The Science Fiction of Mark Twain

Contents

Texts and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii

Whimsical Wonders

Petrified Man 3
Earthquake Almanac 4
A Curious Pleasure Excursion 6
The Curious Republic of Gondour 10
Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven 14

Instantaneous Communication

The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton 61
Time-Travel Contexts from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 77
Mental Telegraphy 96
Mental Telegraphy Again 112
My Platonic Sweetheart 117
From the “London Times” of 1904   127

Doubtful Speculations

“The Great Dark 139
The Secret History of Eddypus, the World-Empire 176
Sold to Satan 226
3,000 Years Among the Microbes 233

Appendixes

A. “The Mysterious Balloonist” 327
B. A Synopsis of “A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage”  331
C. “The Generation Iceberg” 334
D. Shackleford’s Ghost 335
E. “History 1,000 Years from Now” 338

Explanatory Notes 341
Selected Bibliography 381