PODCAST · arts

1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors by Mark Twain

by Loyal Books

An atypical piece of writing by Mark Twain, the short bawdy skit documents a conversion between Queen Elizabeth and several notable writers of the time, including Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Beaumont, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare. Despite first being published in 1880, the piece remained anonymous for a period of time, until it was later acknowledged by Twain in 1901 as his own. Comprised of humor, descriptive imagery, ribald connotations, and vulgar language, the faux conversation is simultaneously humorous and repulsing, but nonetheless a wonder for its satirical precision.Written as a fictitious dialogue between Queen Elizabeth and her guest luminaries at court, the short story is accounted in a diary entry by one of her disgusted cup-bearers who observe the scandalous conversation of scatological nature. The conversation is instigated by a thunderous and foul reeking fart as the group begins to discuss its features and origin. Each individual subsequently comments on the i