In a word, it was the East which broadened and universalized the spirit
of Mark Twain. We shall see, later on, that it steadily fostered in him
a spirit of true nationalism and hardy democracy. But it was the South
and the West which lavishly gave him of their most priceless riches, and
thereby created in Mark Twain an unique and incomparable genius, the
veritable type and embodiment of their inalienably individual life and
civilization. This first phase of the life of Mark Twain has been so
strongly stressed here, because the first half of his life has always
seemed to me to have been a period of--shall I say?--God-appointed
preparation for the most significant and lastingly permanent work of the
latter half, namely, the narration of the incidents of early experience,
and the imaginative reminting of the gold of that experience.
One has only to read Mark Twain's works to learn the real history of his
life. There were momentous episodes in the latter half of his career;
but they were concerned with his life rather than with his art.
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