“Journalism in Tennessee” (1869)

This very short piece by Mark Twain, even as relatively early as it is in his writing career, feels typical of his humorous sketches. Calling it an essay seems a little misleading—it’s all obvious lies, basically. But, perhaps because of the way it’s presented, “short story” doesn’t really do the job either. The first-person narrator who gives it more the feel of a memoir tells of his experience working for a small-town newspaper in Tennessee. The editor gives him a stack of press releases and tells him to make a story out of them from the highlights. He does so, with polite summaries. The editor goes to work on the typescript as soon as our guy hands it off to him. At that point the ridiculous action starts. Someone fires a shot through the window. A hand grenade comes rolling down the stovepipe. The rewrite is an obvious specimen of yellow advocacy journalism. “The inveterate liars at ... “ it begins. The seams are showing, but in a general way it works. It’s the deadpan quality Twain manages so well. As the extremes of violence ratchet higher, it starts to feel like a Buster Keaton picture. Here’s this guy trying to do his job—he came to the South in the first place on doctor’s orders, for his health. Now: “Both pistols rang out their fierce clamor at the same instant. The chief lost a lock of his hair, and the Colonel’s bullet ended its career in the fleshy part of my thigh.” It piles on until finally our guy tenders his resignation to the vicious, fightin’ editor. “After which we parted with mutual regret, and I took apartments at the hospital.” That’s how the piece ends. It's short but eventful and silly. It’s also weirdly constructed, lurching about randomly across the through-line of mounting violence. “Journalism in Tennessee” has the sloppy anecdotal structure that makes me hesitate to call it a story. Does “humorous sketch” fall within the definition of an essay? Oh, whatever. It’s entertaining and a reasonably good jolt of Twain for beginners and everyone. Much better, in fact, than that jumping frog thing we were forced to read in school.

Mark Twain, Humorous Stories & Sketches. (Library of America)
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