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Eve's Diary |
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Eve's Diary is a comic short story by Mark Twain. It was first published in the 1905 Christmas issue of the magazine Harper's Bazaar, and in book format in June 1906 by Harper and Brothers publishing house. It is written in the style of a diary kept by the first woman in the Judeao-Christian creation myth, Eve, and is claimed to be "translated from the original MS." The "plot" of this novel is the first-person account of Eve from her creation up to her burial by, her mate, Adam, including meeting and getting to know Adam, and exploring the world around her, Eden. The story then jumps 40 years into the future after the Fall and expulsion from Eden. It is one of a series of books Twain wrote concerning the story of Adam and Eve, including 'Extracts from Adam's Diary,' 'That Day In Eden,' 'Eve Speaks,' 'Adam's Soliloquy,' and the 'Autobiography of Eve.' Eve's Diary has a lighter tone than the others in the series, as Eve has a strong appreciation for beauty and love. The book may have been written as a posthumous love-letter to Mark Twain's wife Olivia Langdon Clemens, or Livy, who died in June 1904, just before the story was written. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "Eve's Diary is finished — I've been waiting for her to speak, but she doesn't say anything more." The story ends with Adam's speaking at Eve's grave, "Wherever she was, there was Eden."
By Mark Twain
Illustrated by Lester Ralph
Translated from the Original SATURDAY. I am almost a whole day old, now. I arrived yesterday.
That is as it seems to me. And it must be so, for if there was a
day before yesterday I was not there when it happened, or I should
remember it. It could be, of course, that it did happen, and that I
was not noticing. Very well; I will be very watchful now, and if any
day before yesterdays happen I will make a note of it. It will be best
to start right and not let the record get confused, for some instinct
tells me that these details are going to be important to the historian
some day. For I feel like an experiment, I feel exactly like an
experiment; it would be impossible for a person to feel more like an
experiment than I do, and so I am coming to feel convinced that that
is what I AM an experiment; just an experiment, and nothing more. Then if I am an experiment, am I the whole of it? No, I think not; I
think the rest of it is part of it. I am the main part of it, but I
think the rest of it has its share in the matter... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Comedy |
Fiction |
History |
Humor |
Literature |
Short stories |
Links related to this book |
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Wikipedia - Eve's Diary |
Wikipedia - Mark Twain |
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Reviews (Rated: 5 Stars - 3 reviews) |
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Reviewer: BookLover - February 3, 2016 Very entertaining and clever--typical Mark Twain. Love that last line, "Wherever she was, there was Eden." |
Reviewer: Margaret - April 3, 2015 A man ... reading a woman's diary? The narrator speaks well (some tend to sound detached from the story after the first chapter of a book). Still ... a man reading a woman's diary? Tsk. |
Reviewer: User - July 10, 2014 Amusing and well read. |