only one of them, but the concluding chapters were attributed to joint authorship. The entire novel was completed between February and April 1873. Contemporary critics, while praising its humor and satire, did not consider the collaboration a success because the independent stories written by each author did not mesh well. A review published in 1874 compared the novel to a badly mixed salad dressing, in which "the ingredients are capital, the use of them faulty." Literary significance and criticism The term Gilded Age, commonly given to the era, comes from the title of this book. Twain and Warner got the name from William Shakespeare's King John (1595): "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess." (Act IV, scene 2) Gilding gold, which would be to put gold on top of gold, is excessive and wasteful, characteristics of the age Twain and Warner wrote about in their novel. Another interpretation of the title, of course, is the contrast between an ideal "Golden Age" and a less worthy "Gilded Age", as gilding is only a thin layer of gold over baser metal, so the title now takes on a pejorative meaning as to the novel's time, events and people. Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet, speaking of his book Bambi Meets Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business, used The Gilded Age as a metaphor for Hollywood. On an NPR call-in show, Mamet drew comparisons between the Hawkins family's 40-year quest to win funding for a dam in their hometown and the plight of a young filmmaker trying to sell a script in the unforgiving studio system. See also Mark Twain bibliography References External links Full text of the story 1873 American novels Gilded Age Collaborative novels Novels by Mark Twain Novels set in Tennessee