Context
The Weather in this Book
Mark Twain
No
weather will be found in this book. This is an attempt to pull a book
through without weather. It being the first attempt of the kind in
fictitious literature, it may prove a failure, but it seemed worth the
while of some dare-devil person to try it, and the author was in just
the mood. Many a reader who wanted to read a tale through was
not able to do it because of delays on account of the weather. Nothing
breaks up an author’s progress like having to stop every few pages to
fuss up the weather. Thus it is plain that persistent intrusions of
weather are bad for both reader and author. Of course weather
is necessary to a narrative of human experience. That is conceded. But
it ought to be put where it will not be in the way; where it will not
interrupt the flow of the narrative. And it ought to be the ablest
weather that can be had, not ignorant, poor-quality, amateur weather.
Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a
good article of it. The present author can do only a few trifling
ordinary kinds of weather, and he cannot do those very good. So it has
seemed wisest to borrow such weather as is necessary for the book from
qualified and recognized experts—giving credit, of course. This weather
will be found over in the back part of the book, out of the way. See Appendix. The reader is requested to turn over and help himself from time to time as he goes along. "The Weather in this Book" is from The Unabridged Mark Twain.
