On Masturbation: "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism"

Mark Twain

Feb 2014 · e-artnow

About this ebook

This carefully crafted ebook: “On Masturbation: "Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. One evening in Paris in 1879, The Stomach Club, a society of American writers and artists, gathered to drink well, to eat a good dinner and hear an address by Mark Twain. He was among friends and, according to the custom of the club, he delivered a humorous talk on a subject hardly ever mentioned in public in that day and age. After the meeting, he preserved the manuscript among his papers. It was finally printed in a pamphlet limited to 50 copies 64 years later. The speech satirically dealt with masturbation and the bane it is on our society. His remarks rubbed Victorian society the wrong way, and were censored for a century. Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910), quintessential American humorist, lecturer, essayist, and author wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Ratings and reviews

Mark Twain is hilarious. I read his autobiograpy. The description says this essay is 36 pages long. Bzzzt. It is actually about 3.6 pages long. The disreputable publisher claims this work is under copyright. It would have fallen into the public domain. They can't claim a new copyright merely for republishing it. My advice? Search for something else Twain wrote. I read his partial autobiography. He requested his literary executors withhold the full version of his autobiography until 100 years after his death, so he wouldn't embarrass his friends and acquaintances, or their children. Well, it has been more than 100 years now. Maybe we should all read it now.