PAINE, Albert B(igelow)

(1861-1937)

   US writer best remembered as Mark TWAIN's confidant and unconscionable expurgator: after Twain's death he published mutilated editions of The Mysterious Stranger (1916) and Mark Twain's Autobiography (1924). ABP was primarily a writer and editor of children's fiction. TheMystery of Evelin Delorme: A Hypnotic Story (1894) exploits the late 19th century's prurient fascination with split personalities, the eponymous heroine committing suicide when her socially unacceptable self comes out. In The Great White Way (1901) a warm, UTOPIAN, Antarctic LOST WORLDpeopled by telepaths is discovered by a businessman and a real-estate developer, who are forced to flee when the latter's intentions are revealed.

   JC