Mark Twain, “[Date, 1601.] Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors"

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The most notorious of Mark Twain’s few “excursions into bawdry” (Jones, 612) is his 1876 Elizabethan pastiche “[Date, 1601.] Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors”, commonly shortened to “1601”. Published anonymously in 1880, “1601” has shocked a few readers but cracked up many more, including its hard-to-please author: “I don’t often write anything that I laugh at myself, but I can hardly think of that thing without laughing” (Twain,

Notebooks

, 303).

“1601” purports to be an extract from a conversation at the court of Queen Elizabeth I between the following: Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare (‘Shaxpur’), Ben Jonson, a fifteen-year-old Francis Beaumont, Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth I, the Duchess of Bilgewater (a

1951 words

Citation: Fachard, Alexandre. "“[Date, 1601.] Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 August 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35789, accessed 19 March 2024.]

35789 “[Date, 1601.] Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors" 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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