A pesar de que han sido sus novelas las que han llevado a considerar a Mark Twain como uno de los más notables escritores estadounidenses, su obra ensayística y periodística, caracterizada por una lúcida ironía, merece actualmente una mayor difusión. En especial los escritos de sus dos últimas décadas de vida, en los que ante las políticas militaristas y expansionistas de su país en Cuba y Filipinas, Twain asume una posición abiertamente antiimperialista. El presente volumen reúne una amplia selección de escritos políticos y de crítica social, agrupados temáticamente según se centren en el naciente imperialismo estadounidense de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, sus crónicas de viaje por Hawai, África del Sur y Australia, sus escritos a favor de las revueltas contra el despotismo zarista en Rusia, sus simpatías por los chinos en la Guerra de los Boxers y sus críticas a la política imperial desarrollada por Bélgica en el Congo. Destacan sus escritos sobre la guerra hispano-estadounidense por Cuba, en los que queda claro el cambio de su posicionamiento. Cierran el volumen diversos escritos sobre raza, género y religión, donde también se puede apreciar la evolución del pensamiento de Twain desde posturas relativamente conservadoras a una lectura mucho más crítica y con enorme sensibilidad social de los acontecimientos mundiales que caracterizaron los inicios del siglo XX. Este libro nos da la oportunidad de conocer no sólo al artista, al eficaz narrador de historias, sino al político, al hombre de acción. Un intelectual crítico y visionario que un siglo después sigue siendo una de las voces más actuales de nuestro tiempo. (tomado de la web de la editorial).
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which proved to be very popular and brought him nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling. He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. However, he lacked financial acumen. Though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, however, he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility. Born during a visit by Halley's Comet, he died on its return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age", and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature". Excerpted from Wikipedia. AKA: Μαρκ Τουαίν (Greek)
