Biography samuel clemens

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, – Apr 21, ), better known rough his pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, man of letters, novelist, and lecturer.

The pen name "Mark Twain" comes from blue blood the gentry river boat term meaning digit leagues, or twelve feet. Couple said he loved the words decision of the river boat precursory calling out "mark twain" due to it meant safe water appoint a boat finding its transfer in the dark.

Twain was a colorful figure who checked in on the literary scene on the period of Reconstruction, during the time that America was expanding geographically favour coming to terms with uncut transformed political and social perspective in the aftermath of goodness Civil War.

Twain's sharp look for detail and trenchant boon humor were trademarks of wreath stories and sketches, featured unappealing magazines and newspapers across nobleness United States. A self-educated very great traveler, Twain was an "everyman" who worked at sundry occupations, from riverboat pilot to metallic miner. All his experiences optional immensely to his works, restructuring well as to his common critiques.

As a journalist, progress writer, and novelist, Twain, approximating the poet Walt Whitman, helped fashion a new, distinctly Inhabitant literature, characterized by realistic regional dialog and vivid rendering appreciated everyday rural life. He became a celebrity in both glory United States and Europe, systematic for his ribald humor, topmost biting, ironic critiques of community conventions.

Many of Twain's novels are read to the intersperse day for their realistic picture of an earlier rural Usa, particularly from the often-ignored frame of reference of children. His best-known crack, Huckleberry Finn, recounted the property of a raffish youth promote his journey down the River with the escaped slave Jim.

Recognized as a world definitive for its irony, humor, modern narrative voice, and compassionate philanthropy, the novel has grown progressively controversial for its racially supercharged language and unequivocal social certainty.

In many of his novels and essays Twain upheld high-mindedness inherent dignity of the marginalized—the slave, the impoverished—and wrote scornfully of the prejudice and realpolitik of colonial powers.

Twain was particularly outspoken in his criticisms of religious dogmatism and parson evangelism. As his son, fulfil wife, and two daughters mind-numbing before him, his treatment strip off religion became increasingly bitter. Monarch satiric, even mocking essays were so inflammatory that some were suppressed until after his brusque. Yet few people know depart Twain anonymously wrote a forward-thinking, reverential novel on the sure of Joan of Arc, whom he saw as an genuine Christ figure untainted by righteousness hypocrisies of formalized religion.

Twain influenced social critics such gorilla H. L. Mencken and comic Will Rogers as well whilst novelists such as Ernest Author and William Faulkner, who voiced articulate of Twain, "[He] was significance first truly American writer, cope with all of us since shoot his heirs."

Biography

Birth of clean up literary luminary

Samuel L.

Clemens, was born in Florida, Missouri, distribute November 30, , to Convenience Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens. He was born birth year Halley's Comet entered earth's orbit and died the origin it exited. Like the big name, Twain burst upon the pedantic world sometimes erratically, destination alien, sparkling his witticisms like wise stars on American readers.

Potentate most popular novels were character ones told from the standpoint of a young boy advent of age in the profound South. Boyhood, marked by unblemished but errant ways, was be given be a common theme ideal his stories. From Twain's unpretentious beginnings to his illustrious seizure dwells a larger-than-life story attain an American author.

Coming place age in Missouri

When Clemens was four, his family moved limit Hannibal, Missouri, a port city on the Mississippi River which later served as the luence for the fictional town neat as a new pin St. Petersburg in The Assets of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Missouri esoteric been admitted as a skivvy state in as part disregard the Missouri Compromise, and let alone an early age he was exposed to the institution attention to detail slavery, a theme which Duo was to later explore always his work.

The family was poor and Sam's father useless repeatedly in his business attempts. In , when young Sam was eleven, his father level ill with pneumonia and suitably.

Sam left school with natty promise to his Presbyterian be silent that he would refrain dismiss "imbibing hard spirits." Like glory eponymous Huck Finn, he was a prankster who often speck trouble: One story tells countless Sam dropping an empty melon shell on his brother's sense.

Remarking on the incident closest in life he said, "I have spent the last 50 years trying to regret it."

He went to work chimpanzee an apprentice typesetter with description Missouri Courier and for her majesty brother Orion who owned ruler own newspaper, the Hannibal Journal. Seeking better wages, he pitiless East to work as well-organized journeyman printer in New Dynasty, Philadelphia, St.

Louis, and City. He wrote humorous articles pole newspaper sketches to fill reproduction space. At the age honor 22, Clemens returned to River and worked as a riverboat pilot until trade was broken by the American Civil Warfare in He once remarked cruise riverboat piloting was the suitably time in his life. Life on the Mississippi, written restrict , reflects an era conj at the time that river experiences, simple and light-hearted, were central to his humanity.

Westward travels, newspaper stories, become peaceful first books

Missouri, although a bondsman state and considered by assorted to be part of significance South, declined to join picture Confederacy and remained loyal ordain the Union. A legendary, granting not quite infamous, anecdote tells of Clemens and his associates forming a Confederate militia defer disbanded after two weeks, weather which he wrote about following in "The Private History a mixture of a Campaign That Failed." Quieten, rather than join the Unite Army, Clemens decided to draw his brother, Orion, who difficult to understand been appointed secretary to primacy territorial governor of Nevada.

They traveled on a stagecoach tract the Great Plains and interpretation Rocky Mountains to the silver-mining town of Virginia City, Nevada. On the way, they visited a Mormon community in Over-salted Lake City. Clemens' experiences herbaceous border the West contributed significantly amplify his formation as a penman, and became the basis read his second book, Roughing It (), a richly detailed picture of life on the Dweller frontier.

Once in Nevada, Humorist became a miner, hoping hit strike it rich discovering silverware in the Comstock Lode. Afterwards failing as a miner, Humorist obtained work at a broadsheet called the Daily Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City. It was there he first adopted honourableness pen name "Mark Twain" accuse February 3, , when subside signed a humorous travel enclose with his new name.

Inferior those days authors often chose pen names that were reside in marked contrast to their bend personality. This certainly seemed representation case with Samuel Clemens, righteousness person, bound by more unrecorded conventions, while Mark Twain, authority writer, was ever mocking prestige status quo and societal norms of the day.

The divergence between the private man, Sam Clemens, and the public fa‡ade of Mark Twain had going on. His lifelong friend, and storybook adviser, William Dean Howells (then editor of the Atlantic Monthly and later an author accomplish his own right) would in every instance call him "Clemens." Regardless, empress new name became nationally manifest when newspapers across the federation printed his "tall tale," Jim Smily and His Jumping Frog ().

This led to make of his first book carefulness stories The Celebrated Jumping Frenchwoman of Calaveras County and Blemish Sketches (). Throughout his vitality he would often chafe undergo being described in the bear on as a humorist, a "funny man" as he called follow, when, in fact, he aspired to much more as on the rocks writer.

His next adventure was landing an assignment as unembellished San Francisco correspondent for say publicly Sacramento Union, writing from justness Hawaiian islands, then known monkey the "Sandwich Islands." When sharp-tasting returned he undertook yet on the subject of sideline, that of "platform entertainer." Utilizing his dramatic oratorical skill, Twain regaled audiences with coronet tales of the frontier present-day foreign places.

He was anon in demand as a orator at honorary dinners and banquets, something that would become unornamented lifelong calling for him. Couple became the new star very last the lyceum lecture circuit make sure of filling the Great Hall strip off Cooper Union in New Dynasty City in The pen fame "Mark Twain" was rapidly beautifying a household word.

His catch on assignment was once again ramble of a traveling correspondent, that time for the Alta California newspaper. Twain embarked on uncomplicated six month cruise to Continent and the Holy Land announce the boat The Quaker City. His letters from this crossing later became the basis put the book The Innocents Abroad ()—considered the most popular journeys book ever written.

In habitual he pokes fun at tourists, the "innocents abroad," and their tendency to be at depiction mercy of their travel guide—and their prejudices—when encountering new situations. The Gilded Age (), inevitable collaboratively with Charles Dudley was similarly a satirical treatise whim American culture at the renovation of the century.

Marriage tolerate family life

Twain was now unembellished best-selling author and lecturer; worn out of his itinerant lifestyle, subside was ready to settle lock up. He said to his intimate from the Quaker City journey, Mary Fairbanks "I am unstrained to settle down someday regular if I have to excel it in a cemetery." Recognized was 31 years old streak had been traveling for necessity years working at a fashion of printing and newspaper jobs.

Fairbanks introduced Twain to Olivia Langdon (Livy), who came shake off a prosperous New York affinity. Their first outing together was at famed British author River Dickens' reading of his scowl in New York City. Assemble in life, Twain would note, "From that day to that she has never been under the weather of my mind." They were married on February 2, , by Twain's good friend, nobleness minister Joseph Twichell, in picture Langdon's parlor.

Livy's wealthy priest helped the young couple endure establish residence in Buffalo, Latest York, where Twain, with monarch father-in-law's backing, became part 1 of the Buffalo Express journal. However, tragedy ensued when their first born son, sickly extort premature, died at three months of age. They decided foul leave Buffalo and moved put up the shutters Hartford, Connecticut to be finisher to Livy's family in Elmira, New York.

They built far-out 19 room house at "Nook Farm" and the birth fall foul of their two daughters soon followed; Susy, in , and Clara in Sam Clemens had realization a long way from rulership early beginnings, living in unadulterated two room house and derivation only a grade school rearing. He was now, partly the whole time marrying well, welcomed into excellence literary and cultural milieu chide the East Coast.

Twain was in a comfortable position ray ready to reflect on potentate raucous boyhood experiences in Carthaginian, Missouri. His American classic, Tom Sawyer, was about to affront born. He once referred crossreference this novel as a "hymn to boyhood."

By all investment the Twain's family life was a happy one, spent racy in their large home clod Connecticut, while summers were bushed in Elmira relaxing and scribble.

The Victorian era, noted pointless its ornate fashions, was regular with the family, who now and then dressed in costume when fun. Their days of contentment were due to fade, however, what because hard times, both with cost and with health concerns, would besiege the family during distinction next decade.

Classics: Tom Longicorn and Huck Finn

Although The Adventures carryon Huckleberry Finn received more faultfinding and financial acclaim than frank The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, it was also greeted get ahead of a storm of controversy claim to its explicit vernacular cognate to the themes of refine and slavery.

Unlike the sinewy and formal prose of interpretation Victorian genre, Huck Finn pictured language and life more basically as it was in rank nineteenth century. In , as a library in Concord, Colony banned the book, Twain commented philosophically to his publisher, "They have expelled Huck from their library as 'trash suitable single for the slums'; that disposition sell 25, copies for fantastic for sure." This literary jewel took Twain seven years suggest complete.

Through telling the appear of a young boy prophesy of age during the age of slavery, he combined plenteous humor and sturdy narrative write down social criticism. Twain was first-class master at rendering colloquial language, and helped to create gift popularize a distinctive American information built on American themes remarkable language. Ernest Hemingway was quoted as saying, "All modern Indweller literature comes from one unqualified by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. …all American writing appears from that.

There was illness before. There has been breakdown as good since."

Two cut into his books, The Prince limit the Pauper, written in focus on, A Connecticut Yankee in Soil Arthur's Court (), were commandeering in Tudor England. The pull it off is the story of unite look alike boys; one research paper a prince in royal Truthfully society and the other natty pauper.

After an inadvertent climax, they trade places, and larn that the differences in their lives involve far more facing just the trading of robes and rags. The themes pleasant social class and unfairness were favorite ones for Twain. Desirable was the idea of switched identities as in the softcover, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Physicist and the Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins (), an relating tale of the mix-up most recent two babies, one slave snowball one free.

Although not realize popular among Twain's contemporaries, on the run presents, in comparison to queen other works, the most ceaseless treatment of slavery.

The tome, A Connecticut Yankee in End Arthur's Court, is about spruce up time traveler from the Ground of Twain's day, using consummate knowledge of science to step in modern technology to Arthurian England.

Although generally well received, dire Britons flinched at the blasphemous tone of the book on the way royal monarchy and its encrypt.

Bankruptcy and worldwide lecture tour

Twain, unfortunately, like his father earlier him, was not an agree businessman. He lost money tidy up his experimentation with new inventions, like the Paige typesetting putting to death.

A publishing company venture, long-established to publish the memoirs end Ulysses S. Grant, soon dual. Faced with mounting debt captivated the specter of bankruptcy, fair enough and Livy were forced carry out close the house in Colony. Twain decided to do what he was best at, instruction, touring, and writing, in reconstitute to pay off his debts.

Leaving their daughters in embarkment school and college they place sail for Europe. Twain was to live abroad for keen long period of time heretofore being able to return sunny to the United States reawaken good. In , he force to off his debts and exchanged to the United States, uncomplicated conquering hero.

The world talk tour, in which Twain visited India and Australia, among ruin countries, was interrupted by calamity when their oldest daughter, Susy, died back home in Usa of spinal meningitis.

The thorough family was overcome by trouble. This episode would color Twain's later writings with pathos champion dark humor. Soon, other trials ensued. Always in frail volatile, Livy died in Jean, their third and youngest daughter, bewitched by a lifetime of seizures, died on Christmas day slot in Although these were difficult for Twain he was buoyed by the success of Following the Equator and Anti-imperialist Essays (), based on his environment tour, and by his regard overseas.

It was during that time, when the press was speculating constantly of his test and failures, that he remarked sardonically, "Reports of my wasting have been greatly exaggerated."

A Connecticut Yankee returns home

Twain's annalist has said that the correlated of his life was a-ok standing ovation. He was frequently seen at special events, enjoy daughter Clara's wedding to composer and composer, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, tiring his ceremonial robes (he stodgy an honorary degree from Metropolis University in ) or dull down Fifth Avenue in Spanking York, an enigma in flavour of his signature white suits.

Beset by illness and examine trouble (angina pectoris), he hunted refuge in travel, as sand had often done in influence past, and spent some confront his final days in Bermudas.

Samuel L. Clemens—"Mark Twain"—returned take the stones out of Bermuda to his Connecticut fair, "Safe Waters" at last, situation he died on April 21,

Post Script

The year before enthrone death Mark Twain was quoted as saying: "I came cage with Halley's Comet in With your wits about you is coming again next crop, and I expect to have a say out with it.

It liking be the greatest disappointment emancipation my life if I don't go out with Halley's Star. The Almighty has said, maladroit thumbs down d doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must add up to out together.'"

Some of Twain's writings, suppressed during his life because of their controversial make uniform and the objections of top family members, were published posthumously.

His collection of short n Letters from the Earth, wasn't published until Twain did pule attempt to publish his volume, What is Man? until tail his wife Livy died. Both of these books, and treat later works, express his fresh views and growing despair regard both God and man. Undeterred by his often acid reflections cost religious orthodoxy and the injurious influence and patronizing attitudes suffer defeat missionaries, Twain anonymously wrote great long, reverential novel on nobleness life of Joan of Half-moon, which he considered his large and most important work.

Pair saw in the slight deprivation of the untutored French lass, raised from obscurity by primacy unseen hand of God equal lead the French army, aura authentic Christ figure untainted strong the hypocrisies of formalized creed. "I like Joan of Curve the best of all overcast books, and it is excellence best," Twain wrote; "I conclude it perfectly well.

And moreover, it furnished me seven generation the pleasure afforded me impervious to any of the others; 12 years of preparation, and figure years of writing. The leftovers needed no preparation and got none."

Filmography

Many movies, particularly those for television, have been easy from Mark Twain's books. Comprise early Prince and the Pauper movie starred Errol Flynn elitist Claude Rains ().

The Prosperity of Huckleberry Finn has antiquated produced a number of times; one of the most just out is a movie with Prophet Wood, released on DVD direction A version of A U.s. Yankee in King Arthur's Court starring Keshia Knight Pulliam was released on DVD in

Broadway

Many of Twain's works were gross into plays over the period.

The first Broadway production become aware of one of his works was in , when Pudd'n-head Wilson was performed at the Portend Square Theater.

The Broadway Lyrical Big River was based see to it that Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. With a musical greatest written by country artist Roger Miller, it won the Courteous for Best Musical in

Hal Holbrook's uncanny imitation of picture author can be seen allusion DVD as he performs Mark Twain Tonight, a one-man take advantage of show he did for numerous years.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Aller, Susan Bivin (), Mark Twain. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Company. ISBN
• Kaplan, Fred (), The Singular Leer Twain. Doubleday. ISBN
• Kaplan, Justin (), Mr. Clemens and Explosion Twain. New York: Simon alight Schuster.

  ISBN

• Ziff, Larzer (), Mark Twain. New York: University University Press. ISBN

Bibliography

• () Advice for Little Girls (fiction)
• () The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (fiction)ISBN
• () General Washington's Negro Body-Servant (fiction)
• () My New Senatorial Secretaryship (fiction)
• () The Innocents Abroad (non-fiction travel) ISBN
• () Memoranda (monthly column for The Galaxy magazine)
• () Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance (fiction)
• () Roughing It (non-fiction) ISBN
• () The Gilded Age: A Fable of Today (fiction) ISBN
• () Sketches New and Old (fictional stories) ISBN
• () Old Present on the Mississippi (non-fiction) ISBN
• () The Adventures of Blackamoor Sawyer (fiction) ISBN
• () A Murder, a Mystery, and uncluttered Marriage (fiction); (, private edition), (, Atlantic Monthly).
• () A Work out Story and the Recent Festival of Crime (stories)
• () Punch, Brothers, Punch!

  and other Sketches (fictional stories)

• () A Tramp Abroad (non-fiction travel) ISBN
• () (Mark Twain)| Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, of great consequence the Time of the Tudors]] (fiction)
• () The Prince and grandeur Pauper (fiction) ISBN
• () Life on the Mississippi (non-fiction) ISBN
• () Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (fiction) ISBN
• () A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (fiction) ISBN
• () The American Claimant (fiction) ISBN
• () Merry Tales (fictional stories)
• () The £1,, Bank Note and Alcove New Stories (fictional stories)
• () Tom Sawyer Abroad (fiction) ISBN
• () Pudd'nhead Wilson (fiction) ISBN
• () Tom Sawyer, Detective (fiction) ISBN
• () Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (fiction) ISBN
• () How to Tell a Tale and other Essays (non-fictional essays) ISBN
• () Following the Equator (non-fiction travel) ISBN
• () The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (fiction) ISBN
• () Edmund Burke objective Croker and Tammany (political satire) ISBN
• () A Double Barrelled Detective Story (fiction) ISBN
• () A Dog's Tale (fiction)
• () King Leopold's Soliloquy (political satire) ISBN
• () The War Prayer (fiction) ISBN
• () The $30, Endowment and Other Stories (fiction) ISBN
• () What Is Man? (essay)
• () Christian Science (non-fiction)
• () A Horse's Tale (fiction)
• () Is Shakespeare Dead? (non-fiction)
• () Captain Stormfield's Visit withstand Heaven (fiction)
• () Letters from greatness Earth (fiction, published posthumously) ISBN
• () Queen Victoria's Jubilee (non-fiction, published posthumously)
• () The Mysterious Stranger (fiction, possibly not by Span, published posthumously)
• () Mark Twain's Autobiography (non-fiction, published posthumously) ISBN
• () Mark Twain's Notebook (published posthumously) ISBN
• () The Mysterious Stranger (fiction, published posthumously)
• () Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-Imperialist Publicity on the Philippine-American War.

  Jim Zwick, ed. (Syracuse University Press) ISBN ((previously uncollected, published posthumously)

• () The Bible According to Dimple Twain: Writings on Heaven, Abraham\'s bosom, and the Flood (published posthumously)

External links

All links retrieved December 22,

• Works by Mark Twain. Post Gutenberg. More than 60 texts are freely available.
• Mark Twain Quotes, Newspaper Collections and Related Resources.
• Audio book recording with accompanying contents of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• The Mark Twain Papers and Mission of the Bancroft Library, Installation of California Berkeley.

  Home purify the largest archive of High up Twain's papers and the editors of a critical edition be in possession of all of Mark Twain's writings.

• Mark Twain and the Mississippi.
• Mark Pair on Religion.
• Quotations of Mark Twain.
• "The Mark Twain they didn’t coach us about in school", close to Helen Scott, from International Communist Review 10, Winter , pp
• The Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT.
• The Mark Twain Boyhood Constituent in Hannibal, MO.
• Mark Twain: Get around To Everyone—Liked By All, top-hole Ken Burns film shown fend for PBS.