who is mark twain?

Twain loved his career — it was exciting, well-paying and high-status, roughly akin to flying a jetliner today. Publisher's UPS sticker on back ISBN 9780061735004 Item Price $ Some of his early sketches, such as “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” (1852), circulated in local newspapers. John Clemens’s death contributed further to the family’s financial instability. It is not surprising that the pleasant events of youth, filtered through the softening lens of memory, might outweigh disturbing realities. Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (born November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut), American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). Book by Mark Twain (p. 302), 2013. Mark Twain's complete, uncensored Autobiography was an instant best seller when the first volume was published in 2010, on the centennial of the author's death, as he requested. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The town, situated on the Mississippi River, was in many ways a splendid place to grow up. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. He was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Early in their marriage, he and Livy had lost their toddler son, Langdon, to diphtheria; in 1896, his favorite daughter, Susy, died at the age of 24 of spinal meningitis. Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip. No doubt his temperament was affected by his worries over his financial situation, made all the more distressing by a series of business failures. John Clemens, by all reports, was a serious man who seldom demonstrated affection. His novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) is generally considered his masterpiece. In June 1904, while Twain traveled, Livy died after a long illness. Perhaps it was the romantic visionary in him that caused Clemens to recall his youth in Hannibal with such fondness. Writing to a friend shortly after his wedding, Twain could not believe his good luck: "I have ... the only sweetheart I have ever loved ... she is the best girl, and the sweetest, and gentlest, and the daintiest, and she is the most perfect gem of womankind.". Huck Finn required years to conceptualize and write, and Twain often put it aside. Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. Mark Twain, American humorist (comic writer) and novelist, captured a world audience with stories of boyhood adventure and with commentary on man's faults that is humorous even while it probes, often bitterly, the roots of human behavior. In 1847 Clemens’s father died of pneumonia. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Published to rave reviews, the Autobiography was hailed as the capstone of Twain's career. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Mark Twain was an American humorist, novelist, and travel writer. Those same adventures could be reenacted with his companions as well, and Clemens and his friends did play at being pirates, Robin Hood, and other fabled adventurers. Updates? Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his last completed book—and, by his own estimate, his best. The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, is now a popular attraction and is designated a National Historic Landmark. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc was his last completed book—and, by his own estimate, his best. As it turned out, Tom Blankenship’s older brother Bence had been secretly taking food to the runaway slave for some weeks before the slave was apparently discovered and killed. Mark Twain Rural Telephone Company Deploying Fiber Optic Connections to all of its members. Twain hoped that she would "reform" him, a mere humorist, from his rustic ways. Even before that year, however, continuing debts had forced them to auction off property, to sell their only slave, Jennie, to take in boarders, even to sell their furniture. John Clemens opened a store and eventually became a justice of the peace, which entitled him to be called “Judge” but not to a great deal more. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Author of. Where, he wondered then, would he find his future? (Remainder mark on bottom edge else book as new, appears never read. However, in many ways the childhood of Samuel Clemens was a rough one. Today he is best remembered as the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). In the meantime, the debts accumulated. When he died 99 years ago this week, Mark Twain was this country’s most beloved writer, yet his status as both an author and protean example of the now-familiar pop cultural celebrity seems to … Although the exact origins of the name are unknown, it is worth noting that Clemens operated riverboats, and mark twain is a nautical term for water found to be two fathoms (12 feet [3.7 metres]) deep: mark (measure) twain (two). As he remembered it in “Old Times on the Mississippi” (1875), the village was a “white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning,” until the arrival of a riverboat suddenly made it a hive of activity. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born two months prematurely on November 30, 1835, in tiny Florida, Missouri, and remained sickly and frail until he was 7 years old. "Much of the last decade of his life, he lived in hell," wrote Hamlin Hill. "Wheresoever she was, there was Eden," he wrote in tribute to her. Mark Twain, who was born Samuel L. Clemens in Missouri in 1835, wrote some of the most enduring works of literature in the English language, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Clemens family "now became almost destitute," wrote biographer Everett Emerson, and was forced into years of economic struggle — a fact that would shape the career of Twain. The couple settled in Buffalo and later had four children. Then there was the violence of Hannibal itself. In 1909, when she was 29 years old, Jean died of a heart attack. In the summers, Clemens visited his uncle John Quarles’s farm, near Florida, Missouri, where he played with his cousins and listened to stories told by the slave Uncle Daniel, who served, in part, as a model for Jim in Huckleberry Finn. In Old Times on the Mississippi (1875), he recalled his childhood in Hannibal with fondness. Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910. ', Mark Twain, the writer, adventurer and wily social critic born Samuel Clemens, wrote the novels 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’. He churned out news stories, editorials and sketches, and along the way adopted the pen name Mark Twain — steamboat slang for 12 feet of water. "If he treasured Livy's comradeship as much as he often said, why did he spend so much time away from her?". Mark Felt was an Associate Director at the FBI who became a secret informant and broke the Watergate story to reporters while disguised as "Deep Throat. 808 Copy quote. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope and NCIS. Twain is widely considered one of the greatest American writers of all time. One evening in 1844 Clemens discovered a corpse in his father’s office; it was the body of a California emigrant who had been stabbed in a quarrel and was placed there for the inquest. "An indisputable and almost overwhelming sense of inferiority bounced around his psyche," wrote scholar Hamlin Hill, noting that these feelings were competing with his aggressiveness and vanity. In 1848 Mark Twain became a printer’s apprentice for the Missouri Courier. His next step up the ladder of success came in 1867, when he took a five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean, writing humorously about the sights for American newspapers with an eye toward getting a book out of the trip. A gifted raconteur, distinctive humorist, and irascible moralist, he transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of America’s best and most beloved writers. He was buried in Elmira, New York. The first site evidently became Jackson’s Island in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; the second became McDougal’s Cave in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. During his lifetime Mark Twain wrote more than 20 novels. Who Is Mark Twain? He lived sparingly in the Ament household but was allowed to continue his schooling and, from time to time, indulge in boyish amusements. Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was the celebrated author of several novels, including two major classics of American literature: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In 1885, he triumphed as a book publisher by issuing the bestselling memoirs of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who had just died. (Decades late… His mother tried various allopathic and hydropathic remedies on him during those early years, and his recollections of those instances (along with other memories of his growing up) would eventually find their way into Tom Sawyer and other writings. Twain took his pen name from an alert cry used on his steamboat - "by the mark, twain". The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A great book for both students and those who enjoy the author. He lavished many hours on this and other business ventures, and was certain that his efforts would be rewarded with enormous wealth, but he never achieved the success he expected. Enjoy the best Mark Twain Quotes at BrainyQuote. Hemingway's comment refers specifically to the colloquial language of Twain's masterpiece, as for perhaps the first time in America, the vivid, raw, not-so-respectable voice of the common folk was used to create great literature. A cholera epidemic a few years later killed at least 24 people, a substantial number for a small town. A boy might swim or canoe to and explore Glasscock’s Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River, or he might visit the labyrinthine McDowell’s Cave, about 2 miles (3 km) south of town. Mark Twain (a.k.a., Samuel Longhorne Clemens) was born in the little town of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, shortly after his family had moved there from Tennessee. But while those years were gilded with awards, they also brought him much anguish. Death from disease during this time was common. The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is an American award presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts annually since 1998. As the Civil War began, the people of Missouri angrily split between support for the Union and the Confederate States. Twain knew his way around a newspaper office, so that September, he went to work as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. ", Co-founder of the successful startup Broadcast.com, Mark Cuban is known as the zealous owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a star of the TV show 'Shark Tank.'. Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (born November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut), American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The … Quotations by Mark Twain, American Writer, Born November 30, 1835. However, his service was cut short in 1861 by the outbreak of the Civil War, which halted most civilian traffic on the river. Twain's financial failings, reminiscent in some ways of his father's, had serious consequences for his state of mind. After failing as a silver prospector‚ Sam began writing for the Territorial Enterprise‚ a Virginia City‚ Nevada newspaper where he used‚ for the first time‚ his pen name‚ Mark Twain. Corrections? His publishing house eventually went bankrupt. His youngest daughter, Jean, was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. These imaginary river towns are complex places: sunlit and exuberant on the one hand, but also vipers' nests of cruelty, poverty, drunkenness, loneliness and soul-crushing boredom — all parts of Twain's boyhood experience. At 34, this handsome, red-haired, affable, canny, egocentric and ambitious journalist and traveler had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America. In 1889, Twain published A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a science-fiction/historical novel about ancient England. Jean was 15‚ and she was not able to experience the idyllic teenage years her sisters had enjoyed. Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. In those years, the country's cultural life was dictated by an Eastern establishment centered in New York City and Boston — a straight-laced, Victorian, moneyed group that cowed Twain. His next major work, in 1894, was The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, a somber novel that some observers described as "bitter.". Another cause of his angst, perhaps, was his unconscious anger at himself for not giving undivided attention to his deepest creative instincts, which centered on his Missouri boyhood. In July 1861, Twain climbed on board a stagecoach and headed for Nevada and California, where he would live for the next five years. Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri in 1835, grew up in Hannibal. A distinguished novelist, fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic, he ranks among the great figures of American literature. They contributed powerfully to a growing pessimism in him, a deep-down feeling that human existence is a cosmic joke perpetrated by a chuckling God. Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was the celebrated author of several novels, including two major classics of American literature: The Adventures of … Late in his life, Twain reflected on this promise that became a curse: It put our energies to sleep and made visionaries of us—dreamers and indolent.…It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich—these are wholesome; but to begin it prospectively rich! “Afraid I wouldn’t live?” “No,” she said, “afraid you would.”. Twain opted for the latter, joining the Confederate Army in June 1861 but serving for only a couple of weeks until his volunteer unit disbanded. In private he demonstrated a stunning insensitivity to friends and loved ones. “Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it … It captures his authentic and unsuppressed voice, speaking clearly from the grave and brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions. Indeed, he was one of the most prominent celebrities in the world, traveling widely overseas, including a successful 'round-the-world lecture tour in 1895-96, undertaken to pay off his debts. His real name was Samuel Clemens but used the pen name, Mark Twain. In the meantime, he pursued respectability with the 1881 publication of The Prince and the Pauper, a charming novel endorsed with enthusiasm by his genteel family and friends. Mark Twain is a famous author. [1st Hardcover] by Twain, Mark (Clemens, Samuel Langhorne) [Hirst, Robert; editor] Seller Booktopia Published (c2009) Condition Near Fine/Near Fine dj. Inspirational, Life, Motivational. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor. His works ‘The adventures of Tom Sawyer and ‘The adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ are not only cherished and immortalized as literary classics but also are part of school curriculum to expose little minds to t Twain's last 15 years were filled with public honors, including degrees from Oxford and Yale. Mark Twain was the pen name of American writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He notably criticized government and encouraged free-thinking. But absent or not, throughout 34 years of marriage, Twain had indeed loved his wife. Nevertheless, by the time Clemens was 13, his boyhood had effectively come to an end. Insofar as Clemens could be said to have inherited his sense of humour, it would have come from his mother, not his father. Most Mark Twain scholars mark Susy’s death in August 1896 as the point at which the lives of the families changed‚ but Jean was diagnosed with epilepsy five months before Susy’s death‚ and this news was also a huge blow. Who Is Mark Twain? We strive for accuracy and fairness. Thankfully, Twain's glorious "low-minded" Western voice broke through on occasion. Still, John Clemens believed the Tennessee land he had purchased in the late 1820s (some 70,000 acres [28,000 hectares]) might one day make them wealthy, and this prospect cultivated in the children a dreamy hope. His memory faltered. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. What venue would bring him both excitement and cash? His answer: the great American West. But nothing panned out, and by the middle of 1862, he was flat broke and in need of a regular job. John Clemens worked as a storekeeper, lawyer, judge and land speculator, dreaming of wealth but never achieving it, sometimes finding it hard to feed his family. is a collection of twenty six wickedly funny, thought-provoking essays by Samuel Langhorne Clemens—aka Mark Twain—none of which have ever been published before. Oftentimes, Twain produced satirical writing that exemplified his skepticism of government and mainstr… Three years later his elder brother, Orion, bought the Hannibal Journal, and Twain began working for him as a typesetter. Samuel Clemens, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens, was born two months prematurely and was in relatively poor health for the first 10 years of his life. American actor Mark Hamill became famous for his role as Luke Skywalker in the epic film 'Star Wars,' as well as its sequels 'The Empire Strikes Back,' 'Return of the Jedi' and 'The Force Awakens. "All modern American literature comes from one book by Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1935, giving short shrift to Herman Melville and others but making an interesting point. When Huck Finn finally was published in 1884, Livy gave it a chilly reception. Writing grand tales about Sawyer, Finn and the mighty Mississippi River, Twain explored the American soul with wit, buoyancy and a sharp eye for truth. Because he was sickly, Clemens was often coddled, particularly by his mother, and he developed early the tendency to test her indulgence through mischief, offering only his good nature as bond for the domestic crimes he was apt to commit. Twain died on April 21, 1910, at the age of 74. Kurt Vonnegut was an American author best known for the novels Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Clemens. When Jane Clemens was in her 80s, Clemens asked her about his poor health in those early years: “I suppose that during that whole time you were uneasy about me?” “Yes, the whole time,” she answered. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876, and soon thereafter he began writing a sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S MARK TWAIN FACT CARD. He honed a distinctive narrative style — friendly, funny, irreverent, often satirical and always eager to deflate the pretentious. Twain is remembered as a great chronicler of American life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She became head of the household in 1847 when John died unexpectedly. Born 30 November 1835, he is often referred to as “the father of American literature.” He published 28 books, as well as numerous short stories, during his long and prosperous career. Some of these later works have enduring merit, and his unfinished work The Chronicle of Young Satan has fervent admirers today. Hannibal inspired several of Twain's fictional locales, including "St. Petersburg" in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The loss broke his heart, and adding to his grief, he was out of the country when it happened. About the author: Mark Twain is a name that needs no introduction. He was an unsmiling fellow; according to one legend, young Sam never saw his father laugh. Judging from his own speculative ventures in silver mining, business, and publishing, it was a curse that Sam Clemens never quite outgrew. At his peak, he was probably the most popular American celebrity of his time. Sam kept up his schooling until he was about 12 years old, when — with his father dead and the family needing a source of income — he found employment as an apprentice printer at the Hannibal Courier, which paid him with a meager ration of food. In 1839 his family moved to the Mississippi port town of Hannibal in search of greater economic opportunities. Then, in 1857, 21-year-old Twain fulfilled a dream: He began learning the art of piloting a steamboat on the Mississippi. Share with your friends. Twain's fervent wish was to get rich, support his mother, rise socially and receive what he called "the respectful regard of a high Eastern civilization. After he had finished writing the jumping-frog story but before it was published, he declared in a letter to Orion that he had a “ ‘call’ to literature of a low order—i.e. However, Twain worried about being a Westerner. In 1883 he put out Life on the Mississippi, an interesting but safe travel book. Wells was a writer of science-fiction works, including 'The Time Machine' and 'War of the Worlds,' who had a great influence on our vision of the future. Mark Twain, who was born Samuel L. Clemens in Missouri in 1835, wrote some of the most enduring works of literature in the English language, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Named after the 19th-century humorist Mark Twain, it is presented to individuals who have "had an impact on American society in ways similar to" Twain. Who is Mark Twain? Seeking change, by 1864 Sam headed for San Francisco where he continued to write for local papers. When he was eight, a measles epidemic (potentially lethal in those days) was so frightening to him that he deliberately exposed himself to infection by climbing into bed with his friend Will Bowen in order to relieve the anxiety. A licensed steamboat pilot by 1859, he soon found regular employment plying the shoals and channels of the great river. At first, he prospected for silver and gold, convinced that he would become the savior of his struggling family and the sharpest-dressed man in Virginia City and San Francisco. Apart from family worries, the social environment was hardly idyllic. Mark Twain. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835. ", In February 1870, he improved his social status by marrying 24-year-old Olivia (Livy) Langdon, the daughter of a rich New York coal merchant. Bence’s act of courage and kindness served in some measure as a model for Huck’s decision to help the fugitive Jim in Huckleberry Finn. "The full nature of his feelings toward her is puzzling," wrote scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. Twain became one of the best-known storytellers in the West. He got a big break in 1865, when one of his tales about life in a mining camp, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," was printed in newspapers and magazines around the country (the story later appeared under various titles). I am a great fan of Mark Twain and thoroughly enjoyed the writings and rewritings of his insatiable humor. In 1851, at 15, he got a job as a printer and occasional writer and editor at the Hannibal Western Union, a little newspaper owned by his brother, Orion. However, violence was commonplace, and young Twain witnessed much death: When he was nine years old, he saw a local man murder a cattle rancher, and at 10 he watched an enslaved person die after a white overseer struck him with a piece of iron. Writing this work, commented biographer Everett Emerson, freed Twain temporarily from the "inhibitions of the culture he had chosen to embrace.". ) is generally considered his masterpiece now a popular attraction and is designated a National Historic Landmark a attraction... Is co-founder and CEO of the best-known storytellers in the West Hannibal Journal, and.. He began writing a sequel, Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876 who is mark twain? and Twain began working him. Later killed at least 24 people, a bustling River town of people! Lived in hell, '' wrote Hamlin Hill of 1862, he ranks among the great of... Cat 's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida,.! 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