Talk:Mark Twain

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Mark Twain was a good article candidate, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. Once the objections listed below are addressed, the article can be renominated. You may also seek a review of the decision if you feel there was a mistake.

Date of review: 2007-02-08
Article Creation and Improvement Drive Mark Twain was the Article Creation and Improvement Drive for the week spanning from Sunday, 22 October 2006.

For more details, see the Article Creation and Improvement Drive history.
To-do list for Mark Twain: edit  · history  · watch  · refresh


Here are some tasks you can do:
  • Expand:
    • Needs info on his marriage and family life --plange 22:44, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Needs info on his travels (Nevada, northern California, Hawaii, Egypt, Palestine) and his writing and dissertations related to travel. dpotter 03:00, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Needs discussion of the importance of Twain to the American identity (see comments below) dpotter 03:00, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
    • Leads needs to be expanded per WP:LEAD and summarize the whole article --plange 16:32, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Family Life

I think that the last paragraph from the "Life as a Writer" section should be deleted and a separate section discussing his marriage and family created. Something should be done with the last paragraph as it does not fit with the rest of the information and is out of chronological order. Any other thoughts? Windmillchaser 05:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Life as a writer quote

In this section we have the quote

"This book is a record of a pleasure trip. If it were a record of a solemn scientific expedition it would have about it the gravity, that profundity, and that impressive incomprehensibility which are so proper to works of that kind, and withal so attractive. Yet not withstanding it is only a record of a picnic, it has a purpose, which is, to suggest to the reader how he would be likely to see Europe and the East if he looked at them with his own eyes instead of the eyes of those who traveled in those countries before him. I make small pretense of showing anyone how he ought to look at objects of interest beyond the sea – other books do that, and therefore, even if I were competent to do it, there is no need."

I really don't see what this quote adds to the material and recommend it be deleted. --Ideogram 01:00, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA ON HOLD

I have placed this GA candidate on hold for the following:

  • There is one {{citation needed}} in the text.
  • A few more inline citations are needed in the middle
  • The cleanup tag near the end of the article needs to be dealt with.

Also Consider:

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is well written.
    a (prose): b (structure): c (MoS): d (jargon):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (inline citations): c (reliable): d (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b (lack of images does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):

Hope to see this a good article soon.--Natl1 (Talk Page) (Contribs) 12:49, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dislike of Rail?

I'm curious about the statement that he disliked railroads, as I was just reading a sketch of his last night in favor of them, arguing that in bed asleep was a much more dangerous place to be. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.246.144.133 (talk) 04:54, 4 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Samuel Clemens vs. Mark Twain

Wouldn't this article be better under the name "Samuel Clemens" with Mark Twain as a redirect? After all, Mark Twain was only his pen name, and Samuel Clemens his real name. It would make more sense that way. 'WiiWillieWiki(Talk) (Contributions) 15:51, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

See my comment on the talk page of Lewis Carroll where you make a similar comment today about that author. I think the same points apply here (apart from a point about you spelling his real name incorrectly.)  DDStretch  (talk) 17:20, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
I think we have had this debate before. And, if I recall correctly, the most commonly used name was our choice. Vaoverland 20:26, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA Failed

It's been in excess of the 7 day maximum that the GA nomination was put on-hold and issues relating to the original reviewer's comments still exist. Specifically, citations are still needed in the 'Youth' section. Further, the 'Career' section at the end still requires clean-up and maintenance. Also I'd take into consideration the goals set out at the top of this page, specifically "Leads needs to be expanded per WP:LEAD and summarize the whole article --plange 16:32, 29 October 2006 (UTC)"

Citations alone fail the article (see WP:WIAGA), though do take into consideration the recommendations given by myself and the other reviewer Natl1. Try again at a later date when all issues are addressed. Cheers. Nja247 (talk • contribs) 18:01, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Mysterious Stranger

There is much misinformation and confusion regarding this novel. The article in its current form says that 44 is Satan. This is untrue. Mark Twain's biographer Albert Bigelow Paine released a false novel under Twain's name called "The Mysterious Stranger". This novel was a compilation of the 3 drafts Twain had written, relying on mostly the first and not final draft. Paine also deleted a large sum of the work, added a character, and changed the ending of the novel. The final draft only was not realeased by itself until 1969 by the Mark Twain Library and is titled "No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger". It is a very different novel than the version starring Satan. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.58.2.25 (talk) 00:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] 'The report of my death is an exaggeration'

I've somewhat rewritten this bit to correct the quote itself and some common misconceptions about the circumstances (e.g. no obituary was published). For more details see the Twain entry in List of premature obituaries and the references it cites, which give a full account. Ben Finn 14:05, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Religious Beliefs

The article says : "Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of the Christian religion through most of the end of his life, though he never renounced Presbyterianism[19]" This suggests that he retained a core belief in Christianity/presbyterianism, however on looking at the citation given this opinion is based on an early piece of writing (1866)and its difficult to reconcile later quotations with any such beliefs. Unless a proper citation is given that clearly confirms the suggestion then it should be deleted. 82.40.71.124 19:12, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Citation needed" in Pen Names section

The reference should be:

THE ADVENTURES OF THOMAS JEFFERSON SNODGRASS Pascal Covici, 1928, Chicago

Would someone who chooses to edit under an account please add this?

Thanks.

[edit] "Mark Twain went strait fiction with Joan of Arc"

This is untrue. Joan of Arc is factual, and this should be fixed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.246.99.186 (talk) 01:50, 23 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Random changes in name

Yeah, okay, I get the "using the most common name as the title" thing. That's cool. But is it too much trouble to use the same name (Twain vs. Clemens) throughout the WHOLE article, instead of randomly flopping about?67.142.130.24 04:02, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Great American Novel

The citation for this claim leads to a list made by a random Amazon.com reviewer. That's terrible. There are plenty of credible sites and reviewers out there who have claimed that Huckleberry Finn is the Great American Novel. Use one of them; not this random Amazon.com review. That's totally illegitimate. 72.130.89.63 02:17, 9 April 2007 (UTC)Anonymous

I totally agree. I've changed the reference to a page at americaslibrary.gov (a site maintained by the Library of Congress). Adam McMaster 08:24, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
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