I've been writing a paper for my World History class, and I stumbled upon a Mark Twain quote from his novel Following The Equator. However, I've found different versions of this quote, and since I lack an actual copy of the book, I don't know which quote is correct. The quote in question is this,
"This is indeed India; the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, {Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.} whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations—the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.”—Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897
The disputed piece of the quote is in the brackets. The peculiar thing is that wherever I've found the quote that includes the disputed piece, that is where the quote ends. Where the quote lacks the disputed piece, it continues with all that is included above. This leads me to believe he didn't actually say the disputed piece, but I'm not nearly experienced enough to make that call with any certainty. If anyone has an answer, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Quote sources that include the disputed piece: http://learningindia.in/mark-twain-on-india-why-hindus-dont-accept-foreign-gods/ http://www.forbesindia.com/printcontent/38463 http://hinduism.about.com/od/history/a/indiaquotes.htm https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-lines-said-in-favor-of-Indians-by-the-world-leaders-and-entrepreneurs
Quote sources that do not include the disputed piece: http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/scrapbook/07_tramp_abroad/page5.html https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3610 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2895/2895-h/2895-h.htm (This is actually the ebook itself)
P.S. I apologize if this is a poor question or if anything is worded poorly, this is my first question on this subreddit.
Hey, my advice in cases like this is to just walk through your process and explain what you believe based on the evidence at hand. You've done your research well, by all appearances, so you've got that evidence.
I'd start with the original text and explain that it doesn't appear there. That's your strongest argument. Build on that; look at other editions of the book and see if it appears there. Was it added in later editions? If so, which ones?
Look at Twain's autobiography, which was recently published (he asked that it be withheld until 100 years after his death) and see if he refers to it there.
Do a search on JSTOR and see if anyone else has written a paper on the topic.
I think you're really on the right track, and it should be a good paper.
Remember your core questions: Who, what, why, where, when, and for what purpose?