The Mysterious Stranger

‘Nothing exists; all is a dream. God—man—the world—the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars—a dream, all a dream; they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space—and you!‘ Published posthumously, The Mysterious Stranger is Mark Twain‘s final, unfinished novella, showcasing the writer at his most chilling. Set in a quiet Austrian town during the medieval period, Twain‘s provocative tale follows three children whose lives are thrown into chaos by the arrival of a charming yet enigmatic youth named Satan. Through the use of heavenly powers, Satan executes miracles with ease, magically transporting his peers back in time and forcing them to witness witch trials, hangings and influxes of mass hysteria. He unveils unsettling truths, highlighting the hypocrisies of religion, morality and human nature. By turns whimsical and profoundly existential, Twain crafts a fable that cleverly questions the very fabric of the human experience: free will, the nature of evil and the illusion of reality. The result is a bold, haunting and eerily modern adventure that lingers long after the last word. Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American writer and essayist. Famed for his wit and satire, he quickly became a sought-after writer and speaker, and was labelled the ‘greatest humorist the United States has produced‘ by the New York Times. Today, he is considered as the father of modern American literature.