One of Mark Twain’s Other Identities is Interviewed a Month Later

Yesterday’s post was about an interview of Mark Twain in August 1895. In that interview, he spoke as one who was intimately familiar with the writing and subject matter of his books.

The following month, in “A Chat with Mark Twain” in the Sunday Times of Sydney, Australia on 22 September 1895, it says that the interview inevitably turned to the question of whether Twain had any favorite among his books. Twain replied:

“No, I don’t think that I have, because I haven’t read them—that is, I mean, most of them were written so long ago that I have now only a vague notion of what is in them.”

After a pause he added: “I think I prefer Huckleberry Finn, but I believe the family prefer The Prince and the Pauper.”

Of course, I know that many readers will insist that Twain was simply joking. However, I have experience interviewing people who have multiple personality. They are experts at covering up for their inability to recall things that they should recall but don't (because that information is known to another personality). They change the subject or make a joke of it so that you are distracted or feel foolish for pursuing the issue.