The Official
Australian Mark Twain Society
website
The following list of Twain's Australasian interviews has been extracted verbatim from a comprehensive list of all known Twain interviews available at www.twainquotes.com
"Arrival of Mark Twain / An Innocent Abroad"
SYDNEY (Aus.) MORNING HERALD, 16 Sep 1895, p. 4.
Reprinted in "Mark Twain at Sydney / Amusing Interview." MELBOURNE (Aus.) ARGUS, 16 Sep 1895, p. 5.
SLC mentions his literary quarrel with Max O'Rell.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 197-198. #82
"The Humorist's Arrival / 'Our Harbor' / About Globe Trotters." By Herbert Low.
SYDNEY (Aus.) EVENING NEWS, 16 Sep 1895, p. 4.
Excerpts reprinted in:
SYDNEY AUSTRALIAN STAR circa 21 Sep 1894
"The Max O'Rell Duel," MELBOURNE (Aus.) HERALD, 23 Sep 1895
SLC at breakfast, still aboard ship, discusses the Max O'Rell fracas.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 198-201. #83
"Mark Twain in Sydney / A Further Interview." By Herbert Low (?)
MELBOURNE (Aus.) ARGUS, 17 Sep 1895, p. 5.
SLC comments on his laziness, Ulysses Grant, Bret Harte, Kipling, and Hawthorne.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 201-203. #84
"Visit of Mark Twain / Wit and Humor." By Herbert Low (?)
SYDNEY (Aus.) HERALD, 17 Sep 1895, pp. 5-6.
Long discussion on wit and humor; opinions of W. S. Gilbert, Dickens, Pope, Ulysses Grant, Kipling, Harte; need for a "third party" in politics.
Reprinted in Budd, "Mark Twain Talks Mostly about Humor and Humorists." STUDIES IN AMERICAN HUMOR, 1 (Apr 1974), 4-19.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 204-207. #85
"A Ramble with Mark Twain / His Views on Men and Things." By Herbert Low (?)
SYDNEY (Aus.)TELEGRAPH, 17 Sep 1895, p. 5.
SLC discusses Henry George's ideas on ownership of land; tells of plagiarizing from Oliver Wendell Holmes; comments on Scott and his style; describes himself as humorous rather than witty.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 208-213. #86
"Mark Twain / A Talk About His Books / Those of Other Writers / His War Experience." By Louis Becke (?)
SYDNEY (Aus.) EVENING NEWS, supplement, 21 Sep 1895, p. 3.
SLC discusses The Gilded Age, T. N. Page, G. W. Harris, Artemus Ward, and G. W. Cable.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 213-215. #87
"A Chat with Mark Twain / Impressions of Public Men / Australian and American Audiences / Criticism of Bret Harte--What He Thinks of Interviewing--Lecturing v Authorship--His Favorite Work"
SYDNEY (Aus.) SUNDAY TIMES, 22 Sep 1895, p. 4.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 216-219. #88
"Mark Twain on Prohibition"
NEW SOUTH WALES (Aus.) LICENSING GUARDIAN, between later Sep and early Nov 1895.
Portion reprinted in MARK TWAIN'S NOTEBOOK, ed. Albert Bigelow Paine (NY: Harper, 1935), pp. 257-259
SLC attacks prohibition, temperance, and local option laws on alcohol.
Reprinted by Budd.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 219-222. #89
"Mark Twain." By "Asmodeus"
SYDNEY (Aus.) SUNDAY TRUTH, 22 Sep 1895, p. 1.
Possible fabrication.
Shillingsburg, At Home Abroad, decides that this text "could easily have been patched up" from TELEGRAPH and HERALD items of Sep 17.
"Our American Cousin"
SYDNEY (Aus.) SUNDAY TRUTH, 22 Sep 1895, p. 5.
According to Louis Budd, "problematic authenticity"; SLC complains of having been hounded by reporters.
"Mark Twain / In the Sydney Express / . . . Mrs. Clemens Talks of Australia / Her Husband Will Write of It." By "Aubrey." (Herbert Low?)
MELBOURNE (Aus.) EVENING NEWS, 26 Sep 1895, p. 2.
"Aubrey" added a few more details in MELBOURNE (Aus.) EVENING NEWS, 27 Sep, p. 2.
SLC praises the landscape and native writer Marcus Clarke; briefly comments on Dickens and on PRINCE AND PAUPER.
Shillingsburg, AT HOME ABROAD, decides that the author "may have been" Herbert Low.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 223-226. #90
"The Tramp in Melbourne / A Morning with Mark Twain / Jokes and Jottings"
MELBOURNE (Aus.) HERALD, 26 Sep 1895, p. 1.
continued in:
"The Tramp in Melbourne / A Morning with Mark Twain / Jokes and Jottings / About Things in General."
MELBOURNE (Aus.) HERALD, 27 Sep 1895, p. 4.
SLC chats about Australia landscape and climate, praises Marcus Clarke, Tauchnizt, Louis Becke.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 226-231. #91
"Mark Twain / Arrival in Melbourne"
MELBOURNE (Aus.) AGE, 27 Sep 1895, p. 6.
SLC praises both progress and preserving some relics; suggests that purely humorous books do not last; describes his writing habits; decries hasty judgments by travelers.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 232-234. #92
"Mark Twain Put to the Question"
ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER, 14 Oct 1895, p. 6.
Reprinted in Fatout's MARK TWAIN SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF, pp. 151-54.
Reprinted by Budd.
SLC discusses interviews, Kipling, false notions about Americans and Southern violence, racial minorities of Negroes and Chinese, and Jumping Frog story.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 235-238. #93
"Mark Twain /Arrival in Adelaide"
ADELAIDE (Aus.) ADVERTISER, 14 Oct 1895, p. 7.
Scharnhorst provides quotes from this interview in footnotes p. 239-240 for his interview #93.
"Interview with Mark Twain"
BALLARAT (Aus.) COURIER, 21 Oct 1895 p. 4.
SLC comments on Australian wallpaper and New York's statute of Garibaldi.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 240-241. #94
"Mark Twain / Arrival in Hobart"
HOBART (Aus.) TASMANIAN NEWS, 2 Nov 1895, p. 2.
Appears to be a composite of earlier interviews, especially that in SYDNEY HERALD, 17 Sep 1895.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 241-243. #95
"Mark Twain in Hobart / Some Impressions and an Interview"
HOBART (Aus.) MERCURY, 4 Nov 1895, p. 4.
Reprinted in HOBART TASMANIAN MAIL, 9 Nov, p. 35.
SLC comments on false impressions given by maps.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 243-246. #96
"A Chat with Mark Twain." By Malcolm Ross.
DUNEDIN (N.Z.) OTAGO TIMES, 6 Nov 1895, p. 4;
Reprinted in DUNEDIN OTAGO WITNESS, 14 Nov, p. 37.
Most of the conversation paraphrased. Discusses New York newspapers; Paige typesetter.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 246-249. #97
"Mark Twain / A Talk with the Famous Humorist"
CHRISTCHURCH (N. Z. ) LYTTELTON TIMES, 13 Nov 1895, pp. 5-6;
Reprinted in CHRISTCHURCH CANTERBURY TIMES, 21 Nov, pp. 24-25.
Much paraphrasing. SLC comments on Knights of Labor, habit of laying manuscripts aside, and lecture audiences.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 249-251. #98
"Mark Twain at Home / A Chat with Mr. Clemens"
CHRISTCHURCH (N.Z.) PRESS, 13 Nov 1895, p. 5.
SLC praises the scenery of New Zealand; compares American and "colonial" audiences; comments on New Zealand journalism.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 252-255. #99
No title available.
NELSON (N.Z.) EVENING MAIL, 18 Nov 1895.
Shillingsburg, AT HOME ABROAD, p. 152, provides some quotes from this article.
According to Budd, this was more likely a news story than interview.
Mark Twain / Arrival in Auckland"
AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 21 Nov 1895, p. 5.
Discussion of American versus British humor and of Americanisms in speech.
Reprinted in Budd, "Mark Twain Talks Mostly about Humor and Humorists." STUDIES IN AMERICAN HUMOR, 1 (Apr 1974), 4-19.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 255-257. #100
No title available
NEW PLYMOUTH (N.Z. ) BUDGET AND TARANAKI WEEKLY HERALD, 30 Nov 1895, p. 9.
Quotes NELSON (N.Z.) EVENING MAIL, 18 Nov 1895 on SLC's opinion of the French Pass for ships.
"Mark Twain"
WELLINGTON (N.Z.) EVENING POST, 10 Dec 1895, p. 3.
No direct quotes.
"A Chat with Mark Twain." By R.A. L.
WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND MAIL, 12 Dec 1895, p. 51.
SLC reminisces about Civil War, publication of Jumping Frog story, the Holy Land trip, PRINCE AND PAUPER, and writing his own obituary.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 258-263. #101
"Mark Twain / His Tour through New Zealand"
SYDNEY (Aus.) TELEGRAPH, 20 Dec 1895, p. 6.
SLC refuses to give impression of New Zealand because he hurried through it.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 263-264. #102
"With Mark Twain"
SYDNEY (Aus.) BULLETIN, 4 Jan 1896, p. 8.
SLC discusses his books, his reading, writing habits, dreams, and ghosts.
Reprinted in MARK TWAIN: THE COMPLETE INTERVIEWS, edited by Gary Scharnhorst, (Univ. of Alabama Press, 2006) p. 264-267. #103
Last modified: 29 Sep 2007