The Mysterious Origins of Twain’s “Skeleton Novelette”

Abstract:Twain’s “A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage” was first published legally in 2001. In its final chapter, we learn the villain once worked for and subsequently murdered Jules Verne. The work is significant as the most prominent overt mention of the French author in Twain’s fiction; however, Twain’s correspondence with his brother Orion Clemens in 1877–78 suggests that Twain incorporated Verne into the work after their exchange. This would mean the manuscript was not written in 1876 as previously thought. If that is the case, it shows the duration of Twain’s dismissal of Verne and the role Orion Clemens played in developing that negative critical view and shaping the manuscript’s final chapter.