October 28, 1909, less than six months before Twain's death.
) However, the following excerpt appears in a discussion of the Palestinian town of Nablous, in
The Innocents Abroad. This passage was written more than four decades before his death, in 1867 or 1868 and appears to be an oblique reference to the idea that later became
Letters from the Earth:
Louis J. Budd, editor of Mark Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, and Essays: Volume 2: 1891–1910 (1992), a volume in the Library of America series, places Letters from the Earth sequentially in 1909.
Dramatic adaptations
A stage adaptation of
Letters from the Earth by
Dan Savage was produced in
Seattle in 2003.
Selected quotations
Letter VIII on "the law of God" expressed by each gender's physical construction:
See also
External links
