The Mysterious Stranger
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2023
- Mark Twain died having not published one of his final works: The Mysterious Stranger. It was an interesting look at religion and the afterlife, having been written in his later years. Let's talk about the book. What did it mean? Why is it significant? Mark Twain's work is a masterpiece, even today.
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My favourite quote, attributed to Mark Twain, which applies to JW and many other cults is: "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled"
😊
Yup, no one likes to be told they've been fooled or conned or been doing the wrong thing, etc. Even more so after they've been deeply invested, particularly financially, for a good long time.
There's no evidence Mark Twain said that
He expressed views to that effect in writing but it's unproven that he said the exact quote
It's still a cool quote tho, just felt like i'd address that for anyone who drops by here. You aren't technically wrong as it is a quote attributed to him, and as previously stated he did say pretty much the same thing but with different words, but still
One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes refers to the people of Hawaii. "How sad it is to think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves in this beautiful island and never knew there was a hell"
Mark Twain was the first person that made me question the psychopathic character of the biblical God in his book "Letters from Earth".
I got a copy of Letters from earth. good book
They made a claymation on this years ago and it has a line that stuck with me for years, where Satan says “I can do no wrong, for I know not what it is.”
Not to mention "you are but a thought"
That particular line for me is sort of, questionable… sure like, it is seen as a baby: a baby can do no harm for she/he doesn’t know any better… but…. I also value the civil law “ignorantia Legis neminem excusat” that ignorance of a law excuses no one… so, you are responsible of knowing the laws because you will be judge accordingly, specially for civilians (adults) and living in society.
@@lisecarolinathe way I interpreted it was that he sees himself on a moral level far beyond what humans can comprehend. So he cannot know what is wrong because he is a perfect being that can do no wrong.
Though it's up to you to decide if he's correct or not
Twain’s wife and daughter died tragically before this story was written. You can feel his anger and existential angst in the text.
That mysterious stranger saved my life a couple of times when on really low health
He just pops up instantly kills then disappears with the guitar riff
Sadly he only pops up when using V.A.T.S
I never got that perk.
Just swore off reading comments and commenting on videos. Never say never. You are the first creator I have found who has verbalized my opinions on religion. Thank you for the work you do, it matters, it helps shut-ins like me to not feel so alone, it helps that to know a young person like yourself is getting this message out there, and doing such a good job of it.
Yea he seems like a cool guy for the most part
I’m so glad you found Owen. He’s great for seeing the madness out there. He has a really supportive community growing.
@@carolinemaybe Yea but you can't deny that some of the things he thinks are pretty stupid
@@bigjalapeno7061Not to start an argument or seem hostile but could you please give an example or two and explain what views Owen holds or things that he's said that you think are pretty stupid?
“I have a religion - but you will call it blasphemy,” he wrote in a letter in 1865. “It is that there is a God for the rich man but none for the poor … Perhaps your religion will sustain you, will feed you - I place no dependence in mine." Mark Twain. A brilliant man. He also said "If God is what people say there can be no one in the universe so unhappy as He; for He sees unceasingly myriads of His creatures suffering unspeakable miseries--and besides this foresees how they are going to suffer during the remainder of their lives. One might as well say, "As unhappy as God."
- Notebook #24, April - Aug. 1885
For some reason the quote: "When the dream no longer needs its dreamer" comes to mind. Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll have to read it.
Bro pulled out the elder scrolls knowledge.
What Year Is This?
I love this book, I read it after seeing the claymation movie "the Adventures of Mark Twain". I highly recommend watching it as it is so strange and esoteric.
czcams.com/video/Ntf5_ue2Lzw/video.html
I remember watching that!! I had no idea there was a book!! *heads to audible* lol
Agree
That claymation scene was soooo freaky
I can't believe they turned that claymation into a book lolol
Mark Twain's life story is also incredible from a leftist perspective. He started his life as an Imperialist who was literally friends with the man who wrote the poem "the white man's burden", but over his lifetime, and during the Spanish-American war, in particular, he progressively got less and less comfortable with what was going on and specifically the genocide the Americans were committing in the Philippines turned him into a staunch anti-imperialist who wrote dozens and dozens of letters and essays on how terrible the USA was acting and how terrible racism was and many many many of these letters written towards the end of his life were unpublished at the time of his death because friends and family hid them and covered it up to "preserve his legacy", but over the decades they began to be re-discovered and the full extent of just how anti-establishment the man was got revealed.
He was ALWAYS progressive for his time and place. You have to remember; he grew up in Missouri. So, he had a LOOOOONG way to go. His family didn't own slaves, but they lived near a guy who rented his out during the off season. Twain's views on slavery changed the MOMENT he realized the way his mother treated the ones she rented (giving them three meals a day, secretly giving them a tip behind their master's back, teaching them to read when that was against the law, etc) was not how the plantation owners treated them, or even most people who rented them did. He only served in the Missouri State Guard because his family was poor and he needed passive income. Which went fine, until the war broke out. Once it was clear he wasn't getting the legally required pay increase, he still had to stay there six more weeks. They didn't even get FOOD from the guard. He and his buddies found a lake and spent almost their entire service skinny dipping and fishing. Then his brother (on his way to become undersecretary to the Governor of the Nevada Territory for Lincoln,) came to get him out of there and found him an actual job.
You know, Kipling was not a white supremacist. Anyone thinking so knows very little of the man. I’m sure Twain was always friends with him.
The 1985 claymation movie The Adventures of Mark Twain has a 5 minute segment based on the Mysterious Stranger.
You can watch the movie for free on here and it's amazing
1984 and Animal Farm still hold up tremendously well.
Thanks for the recommendation.
One of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain referring to the people of Hawaii. "How sad it is to think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves in this beautiful island and never knew there was a hell"
When I first read this book in 2014, it had a major impact on my entire psychology. What really got me was the last chapter. Twain’s exploration of solipsism, not as a manifestation of narcissism, but as the only plausible explanation for what is otherwise a ridiculous and inexplicable existence, still rings clear in my head.
Forget deconstructing Christianity, he deconstructed my reality. I had dreams of me floating without a body in space for weeks. Amazing, life changing book.
This is a book everyone should read. It's an amazing book. It shows that Religion is the root of all evil.
🤘🏾
Does it start with a B?
Okay you take away religion and replace it by modern propaganda and machines? Has religion ever really left if it's about control.
The bible does that as well. A very good job of it too.
How tf does it do that
This scene from The adventures of Mark Twain movie still haunts my memories....
I actually spent a whole semester reading older stories in an extremely freeform Zoom class of 6 people total. There are some amazing stories that have almost entirely faded from the modern collective consciousness, solely because there aren't storytellers singing their praises. I think more content spotlighting interesting works of old would be a great thing, because most pre-college courses barely even touch anything before 1900 if it isn't earlier Twain, Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Poe, or the other usual suspects for English classes. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love works by all of these authors, Shelley and Poe are personal favorites of mine, but it just doesn't even scratch the surface of pre-modern literature.
Chaucer, Douglass, Basho, we read a bit of everything, and the class was supposed to focus on writings of different nations. We read the foundational works of pretty much every nation's literary styles. I remember particularly enjoying reading snippets from The Classic of Poetry, which is a compilation of old Chinese poems attributed to various authors, and I remember the entire class enjoyed reading Chaucer and Journey To The West.
The final day of our class, we read a story by, I believe it was Chekov, I can't even remember the name of the story, but I can never forget how chilling it was to read. It was about a man contemplating how he would manipulate a hapless woman, and it was absolutely bone-chilling. It was written not with any subtext of drama, but casually, to mimic how a real sociopath thinks about their actions. Even more memorable was how one of my classmates knew someone who they had realized was acting in the same manner as the villain and point of view of that story.
And that moment is burned into my mind more than most other experiences from that time period, even though I was just an observer.
Just got it from the library. I love Mark Twain. Thanks for the recommendation.
This is one of the most memorable books I’ve ever read. Thanks for this! BTW Satan introduced himself as Philip Traum I think. Thank you Mrs. McGonigle from high school!
His name is Philip Macrotch
@@bigjalapeno7061 I’m calling for medical assistance because I just died. 🤣
What's peculiar is this whole story is "Satan" telling these kids that God doesn't exist, it's Satan that's creating and killing/destroying at will, with no remorse. Saying "I can do no wrong, for I do not know that wrong is". All the while Satan is doing all this, yet everyone is blaming God and saying Satan isn't evil? "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist".
The animated version of this tale although different was really interesting
So basically, Mark Twain is saying life could be a dream? Sheboom.
Great Book...I read it as a boy. As a kid who grew up near the Mississippi River Mark Twain has always been one of my favorite authors. He was a rebellious man who always questioned authority. I've always respected him for that!
It’s an amazing book. My
Mother was an English prof.
Twain was a brilliant writer. This book doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long.
There are so many books I love, but the trilogy, *His Dark Materials,* by Philip Pullman, is one of the *best* I’ve ever read.
There was something about the last part you read aloud, in The Mysterious Stranger (which I absolutely want to read!), that made me think of His Dark Materials. I’m not sure exactly what, but here are few things that resonated:
•The thought of there being an unjust creator; punishing their children for things that they are solely responsible for, and could change everything for the benefit of their children (but they don’t.)
•How much power do we truly have in our lives, and why do so many of us freely give it up to others, whether they be mere humans like us, or spiritual entities?
•Is there a possibility of meeting again in another life? Whether the answer is “yes” or “no”, how does that impact us while still living?
•And lastly, what happens to us when we die? Is the possibility of there being nothing an easier outcome to accept? As compared to an eternity spent elsewhere?
(Side note- there is a movie based on the first book, but for some reason, no other sequels followed. And there is a TV show based on the book series, but I have not yet watched it. I have heard it’s good, hopefully it is, but I highly recommend reading the books!!)
There’s a Lotta good information in old books
We need another Twain today.
I read this in highschool, and that ending really marked me. After I heard and read about the story of “The Egg” by Andy Weir, it totally brought me back to this story of Mark Twain: the “I and all of this is a dream created by you”… “you are the only one that actually exists”… I mean… it blew my mind. When I read the story I was still “catholic” by upbringing, but I eventually ended up atheist/agnostic… but if I were to “believe” in something… it would be something like “the mysterious stranger” or “the egg”.
I wasn't a Mark Twain fan until i came across Letters From the Earth. Definitely gonna check this one out Owen.
Mark Twain knew what he was about
I never knew much about him
Those are Maxfield Parrish illustrations - I may have to find this edition 🤗
As a literature major, who has read many many books much older than Twain, I shook my head when you said books before the 80s were dated lol lol lol. No, just, no lol lol lol. Glad you found Twain! Lots more older than him!
I just LOVE Maxfield Parrish illustrations! You can still collect "Parrish originals" fairly inexpensively in the form of antique magazine ads and covers.
Now that is a profound speech talk about facing mortality.
The clay-animation is good
great book, very deep, never heard about this book by Mark Twain. Great personal reflection.
Love this video. Thanks Owen!
Nice to see something else talked about other than politics and modern religion.
I just got the audiobook, I'm blind. But, I'm pumped, thanks for the suggestion.
I highly recommend the book "Behold the man" by Michael Moorcock. It's very thought provoking.
An alien heat by mm is awesomeness
Behold the Man is crazy and really shows Moorcock’s sci-fi range beyond the Eternal Champion saga. His are the only books that absolutely must remain in my library forever.
@@formerfatboy90 Same. And Jack L. Chalker too.
The Mysterious Stranger is way ahead of it's time, and I'm really surprised that it hasn't been turned into a modern movie. There's one part where Twain describes Satan as transparent like a bubble and he floats away and slowly dissolves and disappears. It's so impressive how discriptive that is - long before tv or special effects. I don't know if everyone would agree with this but to me it really has a Twilight Zone, Rod Serling vibe. I think that's what I meant by saying that it's way ahead of it's time..
Interesting topic! Thanks for another great video
The adventures of mark twain (1985) claymation touches on similar topics and more. Excellent movie, would recommend!
Don't miss The War Prayer. It's also one of Twain's.
War Prayer was absolutely a part of my deconversion.
I loved Twain, and that was one of the first things that made me really realize how fucked up some of the prayers we'd do were.
I first read it during the height of the Viet Nam war. War on TV was a new thing. A local rail yard had had days of explosions because a car full of munitions heading toward the battlefields had derailed and caught fire. Against that background, it was a particularly wrenching read .
Can I recommend you look at the book by Scottish writer and poet James Hogg also known as the Ettrick Shepherd. It’s similar in many ways to this book and is about an old part of the Presbyterian religion in Scotland, predestination. The book is The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Justified Sinner. It gave me nightmares when I read it. There is also a short story by Alexander Pushkin called The Queen of Spades that is worth a read about a deal made with the devil.
Owen you should check out Mark Twains writings on Satan where he talks with him directly, it’s very fascinating
There's a trippy '80s claymation anthology that includes this story, it's here on CZcams if you search 'creepiest scene from any kid's movie ever - The Adventures of Mark Twain'
For Audible subscribers: The Mysterious Stranger is available as a free read (Audible Plus) in an anthology of Twain’s stories.
Mark Twain was my first favorite novelist. I was in 4th grade when I read Huckleberry Finn the first time. I don’t know how many times I have read it since. The audiobook narrated by Elijah Wood is great. That was when the “Jim” character came alive for me. I had not ben able to parse his dialogue before.
Have you seen the claymation short of this?
That was the one I immediately thought about
Now I have to find that short. I would love to see the scene where Satan makes clay people done in claymation😉
Fascinating, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful, thank you for this.
Hit the king killer trilogy by Patrick rothfuss. The first two books are my favorite of all time.
Glad your eyes have been opened to older books. They can be wonderful. I love the little world of Don camillo and the entire hitchikers guide to the galaxy. Thank you for this recommendation. I never thought to look it up. Only saw mention of it in an old claymation that comes up on spooky animation lists!! I will now get it!
The mysterious Stranger from the Fallout series? 🤨
(Note: I say this before watching.)
I was hopeing for something about the dude from Fallout.
It should be noted, out of fairness to Twain that he never finished this book. He could not come up with what he felt was a adequate conclusion in his lifetime. It was actually finished after his death. Sadly I do not know at what point in the story his writing stops and the new writing begins, I have not been able to find that out definitively. There was also several versions of the story he tried, so not sure which version this print is of. I would imagine it's "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger" but again, I can not confirm. Even with all this, that does not take away from the message of the video here nor of the writing or the story itself, I just thought I would clarify this info for those that think this was Twain from start to finish and to give a little insight into Twains on struggle to find a way to finish the story.
I got on here to make sure someone directs you to the Claymation based on this! You should also read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as his earlier classics.
My favorite line is when Huck declares, “ok, I’ll go to Hell”
Twain was ahead of his time and absolutely skewers the religionists of his day. Look up “The United States of Lyncherdom” which was also too hot to be published during his lifetime. It’s available online.
I’ve been obsessed with Twain and Star Trek since I was 16. Fortunately, there’s a two part episode of ST TNG starring Twain.
I'll have to check this out. Thanks
The War Prayer and Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven are pretty good short stories that would work well as discussions on your channel. Actually, most of Twain's work would.
I just bought this book! I have to read this! Sounds really good. Thanks for the recommendation Owen!
It sounds interesting but not like the kind of thing I'd read
Ive listened to it several times. Definitely worth a listen. Twain is the best! Audiobooks app
Thank you Owen, I'll read that one,it sounds a bit darker than my favourite book "the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy"😂
It sounds amazing. It sounds like it's saying that Christianity isn't the only way to understand God or how things work. It just illustrates based on this video and of course without actually reading it, the absurdity of what is generally understood or depicted by those who believe in the Bible, which is a pervasive belief system in our culture, but it's not the only way to understand spirituality or how the world works. But there are more choices than either Christianity or nothing exists. Reality may be an illusion but an illusion by definition means that we are not perceiving things accurately. It does not mean that reality doesn't exist otherwise reality would be a hallucination, not an illusion. There's a big difference. So in my opinion, there is a spoon, it's just not actually a spoon.
One of the best stories I ever read.
You guys should also read Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
If space operas are your kinda thing then the 'Culture series' novels by Iain M Banks are well worth a read. Elon Musk is a big fan of them... but don't let that put you off, lol.
Owen, now that you live in the NYC area, you should take a 3-4 hour trip to Elmira. (Used to be NYS Route 17, now I-86 IIRC, to get there.) It's where Samuel Clemens met his wife and spent much of his time, believe it or not.
Interesting
@@bigjalapeno7061 Sam Clemens fell hard of Livy Langdon. He pursued her despite several initial rejections. They were eventually married in Elmira on February 2nd, 1870. Together, they would endure the loss of two children, a bankruptcy, and much other adversity, but would remain mutually adoring spouses until Livy's death in 1904.
Mark Twain in Elmira
@@bigjalapeno7061 Did Mark Twain ever live in Elmira NY?
Uncovering Mark Twain's Life and Death in Elmira, New York ...
Twain is best known for his books that revolve around the Mississippi River, though he lived little of his adult life in that region of the United States. What is this? Instead, Twain spent a good deal of his life in the northeast and spent 20 summers at the home of his wife's sister in Elmira, New York.Dec 5, 2019
Uncovering Mark Twain's Life and Death in Elmira, New York
It's a classic.
glitch in the matrix
Thank you Owen very interesting
Yea it is
I haven't read the book. But mark Twain was a true genius!
He was born to a slave owner, and grew up seeing all them harm and evil of it.
That is just one more argument for my belief that 'Huckleberry Finn' is the one book the N-word should never be censored out of. It would destroy a lot of the point Mark Twain was trying to make.
@@jerau2990 interesting point!
@@jerau2990absolutely 👍
You should read 'the Blackcollar' by timothy Zahn. It is a really good space opera, with space ninjas.
That part of mark train is put in a movie.
Connecticut Yankee is another great Twain book
I just went and bought this book lol I’m excited to read it
Row row row your boat gently down the stream.merrily merrily life is but a dream
saying this because I think its interesting, not to be pedantic.
The version you read is actually from "The Chronicle of Young Satan" which is the first idea for the mysterious stranger, which is also what has been used in the claymation movie (which was the reason why I decided to read about the stories because I wanted to read the original.
Also a lot of the versions that are out for cheap is either that or an edited version called the "Paine-Duneka text of 1916" where others have edited the first version and tacked on the end of the last version "which is technically the one called the mysterious stranger". To get the "real" versions you should either look at "The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts" from cali uni press or "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger" from the same, first has all 3 different versions, last only has the final one.
oh and also why I bring this up is because the last version is completely different and I was pretty surprised when I read it, because it doesnt have the sculpting of humans and plays out very differently (in it basically satan shows up in a village one day and suddenly people start acting weird and then witch hunts and so on begins)
The last one sounds like the book "Needful Things" by Steven King.
Thats very much on par with the gnostic's teachings
Deathstalker was a great series. You should check out Greene's other works. It seems the first book in all of his series isn't the greatest, but as they go on they get much better.
Oooh I'll check those out. Gotta say so far favorite fiction book series is brent weeks' night angel trilogy. Wonder how the recommendations will stack up.
Yeah i gotta get it copy of this
Mark Twain Is a amazing author
I definitely want to read this
I just checked its free on google play books!
Engagement.
Just got it on my kindle. Under his eye.
"Letters From Earth" are well known in Poland in form of Audiobook narrated by vocalist of heavy metal band KAT.
WOW!
Hey Owen,
I would recommend reading DAVID EDDINGS - THE BELGARIAD... a great fantasy story! Far better than Tolkien or Pratchett or Adams.
I just finished it last month. It's pretty generic most of the time. The worldbuilding is pretty good but the series would have been much better as 2 or 3 books. Definitely not better than Tolkien or Pratchet or Adams.
Yes. Not only is the biblical/ Zionist god clearly evil (something that isn’t even subtle in any text about the being) but the way this realm is designed reflects that. As above so below.
What evil lurks in the hearts of men only the shadow knows
Sounds great! 👍💙💖🥰✌
I’m so happy you have my fire 🔥
The Dune series by Frank Herbert and the Demonata series by Darren Shan are really good as well. I’d recommend them. Dune has good commentary on what happens when a religious institution gains too much power (along with other themes). The Demonata series is just really good fiction.
Twain was an atheist. An unashamed atheist. And a brilliant writer. Dangerous combination! lol
i found it on my NLS player its w other stories its 9 hours for all the book
Somewhere on CZcams there's an old 70's claymation of this story. I think it's listed as the creepiest kids cartoon or something.
It's from "the adventures of Mark twain" so I guess it makes sense 🤣🤣
I still say he is an Athiest I always thought that and I really believe it even more.
Deathstalker ok I don't read fiction too often but I respect your opinion on that
They adapted it to the infamously super-creepy claymation movie _Adventures of Mark Twain_ (1985); it was somehow even weirder than _The Phantom Tollbooth_ (1961). 😒
Oooh, we're trading space operas? I will see you deathstalker with legend of the galactic heroes, and then raise you with the expanse
I'll get it one day, Blessed Be.