twain I’ll admit that I read Mark Twain’s Other Woman because of its hint at a dark side to Mark Twain’s sexuality. Here is a man we have come to consider the ultimate American, a hero with the high morals of another era. And of course we would: Twain was careful to construct his own life history before his death in 1910. In fact, he dictated his biography himself.

Mark Twain’s Other Woman tells a different tale than the authorized biography—one presented through the eyes of his second-to-last personal secretary, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon. Author Laura Skandera Twombly has written it well; her style is fluid and the research is thorough and well documented.

Twombly carefully transcribed all of the journals Ms. Lyon kept while in the employ of Twain. It is a fascinating tale of a woman desperately in love (see the picture of her beaming in adoration) and one suspects that love was not unrequited—it was just another of Twain’s dirty little secrets.

It is what is not said, what has been torn out or crossed out in Lyon’s journal, that reveals the most about Lyon and Twain’s lives together. There are several examples that hint at an intense yet casual intimacy between the two—times they spend together in their bedclothes or in each other’s rooms, ostensibly to work. In fact, they lived together in the same house for years as “man and secretary” after the death of Twain’s beloved wife, Olivia. Then suddenly, in the year before Twain’s death, the two had a terrible falling out. Twain banished Lyon from his life and saw to it that she was written out of history.

Twombly has revived Lyon’s story just in time for the 100-year anniversary of Twain’s death this fall. In December 2010, Twain’s previously unpublished works will be released. Among these is the Ashcroft-Lyon Manuscript, a document that apparently spews a vitriolic tale that Twain used to blackmail Ms. Lyon into silence. (I’ll be reading that, I promise!)

One can only guess at the cause of the breakup between Lyon and Twain. Only a few weeks before it happened, Lyon’s journal describes being sent on an errand by Twain to buy a vibrator. Meanwhile, by this era of his life Twain had begun cultivating the company of underage girls.

Were the women in Twain’s life becoming increasingly concerned about his erratic sexual behavior? I think so. Consider some of what seem to be Twain’s views on women and sex that are illustrated in some of his short stories.

Like most people, my familiarity with Twain comes from the books and short stories I was compelled to read in junior and senior high school, like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. He’s always been one of my favorite writers; he can spin a tale with the best.

But Twombley’s book refers frequently to Letters From the Earth, a collection of short stories and letters Twain wrote late in life. So I read it, too, and it turned out to be a bonus reward: a fresh look at what I thought was a tired, old author.

Back to my dirty mind; perhaps the creepiest thing I have ever read in my life is this passage from Letters from the Earth: “…from the time a woman is seven years old till she dies of old age, she is ready for action and competent. Competent as the candlestick is to receive the candle. Competent every day, every night. Also she wants that candle—yearns for it, longs for it, hankers after it…”

I have no problem with Twain recognizing women’s sexuality—I have been known to “hanker” on occasion—but at seven years old? The notion makes me frighteningly uncomfortable, and I find myself questioning Twain’s morals and real intentions toward the group of young ladies, ages 11 to16, that he called his “Angelfish.”

Late in life, Twain mentored a group of preteen and teen-aged girls selected because of their talents in the arts or writing. They often stayed with him at his home. Again, I say creepy. But then maybe my suspicious mind is the real problem.

Fortunately, this is not all I got from Letters From the Earth. The book reveals a man whose thoughts about the foundation of religious belief were far ahead of his time. Twain rewrites the book of Genesis, creating an equally believable way of seeing the Story of Adam and Eve. Taking a cue from New Testament, which is composed of letters written by various apostles and prophets, Twain uses this literary device to cynically and humorously revise story of the Noah’s Ark. By the time I finished, I felt the Bible had been completely deconstructed and that Twain is the ultimate post-modern writer!

After meeting Twain anew, I’ve decided it really doesn’t matter if he was a creepy old man—he was a man, a real human being with a private life that gave him great insight into what it is to be human with all our follies and vices, and that our saving grace is our ability to laugh at ourselves.

Mark Twain’s Other Woman was an interesting read, and I’d recommend it … but perhaps it is just as well that what happened in 1910 stays in 1910.