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FROM BEGINNING TO END:
THE COMPETITION’S HISTORY
In 1876, Mark Twain composed his unpublished short story, "A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage," shortly after he had moved his family from Buffalo, New York to Hartford, Connecticut. His tale intertwines a cast of characters where relationships among family members, young lovers, enemies and a mysterious stranger lead to a heinous crime in a remote Mid-western town. Twain sent the story to William Dean Howells, editor of The Atlantic Monthly, with the idea that several leading authors of the day would develop the plot described in his work into their own story, each of which would be published thereafter in the magazine. For reasons, which are unknown, the plan never materialized and Twain’s story remained unpublished.
More than 100 years later, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (B&ECPL) sought to fulfill the spirit of Twain’s original idea. Already home to the original Adventures of Huckleberry Finn manuscript as well as other Twain writings and memorabilia, the B&ECPL worked with two other centers of Mark Twain scholarship, the Mark Twain Foundation of New York City and the Mark Twain Project of Berkeley, California, to obtain publication rights to "A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage." The competition was born!
The B&ECPL is publishing the initial chapters of "A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage" as part of the contest. Twain enthusiasts and scholars from across the world have the opportunity to compose their own conclusions to the story written by one of America’s most revered authors. The competition will award cash prizes based on two categories to participants who develop the material introduced by Twain into the most well-written and creative plot resolution. Best selling authors and national literary figures Joyce Carol Oates, Lauren Belfer, Roy Blount, Dayton Duncan, Leslie Fiedler and Robert Hirst will serve on the final international judging panel with others to be announced. A panel of educators, writers and community leaders from the Buffalo region will evaluate final entries from the young writers category.
In a fitting turn of events that Twain himself would have certainly appreciated, The Atlantic Monthly has agreed to publish Twain’s entire story, along with historical information, in its July, 2001 issue. The writing competition will conclude with a gala reception in October where the winners will be honored, and the B&ECPL’s CD-ROM edition of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn manuscript will be officially released. This multimedia edition will include the full text version of the novel complete with historical and scholarly information. In the fall of 2001, W.W. Norton & Company will publish an illustrated, hard cover version of "A Murder, a Mystery and a Marriage."