Eve's Diary

Eve's Diary

"Eve's Diary" is a comic short story by Mark Twain. It was first published in the 1905 Christmas issue of the magazine Harper's Bazaar, and in book format in June 1906 by Harper and Brothers publishing house. It is written in the style of a diary kept by the first woman in the Judeao-Christian creation myth, Eve, and is claimed to be "translated from the original MS." The "plot" of this novel is the first-person account of Eve from her creation up to her burial by, her mate, Adam, including meeting and getting to know Adam, and exploring the world around her, Eden. The story then jumps 40 years into the future after the Fall and expulsion from Eden. It is one of a series of books Twain wrote concerning the story of Adam and Eve, including 'Extracts from Adam's Diary,' 'That Day In Eden,' 'Eve Speaks,' 'Adam's Soliloquy,' and the 'Autobiography of Eve.' Eve's Diary has a lighter tone than the others in the series, as Eve has a strong appreciation for beauty and love. The book may have been written as a posthumous love-letter to Mark Twain's wife Olivia Langdon Clemens, or Livy, who died in June 1904, just before the story was written. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "Eve's Diary is finished — I've been waiting for her to speak, but she doesn't say anything more." The story ends with Adam's speaking at Eve's grave, "Wherever she was, there was Eden."

Illustrations

The book version of the story was published with 55 illustrations by Lester Ralph, on each left hand page. These beautiful additions depicted Eve and Adam in their natural settings. Unfortunately, the depiction of an unclothed woman was considered pornographic when the book was first released and created a controversy around the book. One library in Charlton, Massachusetts banned the book for the depictions of Eve in "summer costume." When contacted Twain replied:Two weeks later, after testifying to congress, he elaborated as reported in the Washington Herald, cquote|The whole episode has rather amused me. I have no feeling of vindictiveness over the stand of the librarians there — I am only amused. You see they did not object to my book; they objected to Lester Ralph's pictures. I wrote the book; I did not make the pictures. I admire the pictures, and I heartily approve them, but I did not make them.
It seems curious to me — some of the incidents in this case. It appears that the pictures in Eve's Diary were first discovered by a lady librarian. When she made the dreadful find, being very careful, she jumped at no hasty conclusions — not she — she examined the horrid things in detail. It took her some time to examine them all, but she did her hateful duty! I don't blame her for this careful examination; the time she spent was, I am sure, enjoyable, for I found considerable fascination in them myself.
Then she took the book to another librarian, a male this time, and he, also, took a long time to examine the unclothed ladies. He must have found something of the same sort of fascination in them that I found…
In a letter to a friend, Harriett E. Whitmore, he commented:

External links

* [http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/EvesDiar.shtml Full text of book, without illustrations]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8525 Full text of book, with all of Lester Ralph's illustrations] ( [http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg] )
* [http://www.twainquotes.com/19061124.html New York Times article on Massachusetts banning]
* [http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/eve2.htm Michael Waisman webpage on book, including one illustration and excerpt]
* [http://199.236.117.33/twainweb/reviews/rob1-rev.html Review of reprint of Excerpt of Adams Diary and Eve's Diary]
* [http://www.boondocksnet.com/twaintexts/washington_herald061208.html Excerpt form Washington Herald article]
* [http://www.boondocksnet.com/twaintexts/letters/letter070207.html Excerpt from letter to Harriett E. Whitmore]


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