Mark Twain in German-Language Newspapers and Periodicals

Mrs McWilliams and the Lighning

"Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning" (1880) is the second of three McWilliams family stories which appeared between 1875 and 1882. It first appeared in the September 1880 issue of the Atlantic Monthly and was republished in the collections The Stolen White Elephant (1882) and The American Claimant and Other Stories (1897). The narratives depict events from Clemens's personal life in Hartford. For this text, it is important to note that Olivia, his wife, had a notable fear of lightning. For more information on the McWilliams family stories see Rasmussen, vol. 1, 2007.
Udo Brachvogel's translation appeared in several daily newspapers in Germany, including the Dortmunder Zeitung (Sep 23, 1880, p. 2), Lippische Landes-Zeitung (Sep 29, 1880, p. 2), and the October 12 and 13, 1880, supplements to the Halle'sches Tageblatt. Several years later, excerpts from the story were published in the Sunday supplement to the Düsseldorfer Volksblatt ("Das Gewitter," Oct 29, 1882, p. 6) and in the Wittener Volks-Zeitung ("Das Gewitter," Nov 5, 1897, p. 2). In later years, some newspapers also announced readings of the story to be broadcast on German radio stations (see for example Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Jan 29, 1926, p. 3, and Der Grafschafter, Jan 9, 1928, p. 12).

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