Du Nevada à la Californie, de Saint-Louis à San Francisco, À la dure raconte sept années d'aventures burlesques et tumultueuses d'un pied-tendre absolument maladroit, le genre à déclencher un vaste incendie tandis qu'il se prépare juste à dîner au bord d'un lac, ou à être pris dans une tempête de neige et se préparer à y mourir alors qu'il se trouve à quelques mètres d'un refuge. Ode comique à la nature sauvage, livre effervescent, à la fois débridé et d'une maîtrise narrative absolue, voici le Far West du père du roman américain, Mark Twain, le maître de Hemingway et Faulkner, Dos Passos et Steinbeck !

A la dure

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer revolves around the youthful adventures of the novel's schoolboy protagonist, Thomas Sawyer, whose reputation precedes him for causing mischief and strife. Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, half-brother Sid, and cousin Mary in the quaint town of St. Petersburg, just off the shore of the Mississippi River. St. Petersburg is described as a typical small-town atmosphere where the Christian faith is predominant, the social network is close-knit, and familiarity resides.  Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings" from his Aunt Polly; ever the mischief-maker, would rather play hooky than attend school and often sneaks out his bedroom window at night to adventure with his friend, Huckleberry Finn ­ the town's social outcast. Tom, despite his dread of schooling, is extremely clever and would normally get away with his pranks if Sid were not such a "tattle-tale."  As punishment for skipping school to go swimming, Aunt Polly assigns Tom the chore of whitewashing the fence surrounding the house. In a brilliant scheme, Tom is able to con the neighborhood boys into completing the chore for him, managing to convince them of the joys of whitewashing. At school, Tom is equally as flamboyant, and attracts attention by chasing other boys, yelling, and running around. With his usual antics, Tom attempts to catch the eye of Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been "engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness the murder of Dr. Robinson.Excerpt:"TOM!" No answer. "TOM!" No answer. "What's gone with that boy,  I wonder? You TOM!" No answer. The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked through them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style," not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear: "Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll—" She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat. "I never did see the beat of that boy!"

Les Aventures de Tom Sawyer

En 1878, un touriste pas comme les autres visite la Suisse et la Savoie : l'Américain Samuel Langhorne Clemens, alias Mark Twain. De Lucerne à Chamonix, l'auteur suit un itinéraire des plus classiques. Son récit de voyage, traduit pour la première fois en français, est tout à fait inattendu.
Laissant libre cours à son humour satirique, le romancier pose un regard faussement candide sur la montagne et son folklore touristique. Des tyroliennes aux pendules à coucou, des edelweiss aux chamois, «petite bestiole qui hante par milliers les hôtels suisses» : rien ne résiste à sa critique loufoque. Ses deux personnages - Mark Twain en voyageur irascible flanqué de son servile compagnon Harris - tentent désespérément de comprendre la montagne. Ils se livrent à toutes sortes d'expériences saugrenues : faire bouillir un guide, prévenir les avalanches à l'aide d'un parapluie ou entreprendre une ascension en télescope...

Ascensions en télescope

Tom Sawyer est un petit garçon d'une dizaine d'années qui vit sur les bords du Mississippi et adore l'école... buissonnière. Avec sa bande de copains et aussi pour les beaux yeux de la jolie petite Becky, il invente mille bêtises et se retrouve plongé dans de vraies aventures, parfois dangereuses mais immanquablement drôles. Il découvre la vie et ses lecteurs avec lui. Tom Sawyer a fait rêver des générations d'enfants et son succès ne se dément pas. Même si l'histoire se passe aux États-Unis et à la fin du siècle dernier, ce personnage est parfaitement universel et intemporel. Il incarne la liberté, l'amour de l'aventure, l'appétit de vivre.L'écriture de Mark Twain, pleine d'humour et particulièrement vivante, traverse le temps sans problème.Le monde révolu dans lequel se situe l'histoire ne fait qu'ajouter du charme à ce récit délicieux en même temps qu'initiatique. À savourer dès 11 ans et plus... --Pascale Wester --

Les aventures de Tom Sawyer

I racconti che compongono Il Diario di Adamo ed Eva, così divertenti e ispirati, non è un caso forse che siano stati scritti proprio nello stesso periodo in cui furono concepite le pagine di Huckleberry Finn, il capolavoro di Twain, anche se poi, pur molto famoso, stranamente riuscì a pubblicarli solo anni dopo, e solo come opuscolo omaggio per promuovere il turismo alle cascate del Niagara, in prossimità delle quali, a Buffalo per la precisione, Twain è costretto nel libro, appunto, a spostare nientemeno che l'Eden... Un racconto divertente di lenta scoperta dell'altrui sesso condotta dal primo uomo e dalla prima donna della Terra. Una nuova edizione tutta da collezionare con una traduzione rieditata, splendide illustrazioni inedite e una prefazione d'eccezione.

Il diario di Adamo ed Eva

Ascensions en télescope (A tramp abroad)

This   carefully crafted ebook: "The Complete Essays and Satires of Mark Twain" is   formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of   contents.
Table of Contents: 
How To Tell A Story And Other Essays; How To Tell A Story; The Wounded Soldier.; The Golden Arm.; Mental Telegraphy Again; The Invalid's Story; A   Salutation Speech From The Nineteenth Century To The Twentieth; The Battle   Hymn Of The Republic, Updated; To The Person Sitting In Darkness; Private   History Of The "Jumping Frog" Story; Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences;   Running For Governor; Stirring Times In Austria; Concerning The Jews;   Comments On The Moro Massacre; Carl Schurz, Pilot; Taming The Bicycle; To My   Missionary Critics; King Leopold's Soliloquy; The United States Government   And The Congo State.; In Defense Of Harriet Shelley; Essays On Paul Bourget;   What Is Man?; The Death Of Jean; The Turning-Point Of My Life; How To Make   History Dates Stick; The Memorable Assassination; A Scrap Of Curious History;   Switzerland, The Cradle Of Liberty; At The Shrine Of St. Wagner; William Dean   Howells; English As She Is Taught; On Girls; A Simplified Alphabet; As   Concerns Interpreting The Deity; Concerning Tobacco; The Bee; Is Shakespeare   Dead?; The United States Of Lyncherdom; Letters From The Earth.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American humorist, satirist, social critic,   lecturer and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his classic novels The   Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The Complete Essays and Satires of Mark Twain

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER

Quand j'étais enfant, mes camarades et moi n'avions, dans notre village de la rive ouest du Mississipi, qu'un rêve proprement inaltérable : être marinier sur un bateau à vapeur." Un rêve qui devient réalité pour le jeune Samuel Clemens lorsque Mr. Bixby, pilote chevronné, le prend sous son aile et lui confie : "Il n'existe qu'une manière de devenir pilote, c'est d'apprendre le fleuve tout entier par coeur. Tu dois le connaître comme ton alphabet."Un récit initiatique enchanteur et plein d'humour, par l'auteur des "Aventures de Tom Sawyer".Ce teste, constitué des chapitres IV à XI de "La vie sur le Mississipi", est extrait du volume Œuvres (Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Editions Gallimard).

A la dure

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