Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens[1] (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), more widely known as Mark Twain, was an American writer. He was born in Florida, Missouri. He worked mainly for newspapers and as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before he became a writer. He married in 1870, and raised his family in Hartford, Connecticut. In later life he invested and lost the money that his writing had made, and toured the world giving lectures that brought him enough money to pay his debt and recover his fortune.
Mark Twain | |
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 Twain in 1909 | |
| Born | Samuel Langhorne Clemens November 30, 1835 Florida, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 1910 (aged 74) Redding, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Pen name | Mark Twain |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable works | Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| Signature |  |
Clemens was best known for his works in fiction, and especially for his use of humour. His first published story, in 1865, was The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be Clemens' best work. This story of a white boy who helps a black man escape slavery in the southern United States is known for its humanity.
Clemens's style was usually informal and humorous. This made him different from many important 19th century writers whose books he disliked. For example, he greatly disliked Jane Austen's works, such as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, and famously remarked, "She makes me detest (hate) all her people, without reserve."[2][3]
Actor Hal Holbrook plays Mark Twain on stage in a one-man show called Mark Twain Tonight.
Halley's Comet appeared in the sky during the year Twain was born and the year he died.[4] This periodic comet comes back every 74 years, which is how long he lived.
Mark Twain Media
Samuel Clemens, age 15 holding metal type in a composing stick that spells out his first name. He understood that the photographic printing process reversed the contents of an image in the same way backwards moveable type was reversed in printing to give clear copy.
Mark Twain
Twain with American Civil War correspondent and author George Alfred Townsend, and David Gray, editor of the rival Buffalo Courier
Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut
Twain in the laboratory of Nikola Tesla, early 1894
Plaque on Sydney Writers Walk commemorating the visit of Twain in 1895
Twain in academic regalia for acceptance of the D.Litt. degree awarded him by Oxford University in 1907
Twain and his wife are buried side by side in Elmira's Woodlawn Cemetery
Mark Twain Cabin Exterior MVC-082X
Bibliography
References
- ↑ "Mark Twain". New York Times.com. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/samuel_langhorne_clemens/index.html. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
- ↑ "Mark Twain quotations - Jane Austen". twainquotes.com. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ↑ Twain, Mark (April 21, 2009). Who is Mark Twain?. Harper. ISBN 978-0061735004.
- ↑ "Mark Twain quotations". Twainquotes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
Other websites
Works related to Mark Twain at Wikisource
Quotations related to Mark Twain at Wikiquote
Media related to Mark Twain at Wikimedia Commons- Works by Mark Twain at Project Gutenberg
- The Mark Twain Papers and Project of the Bancroft Library (Archive of Mark Twain's papers and writings)
- Samuel Langhorne Clemens collection of papers at New York Public Library