"Comedians, in whatever media they work, are supposed to be essentially tragic figures who sublimate their grief in laughter" (Hill ix). With this statement, Hamlin Hill begins his acknowledgements in Mark Twain: God's Fool--a biography detailing the last ten years of Samuel Clemens' life. Certainly, the image of Twain as an ultimately tragic figure is neither the one held by popular American culture, nor is it the image on which we have focused in class. Despite his financial troubles in the later years of his life, Twain remains a light-hearted humorist in the eyes of America. His unkempt hair and famous white suits suggest grandfatherly warmth, not the trappings of a misanthropic cynic. However, in Mark Twain: God's Fool, Hamlin Hill chronicles the last decade of Clemens' life and reveals the complexity and tragedy that surround his final years: the death of his wife and one of his daughters, his failed business prospects, and the slow end of his literary career.

While Mark Twain: God's Fool does not offer any close readings of our texts for this semester, it remains an interesting (though dry) account of the life of Samuel Clemens. As Hill comments on earlier in his book, much of this information was left out of Twain's autobiography and remained undisclosed until his daughter Clara's death. Hill divides his book into three sections: "Indian Summer," "Gotterdammerung," and "The Derelict." "Indian Summer" deals with the period from 1900 to the Summer of 1904 when Clemens' family struggled to maintain its fragile equilibrium through the illnesses of his wife, Olivia, and his daughter, Jean. The death of Olivia marks the beginning of the period Hill terms "Gotterdammerung." From Summer 1904 to Summer 1907, the Clemens' family continued to fall apart as both Clara and Jean developed illnesses brought on by their estrangement from their father. Twain's business investments, literary endeavors, and relationships were also marked by failure. Finally, the period from Summer 1907 to 1910 ("The Derelict") marks the last stage in Twain's life. His literary career was at its end; his memory was faltering; he dismissed his faithful secretary; and Jean's illness culminated in death. To say the least, Hill' book is exhaustive. Therefore, I will focus only on what fascinated me most about the aging Twain--his troubled personal life.

In reading Hill's book, I became aware of how little most people know about Clemens' final years. His use of the comic mask of Mark Twain allowed Clemens to obscure the realities of his life from the public eye. For instance, the last ten years of his life reveal how chaotic Clemens' family life was. His wife Olivia, who acted as Twain's editor, had managed to keep a household of dominant personalities together, and the onset of her illness in many ways mirrored the family ties coming apart. Jean, the youngest daughter, developed persistent attacks of epilepsy. In both cases, I found it interesting how Clemens appeared to be part of the problem. As his wife's condition worsened, Clemens was allowed to see her only infrequently while his daughter Clara was granted visitation quite often. Despite the doctors' warning not to reveal any of his financial difficulties to his wife while she was sick, Clemens could not refrain from telling his wife things that could endanger her life. He notes in a letter to his friend, Joe Twichell, that: "For the first time in months I heard her break into one of her girlish old-time laughs. With a word I could freeze the blood in her veins!" (Hill 56). Statements such as these, coupled with Twain's insistence that Jean remain in various clinics despite her pleas to be with her father, expose a troubling aspect of Clemens' personality that was hidden from public view.

Another part of Clemens' life that I found interesting was his relationship with his secretary, Isabel Lyon. During the later stages of Olivia's illness, Miss Lyon came to the Clemens' household to act as a secretary for the author. After Olivia's death, Isabel became an indispensable part of the family, acting as Twain's editor, maintaining the family finances, and eventually overseeing the construction of a new house at Stromfield. Her relationship with Twain, whom she referred to as the "King" in her diary, was a curious one. At one point, she commented in her diary: "I've known of several men who have married several times--they couldn't live without the companionship and sympathy of a woman" (Hill 94). Regardless of any deeper feelings Miss Lyon may have had for Clemens, she was undeniably a faithful servant to Clemens, helping him to manage as his memory began to falter. However, as Isabel gained power in the Clemens' household, Clara became increasingly jealous and convinced her father that Miss Lyon had been stealing from him. Ultimately, this resulted in Clemens' dismissal of his secretary and faithful companion in 1909.

What I find interesting about both of these facets of Clemens' life is how they have been hidden from public view. Twain's autobiography only mentions Isabel Lyon by name once (upon Clara's insistence), and Clemens hid the chaos of his family life behind the mask of Mark Twain. Indeed, even when Olivia was ill, Clemens continued his public appearances and made speeches. However, I believe that, in fully realizing all the complexities and tragedies which plagued the last decade of Clemens' life, we ultimately come to view the larger-than-life character of Mark Twain as unmistakably human. As Albert B. Paine remarked, Mark Twain "reached the heart of the world...because he was so limitlessly human that every other human heart...responded to his touch" (Hill 272). By revealing many truths about Clemens' later years, Hamlin Hill allows us to fully appreciate Twain's work.