KEN BURNS GILDS ANOTHER ICON.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

Perhaps it was the simple fact of having a pen name that made Samuel Langhorne Clemens such a schizophrenic personality. As Mark Twain, he skewered the hypocrisies, unbridled greed and social ills in general of his day, which he scornfully dubbed the Gilded Age.

On the other hand, Clemens fell deeply into debt - more than $200,000 in late-1800s dollars - and he may have been the first American to suffer from the recently named Acquired Narcissistic Syndrome - he'd throw a tantrum if a button was missing on a shirt. Twain himself said, ``I was born modest, but it didn't last.''

Thank heavens Ken Burns is around to explain this complex and celebrated soul for us. ``Mark Twain,'' Burns' latest documentary (a quickie for Burns, clocking in at under four hours), brings its subject, as usual, to vibrant life.

On the other hand, Burns gets a major assist from Twain himself. For although Burns enlists playwright Arthur Miller, novelist Russell Banks (``Cloudsplitter,'' ``The Sweet Hereafter''), actor Hal Holbrook, cartoonist Chuck Jones and sundry historians to dissect his life - they're eloquent enough, make no mistake - the real star is Twain's copiously employed writings, which are far more instructive than all the expert analysis in the world.

Divided into two parts, ``Mark Twain'' the documentary is almost as schizoid as Clemens himself seemed to be. Tonight's installment makes Clemens' life seem like the stuff of dreams - an early career as a riverboat captain (he called it ``racing with islands''). A trek through the West when both it and he were still pretty wild (he vamoosed from one town to avoid a duel he was certain he'd lose). Travels to Hawaii, then Europe, Africa, the Holy Land and most of the rest of the planet. Finding true love (after writing Olivia Langden 184 letters in 17 months, she finally fell for him).

And, of course, wealth and fame for his writing, which made salient, even profound points with artfully constructed jokes. His masterpiece, ``The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,'' was a literary breakthrough in many ways, most prominently because it argued strenuously for the humanity and heroism of its black character, the slave Jim.

Tuesday's episode, however, essays a long decline, as both debts and tragedies mount (he was a crackpot investor, throwing money into all kinds of contraptions though, oddly enough, not the telephone, though he was one of the first to have one in a private home). It almost feels like karmic piling on; it also seems a bit belabored.

Still, Burns burnishes the material with his usual soulful care. ``Mark Twain'' rescues its subject from the preciousness of his current iconography, explains once and for all why anyone who'd think to ban ``Huck Finn'' clearly isn't thinking at all, and delivers more witty lines than an entire season of network sitcoms. Even a modest Ken Burns film towers above its competition.

``MARK TWAIN''

What: Ken Burns' documentary on the beloved author.

Where: KCET.

When: 8 tonight and Tuesday.

Our rating: Three and one half stars

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What impresses most in Ken Burns' winning documentary of Mark Twain, above, is the writing of the man himself.