Do you like the story? Why?” “Is He Living or is He Dead?

Ernest Hemingway once wrote: “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called «Huckleberry Finn».

The heroes of the stories and stories of Mark Twain often use the newspaper as a cover. In the story "Is he alive or dead?" Mark Twain is trying to develop a commonplace idea in creative circles, according to which, to become famous and bought, you must die. One of the heroes of the story is the famous artist of the circle of Barbizonians Francois Millet, with whom, like with many other artists, poets, composers, just such a story happened.

On the one hand, there is a place for white lies in this story. One of the artists leading a half-starved existence in a kind of artistic commune together with Francois Millet comes up with the idea that the death of one of them can supposedly save them from poverty and constant debts. The choice fell on Francois Millet. And to implement the plan, they needed the help of the press. From time to time, newspapers wrote notes. They did not contain any praises, but only a few words about the state of health of the “great master”.

On the other hand, the periodical press, in this case, both provincial and distributed in the world, acts exclusively in a positive role. It makes it possible to glorify a talented person during his lifetime, and not, as usual, after death.

From my point, this is a very interesting story showing that a lie can sometimes be beneficial without significant harm. However, the reader of this story does not leave the idea that the true story of the life and posthumous recognition of Francois Millet was not the same as in the story of Mark Twain, but, unfortunately, traditional.

In conclusion, I liked this story because of its unusual nature. The author was able to show that the way out can be found in any situation. And most importantly, this way out is sometimes successful.