The Inventions of Mark Twain

Focusing on the 1880s, when Twain was living in Hartford, Conn., dabbling in publishing, financing the purchase of a typesetting machine and writing his masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn , this unaptly titled, well-written biography presents the achievements of a major American writer. Lauber, a Canadian university teacher, devotes more space than previous biographers to Twain's intense social life, his celebrity, lecture tours with George Washington Cable, publication of the memoirs of U. S. Grant, friendship with Standard Oil magnate H. H. Rogers. He also supplies details of the Hartford mansion and the Twain summer home. Though authoritative and lively, little of this will be new to the novelist's admirers; only the emphasis here is different. (Feb.)