8.6 /10 1 Votes8.6
3.7/5 Goodreads Media type Print Originally published 1905 Genre Humour | 5/5 Loyal Books Illustrator Lester Ralph Publication date 1906 Pages 109 pp Publisher Harper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Mark Twain books, Humour books, Classical Studies books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"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.
Contents
- Free public domain audio book eve s diary by mark twain audiobook giveaway
- Summary
- Illustrations
- References
Free public domain audio book eve s diary by mark twain audiobook giveaway
Summary
It is written in the style of a diary kept by the first woman in the biblical creation story, Eve, and is claimed to be "translated from the original MS." The "plot" of this story 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."
Illustrations
The book version of the story was published with 55 illustrations by Lester Ralph, on each left hand page. The illustrations depicted Eve and Adam in their natural settings. The depiction of an unclothed woman was considered pornographic when the book was first released in the United States, and created a controversy around the book. A library in Charlton, Massachusetts banned the book for the depictions of Eve in "summer costume."
When contacted Twain replied:
Two weeks later, after testifying before Congress, he elaborated as reported in the Washington Herald,
In a handwritten inscription in the front of at least one copy of the book, he wrote:
And in a letter to a friend, Harriett E. Whitmore, he commented: