Comments on: Mark Twain: “How to Tell a Story.” http://www.talkingpointsblog.com/focusmessage/mark-twain-story/ Joey Asher Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:31:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: My Homepage http://www.talkingpointsblog.com/focusmessage/mark-twain-story/comment-page-1/#comment-1327 My Homepage Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:39:46 +0000 http://speechworks.net/wordpress/?p=1810#comment-1327 … [Trackback]…

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]]> By: James Malone http://www.talkingpointsblog.com/focusmessage/mark-twain-story/comment-page-1/#comment-870 James Malone Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:19:09 +0000 http://speechworks.net/wordpress/?p=1810#comment-870 If you mean The Golden Arm Story – then it has no point – other than to illustrate the author’s description of a technique in “the American Art” – “to string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities” – it is prolonging the end of the story, adding to the enjoyment of the rambling discourse and building to the finale – the pause and the springing of the trap – “you’ve got it!”. It’s a similar technique to that used in childrens’ ghost stories – “there a dark dark house …. a dark dark room” – and finally “a dark dark ghost!”. A thoughtful and interesting article – although I would dispute that Americans have a real sense of humour at all!.

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