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Product Review: Mark Twain
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Mark Twain once said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.” He did. Ooooo – what an eerie premonition, right? Or was he just not feeling well and surmised the inevitable? In fact, nobody can predict their death better than suicidal people, so…
I’m just saying. Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s one of my favorites, right up there with Nicola Tesla and Leonardo DaVinci (future blog subjects, both). Mark Twain had integrity, great ideas, and the ability to grumble and complain while keeping us entertained at the same time. So why is he the subject of this product review? Simply because Mark Twain was one of the most popular and enduring products of the 19th century. Real name: Sam Clemens, born in the north, immensely popular and financially successful. Yet to this day Mark Twain conjures the image of a wild-haired southern curmudgeon in a white suit, chomping a cigar and glowering at the world. That’s brand identification. Of course it was the literary style of Mark Twain that put him on the map forever. He pioneered realism in dialog, tackled incendiary social issues with an acrid temper tempered by acid wit. He was one of a kind; niche marketing at its best. There were a few anomalies, though. Mark Twain was an anti-capitalist, yet made fortunes as a writer, self-publisher and inspired inventor with many patents. Twain despised organized religion, yet donated generously to the Presbyterians. Twain condemned racism, yet called American Indians the scum of the Earth. Twain was a renowned pacifist, yet called for the removal of the Russian Czar by violent means (“because peaceful ones would not work”). Twain filed for bankruptcy, yet spent years paying back his full debts although they were legally forgiven. I always perceived the aforementioned contradictions as the differences between the Mark Twain “product” and the real Sam Clemens. Proof, in fact, that Mark Twain was a product. Proof, in fact, that the snarly boodle niche has an established, successful track record. Proof of the quality of this product is in Mark Twain’s enduring classics. But Twain once described a “classic” as “a book which people praise and don’t read.” So instead I suggest you check out a few of his lesser-known, but equally brilliant works (see sidebars). Broadus |
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