Heretical Fictions: Religion in the Literature of Mark Twain by Lawrence I. Berkove and Joseph Csicsila (review)

This book argues that Mark Twain remained preoccupied with the notion of predetermination throughout his life, even as he broke from Calvinism, dabbled in deism, and explored scientific philosophies. It suggests that Twain’s satires were more ambitious than previously supposed—in addition to critiquing the lack of free will in small towns or corrupt political arenas, Heretical Fictions imagines Twain as a consistent and sophisticated “critic of God” (xv). Contending that Twain satirized the state of human existence as well as the hypocritical preaching thereof, this study posits religious imagery as “a key to [Twain’s] main themes . . . that enables us to reliably identify and better understand his work at all stages of his career” (13).