Résumé
Résumé de L’homme qui corrompit Hadleyburg et autres récits
Go deeper: the whole of L’homme qui corrompit Hadleyburg et autres récits
About 8 h 20 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy sharp satire, tall tales and true adventure, and who like to see pride, greed and good manners poked with a sly smile, will find plenty here.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
This collection also gathers his thoughts on lying, a mock Arctic romance, a fierce attack on Christian Science, a shipwreck diary, and reports from Vienna. You get the main pieces one by one, and the sharp view of human nature that links them. Start with Hadleyburg, a town that guards its good name with great care.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A proud town receives a mysterious sackFree
- 2Honest people feel the pull of temptation
- 3Fame makes the town vain and then gloomy
- 4The great Friday meeting at the town hall
- 5Twain turns a joke on lying itself
- 6Christian Science and the Book of Mrs. Eddy
- 7Hoaxes, heroes and a burning ship
- 8Vienna, parliaments and odd laws
- 9Smaller pieces and the voice that ties them
Point clé 1 sur 9
A proud town receives a mysterious sack
Hadleyburg is known across the region as the most honest town around. For three generations it has raised its children away from temptation, so that honesty becomes part of them. The town loves its good name more than anything it owns.
A passing stranger feels insulted there, and he spends a year planning a revenge that will hurt every person in town. One night he carries a heavy sack to the home of the old bank cashier, Edward Richards, and leaves it with Mrs. Richards. An attached letter says the sack holds forty thousand dollars in gold for the kind man who once gave him twenty dollars and a few wise words.
Whoever can repeat those words correctly gets the money. The stranger says he trusts the town completely, and Twain lets the reader wonder what he really wants. The question is simple. What would you do if you thought nobody could ever know?
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of L’homme qui corrompit Hadleyburg et autres récits
About 8 h 20 min to read.Questions about L’homme qui corrompit Hadleyburg et autres récits
What is The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg about?
A stranger leaves a sack said to hold forty thousand dollars in gold in a town proud of its honesty. He claims it belongs to a man who once helped him, and the townspeople are tested by the offer.
What other stories are in the collection?
It includes My First Lie, The Eskimo Maiden's Romance, Christian Science and the Book of Mrs. Eddy, Is He Living or Is He Dead, My Debut as a Literary Person, Concerning the Jews, the Jumping Frog history and more.
Is the Hornet shipwreck in the book a true story?
Yes. My Debut as a Literary Person tells of the 1866 burning of the clipper ship Hornet. Twain interviewed survivors in Honolulu and quotes the diary of Samuel Ferguson and the log of Captain Mitchell.
What is the main message of the Hadleyburg story?
Twain suggests that honesty which has never been tested is weak. A good name kept safe by avoiding temptation can break easily when a large, secret reward appears.
Is the book easy to read?
The pieces are short and lively, with clear plots, plenty of dialogue and a comic, plain-spoken voice. You can read them one at a time, in any order that suits your mood.
Cite this edition
Twain, Mark. The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-that-corrupted-hadleyburg-and-other-stories.
Twain, M. (2026). The man that corrupted Hadleyburg, and other stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-that-corrupted-hadleyburg-and-other-stories (Original work published 1900)
Twain, Mark. The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-that-corrupted-hadleyburg-and-other-stories.
@book{twain2026man,
author = {Twain, Mark},
title = {The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-man-that-corrupted-hadleyburg-and-other-stories},
note = {First published 1900}
}