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'미국 현대문학의 아버지'라 불리는 마크 트웨인의 사적인 편지, 자전적 글, 연설문, 소설, 미발표 원고 등을 추려 엮은 책. 캘리포니아대학 뱅크로프트 도서관의 '마크 트웨인 프로젝트' 편집자들이 엮은 것으로, 마크 트웨인의 생전 모습들과 친필 원고와 편지, 작품에 실렸던 삽화가 함께 수록되어 있다.

일상적인 예의범절, 여행 에티켓, 어린이들의 도덕 교육, 패션·건강·음식에 대한 의견을 비롯해, 끈덕진 외판원들·예측불가능한 공공서비스·말썽 많은 가전제품들에 대한 불만, 좀도둑 대처 방안부터 천국에 들어가는 방법에 이르기까지, 광범위한 주제에 대한 마크 트웨인의 익살맞은 제안과 날카로운 냉소와 독설이 담겨 있다.

처음으로 발표되는 새로운 글도 있고, 수십 년 동안 활자화되지 않은 글도 들어 있다. 마크 트웨인의 개구쟁이 소년 시절, 모험심 넘치는 청년 시절, 자상한 남편과 아버지가 된 모습, 위트 넘치는 노년기의 모습 등 익살맞고 정다운 이웃 같은 그의 인간적 면모도 생생하게 만날 수 있다.

Irreverent, charming, eminently quotable, this handbook--an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race--contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain's private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars. Culled from Twain's personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain's characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project.

"This wonderful book illustrates precisely why we can never have enough Twain. His humor is timeless, his wisdom about all things without equal."--Ken Burns"Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living is a real discovery as well as a delight. It brings us fresh material from an old friend, and rediscovers great moments from the long shelves of his published writings. It's the best, most reliable collection of Mark Twain as social observer, moralist, and comic genius."--Bruce Michelson, author of Mark Twain on the Loose and Literary Wit"A delightful display of Mark Twain's wit and humor loosely tied together under the guise of an advice book. Containing some things old, some things new, some things borrowed (in parody), but nothing blue, this charming collection of old favorites and new releases will guide you through life's exigencies in fine spirits, if not in fine form. Twain's advice occasionally touches the sublime, but only in the form of the ridiculous. This is the perfect gift book for any aficionado of Mark Twain, any connoisseur of the risible, or any stuffed-shirt who needs to lighten up."--Gregg Camfield, author of The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain"Twain came to understand himself as 'a moralist in disguise,' and this collection reveals that truth clearly, without jettisoning any of his humor. If you are wrestling with how to advance stimulating dinner conversation, what to do with unwanted magazine subscriptions, how to deal with the 'odious flummery' of fashion, or whether or not to bring your dog to the next funeral, Twain is here to offer his gentle guidance. Old chestnuts and surprising obscurities are provided in a refreshed context through the rich and illuminating annotations of the ever brilliant editorial team at the Mark Twain Papers."--John Boyer, executive director of The Mark Twain House and MuseumThis book serves up an elegant taste of Mark Twain's love for the food of the American South, spiced generously with his celebrated wit. Food lovers and humorists alike will revel in the timeless wisdom gathered here.--Nathalie Dupree, television host and author of Nathalie Dupree's Southern Memories"This is a masterfully edited compendium that does Twain proud. It captures the note-taking, aphorism-creating, angry-letter-writing essence of Twain's brain in a way essential, I think, to understanding the man, and by extension, the history of the United States and the nature of life on Earth."--Dave Eggers, editor of McSweeney's

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List of Illustrations
Introduction

1. Everyday Etiquette
A Letter of Apology
About the Effect of Intemperate Language
Be Good, Be Good. A Poem
An Innovative Dinner Party Signal System
About American Manners
Breaking It Gently
Courtesy to Unexpected Visitors
At the Funeral
A Telephonic Conversation

2. Modest Proposals and Judicious Complaints
A Christmas Wish
Proposal Regarding Local Flooding
Complaint about Unreliable Service
Notice about a Stolen Umbrella
An Appeal against Injudicious Swearing
An Unwanted Magazine Subscription
On Telephones and Swearing
About the Proposed Street-Widening
Political Economy
Notice. To the Next Burglar
Suggestion to Persons Entering Heaven

3. The American Table
Memories of Food on an American Farm
American versus European Food
An Inauspicious Meal
A Remarkable Dinner
Food and Scenery

4. Travel Manners
Traveling in Close Quarters
Communicating with the Locals
A Night Excursion in a Hotel Room

5. Health and Diet
Young Sam Clemens and Old-Time Doctoring
The "Wake-Up-Jake"
A Healthful Cocktail
A Miracle Cure
Experience of the McWilliamses with Membranous Croup
Smoking, Diet, and Health at Age Seventy

6. Parenting and the Ethical Child
The Late Benjamin Franklin
On Theft and Conscience
On Training Children
A Sampling of Childish Ethics
Youthful Misdemeanors
Advice to Youth

7. Clothes, Fashion, and Style
A Fashion Item
The Hand of Fashion
That White Suit
Clothes and Deception
A Sumptuous Robe

8. In Case of Emergency
Playing "Bear"
An Apparition
The Great Earthquake in San Francisco
Escape of the Tarantulas
Burglary and the Well-Tempered Householder
Under a Policeman’s Eye

About the Texts
Works Cited
Acknowledgments

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