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''The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress'' is a
travel book Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...
by American author
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
. Published in 1869, it humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered
steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
''Quaker City'' (formerly ) through Europe and the
Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
with a group of American travelers in 1867. The five-month voyage included numerous side trips on land. The book, which sometimes appears with the subtitle "The New Pilgrim's Progress", became the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, as well as one of the best-selling travel books of all time.


Publication history

Mark Twain's journey aboard the ''Quaker City'' was funded by the ''
Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...
'' newspaper in exchange for fifty articles documenting his trip. Twain later secured a contract with the American Publishing Company to produce a subscription-based book based on the same journey. The subscription book would become ''The Innocents Abroad.'' Twain restructured and expanded upon the letters he had originally written for the ''Alta California'' to write ''The Innocents Abroad''; adjusting his style by minimizing slang and vulgar language to cater to a broader, national readership. He also rewrote some of the characters and stories. ''The Innocents Abroad'' was Mark Twain's first successful publication for a national audience.


Analysis

''The Innocents Abroad'' presents itself as an ordinary travel book based on an actual voyage in a retired Civil War ship, the . The excursion was billed as a voyage to the Holy Land, with numerous stops and side trips along the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, notably: * train excursion from
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
for the 1867 Paris Exhibition during the reign of
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
and the
Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...
* journey through the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
to
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
* side trip through the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
to
Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
, Sebastopol and Yalta * culminating excursion through the
Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
Twain reports the voyage covered over 20,000 miles of land and sea. Twain recorded his observations and critiques of the various aspects of culture and society which he encountered on the journey, some more serious than others. Many of his observations draw a contrast between his own experiences and the often grandiose accounts in contemporary travelogues, which were regarded in their own time as indispensable aids for traveling in the region. In particular, he lampooned William Cowper Prime's ''Tent Life in the Holy Land'' for its overly sentimental prose and its often violent encounters with native inhabitants. Twain also made light of his fellow travelers and the natives of the countries and regions that he visited, as well as his own expectations and reactions.


Themes

A major theme of the book is that of the conflict between history and the modern world. Twain continually encounters petty profiteering and trivializations of history as he journeys, as well as a strange emphasis placed on particular past events. He is either outraged, puzzled, or bored by each encounter. One example can be found in the sequence during which the boat has stopped at
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
. On shore, the narrator hears seemingly dozens of people repeat an anecdote about how a particular hill nearby acquired its name, heedless of the fact that the anecdote is bland and pointless. Another example may be found in the discussion of the story of
Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philo ...
and Heloise, where the skeptical American deconstructs the story and comes to the conclusion that far too much fuss has been made about the two lovers. Only when the ship reaches areas of the world that do not exploit for profit or bore passers-by with inexplicable interest in their history, such as the early passage dealing with the ship's time at the
Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...
, is this attitude not found in the text. This reaction to those who profit from the past is found, in an equivocal and unsure balance with reverence, in Twain's experiences in the
Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
. The narrator reacts here, not only to the exploitation of the past and the unreasoning (to the American eye of the time) adherence to old ways, but also to the profanation of religious history. Many of his illusions are shattered, including his discovery that the nations described in the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
could easily fit inside many American states and counties, and that the "kings" of those nations might very well have ruled over fewer people than could be found in some small towns. Disillusioned, he writes, "If all the poetry and nonsense that have been discharged upon the fountains and the bland scenery of this region were collected in a book, it would make a most valuable volume to burn." This equivocal reaction to the religious history the narrator encounters may be magnified by the prejudices of the time, as the United States was still primarily a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
nation at that point. The
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, in particular, receives a considerable amount of attention from the narrator, specifically its institutionalized nature. This is particularly apparent in the section of the book dealing with Italy, where the poverty of the lay population and the relative affluence of the church are contrasted.


Adaptations

The
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''
Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member statio ...
'', in 1983, broadcast a
television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
adaptation of ''The Innocents Abroad'', starring
Craig Wasson Craig Wasson (born March 15, 1954) is an American actor. He made his film debut in '' Rollercoaster'' (1977). He is best known for his roles as Jake Scully in Brian DePalma's '' Body Double'' (1984), and Neil Gordon in Chuck Russell's '' A Nigh ...
, David Ogden Stiers, Gigi Proietti, and Brooke Adams, directed by
Luciano Salce Luciano Salce (25 September 1922 – 17 December 1989) was an Italian film director, comedian, television host, producer, actor and lyricist. His 1962 film ''Le pillole di Ercole'' was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the ...
.


See also

* Travelogues of Ottoman Palestine


References


External links

*
Hypertext Map
fro

a part o


Chapter Outlines by the Author, from Wright American Fiction at Indiana University
As a travel book, ''Innocents Abroad'' is accessible through any one of its chapters, many of which were published serially in the United States. (A compilation of the original newspaper accounts was the subject of McKeithan (1958)). In many of the chapters, a uniquely ''Twainian'' sentence or word stands out. A sampling of chapter material appears below and includes links to visual representations as well as to dedicated Mark Twain projects that have included ''Innocents Abroad'' in their sweep:
Ch.1 Holy Land tour flyer
reprints The Quaker City travel prospectus and comments on exclusivity in passenger selection.
Ch.4 Ship Routine
outlines the passengers' daily routines and their affectation of sailor language.
Ch. 8 Tangier, Morocco
"''We wanted something thoroughly and uncompromisingly foreign -- foreign from top to bottom -- foreign from center to circumference -- foreign inside and outside and all around -- nothing anywhere about it to dilute its foreignness -- nothing to remind us of any other people or any other land under the sun. And lo! in Tangier we have found it.''"
Ch.11 The Prado and other Marseille tourist sites
"W''e were troubled a little at dinner to-day, by the conduct of an American, who talked very loudly and coarsely. and laughed boisterously when all others were so quiet and well behaved. He ordered wine with a royal flourish....''" Drove the Prado avenue, visite
Chateau Borely
the Zoological Gardens, and th
Castle d‘If
Discusse
prisoner drawings
created during the years Château d'If was used as a prison. * Old Travelers;
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
,
Saône The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...
, Tonnerre,
Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...
,
Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...
,
Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...
"and scores of other beautiful cities"; dinner, shopping, a terrifying shave. "''Occasionally, merely for the pleasure of being cruel, we put unoffending Frenchmen on the rack with questions framed in the incomprehensible jargon of their native language, and while they writhed, we impaled them, we peppered them, we scarified them, with their own vile verbs and participles.''"


Reviews


etext.virginia.edu Collection of Contemporary Reviews.
* Hirst, Robert H. "The Making of The Innocents Abroad : 1867–1872." Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1975. * Howells, William Dean.

The Atlantic Monthly, December 1869.


Secondary references


Mark Twain projects






On-line snippets


Image of Mark Twain, on board ship in 1897, at 60 years old.
(Twain traveled at age 32 and published ''Innocents Abroad'' in 1869, at the age of 34, but this image is sometimes associated with the earlier Twain.) For comparison, se
1871 image
an
1875 (approx) image


Scholarly works

* * * * * * (covering the period from 1867 to 1871; Twain set sail on June 8, 1867, for a five-month Mediterranean tour on board the Quaker City; ''Innocents Abroad'', detailing the Quaker City tour, was first published in 1869) *


Primary sources

* * , with illustrations by True Williams * * *
''The Innocents Abroad''
from
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
. Illustrated, scanned original editions.
Mark Twain Project at the University of California

Innocents Abroad (with facsimiles of original illustrations) in Wright American Fiction 1851-1875
* Lexicon from Wordie
''Words rounded up while reading The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain''
* McKeithan, Daniel Morley, ed., ''Traveling with the innocents abroad; Mark Twain's original reports from Europe and the Holy Land.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. * Passenger manifest of , the ship that took the Innocents abroad. *

*
at ship's last port of call in St. George, Bermuda
* Correspondence markers (April 1867, June 1867, and November 1867) fro
the Mark Twain Project
*
15 April 1867 correspondence, anticipating Holy Land trip
*
7 June 1867 correspondence, anticipating imminent departure on 8 June 1867
*
20 November 1867 correspondence, on arriving in New York City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innocents Abroad 1869 books Books by Mark Twain American travel books