Theme and Stylistic Devices in the Novels of ...

Theme and Stylistic Devices in the Novels of Mark Twain

Author Name : Dileep Kumar Singh

ABSTRACT

Mark Twain was not only a wit but a literary man. He could paint a scene and he could make a character live, but could he plot a novel? It is the purpose of these studies to analyze his methods and his products, with emphasis upon the building of plots. Mark Twain came up into literature from the popular ranks, deriving very little from the bookish tradition. The origins of his art lay in humor, in short sketches, more or less inventive, and. studies of life in which he let his imagination play freely.  Powerful in character portrayal and weak in the structural sense, Mark Twain often depended upon his characters to write the narrative for him. When they really came to life, they did just that, passing from incident to incident with a grace their creator could never achieve in manipulating an artificial plot.

Keywords: Mark Twain, Literature, Structural sense, artificial plot, etc.