The Ordeal of Mark Twain: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Ordeal of Mark Twain, credited to Van Wyck Brooks, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Ordeal of Mark Twain, by Van Wyck Brooks. Read by Lucretia B. This book, published in 1920, analyzes the literary progression of Samuel Clemens and his shortcomings (which are debatable). Brooks attributes Clemens' increasing sense of pessimism to the repression of his creative spirit due largely to his mother and his wife. (Summary by Wikipedia and Lucretia B.)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Ordeal of Mark Twain
• Author credits: Van Wyck Brooks
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 22
• Listed recording duration: 12:54:18

Catalogue topics

• Mark Twain
• Samuel Clemens
• biography

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter I - Introductory: Mark Twain's Despair, Part 1 — 31:27
2. 02 - Chapter I - Introductory: Mark Twain's Despair, Part 2 — 36:25
3. 03 - Chapter II - The Candidate for Life, Part 1 — 32:21
4. 04 - Chapter II - The Candidate for Life, Part 2 — 38:58
5. 05 - Chapter III - The Gilded Age, Part 1 — 31:16
6. 06 - Chapter III - The Gilded Age, Part 2 — 30:44
7. 07 - Chapter IV - In the Crucible, Part 1 — 39:37
8. 08 - Chapter IV - In the Crucible, Part 2 — 39:23
9. 09 - Chapter V - The Candidate for Gentility, Part 1 — 38:27
10. 10 - Chapter V - The Candidate for Gentility, Part 2 — 42:42
11. 11 - Chapter VI - Everybody's Neighbor, Part 1 — 29:04
12. 12 - Chapter VI - Everybody's Neighbor, Part 2 — 30:16
13. 13 - Chapter VII - The Playboy in Letters, Part 1 — 43:03
14. 14 - Chapter VII - The Playboy in Letters, Part 2 — 44:06
15. 15 - Chapter VIII - Those Extraordinary Twins, Part 1 — 29:49
16. 16 - Chapter VIII - Those Extraordinary Twins, Part 2 — 28:50
17. 17 - Chapter IX - Mark Twain's Humor, Part 1 — 32:27
18. 18 - Chapter IX - Mark Twain's Humor, Part 2 — 33:24
19. 19 - Chapter X - Let Somebody Else Begin, Part 1 — 38:22
20. 20 - Chapter X - Let Somebody Else Begin, Part 2 — 37:56
21. 21 - Chapter XI - Mustered Out, Part 1 — 32:42
22. 22 - Chapter XI - Mustered Out, Part 2 — 33:02

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.