MARK TWAIN AND HIS WORKS
Biographical Sketch / Biographies of Mark Twain
The Works of Mark Twain
He was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835 and has become known as the
first great author to grow up on the frontier of America. His parents were pioneers, and
Samuel was born in a very small village, Florida, Missouri. He grew up in Hannibal,
a port on the Mississippi River. He had usual powers of observation and didn't miss a
thing in that pioneer region. Much of what he learned there shows up later in his books.
When he was twelve years old, his father died, he had to quit school, and
his mother apprenticed him to a printer. Later, he worked for his brother, Orion,
who owned the Journal, a Hannibal newspaper . This was a turning point in his life. He had
the opportunity to read the newspapers that came to the office from all over the country,
and he wrote some paragraphs for the Hannibal paper. His first published writing was a
humorous sketch typical of the stories often told around the campfires of the frontier. It
was titled "The Dandy Frightening the Squatter," and it appeared in the Carpetbag
magazine on May 1, 1852. This kind of native humor, which furnished the model for
much of what he later wrote, had first been written in Longstreet's Georgia Scenes,
and has also appeared as newspaper columns all over the country.
In the fall of 1856, Clemens moved to Cincinnati, and during the following
spring he boarded a riverboat bound for New Orleans. He had planned to seek his fortune in
South America after that by collecting coca along the Amazon River. But the time on the
riverboat renewed an old ambition -- one which almost every boy at the time shared -- to
become the pilot of a steamboat. He persuaded Horace Bixby, the pilot of the boat, to take
him on as an apprentice. Within seventeen months he had learned every snag and sandbar
along the twelve hundred miles of the Mississippi, and was ready in April, 1859, to
receive his license to pilot on the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans.
During this period of American history, the Mississippi River was a major
"highway," and it was traveled by all kinds of people -- squatters from the
river bank, Southern gentleman who lived on plantations, and people from all stations of
life in between. His position as pilot gave him an opportunity to study these people and
talk to them. They told all sorts of imaginative stories, true and maybe not so true.
He conversed with these people while he was on board, and also when his vessel was
tied up in port. His experience on the river served as his college education in human
nature, and was also the inspiration and foundation one of his best books: Life on the
Mississippi.
The Civil War put an end to Clemens' piloting, because the river was
closed to traffic. So in 1861 he set off with his brother Orion by land to Nevada, where
Orion was secretary of the newly organized territory. He stayed in the Far West for five
years. After deciding he wouldn't actually get rich from mining silver and gold, as he had
hoped, he went back to journalism in Virginia City, near one of the richest silver
mines ever discovered. He wrote several humorous stories under the name "Josh"
during this period. These stories helped get him a job with Virginia City's Territorial
Enterprise in the summer of 1862.
As a reporter, Clemens discovered that many men who had suddenly
become rich sought his friendship. When, as part of his job, he went to the capital to
write up the debates of the legislature, he found he could swing more votes than any
elected representative. It was during this period that Clemens first used the name
"Mark Twain" -- when he signed the dispatches reporting the legislative
sessions. He explained that he chose the name because it was an old river term "a
leadsman's call, signifying two fathoms -- twelve feet. " (p. 292 Literature and Life
in America, by Dudley Miles and Robert C. Pooley, Scott Foresman and Company, 1943.)
In May, 1864, Twain left for San Francisco, where his reputation as a
writer preceded him. He had no trouble getting a position as a reporter for The Morning
Call. He also wrote stories for two local magazines. One of these, "The Celebrated
Jumping Rrog of Calaveras County" was copied by newspapers from coast to coast, and
the reputation this story gained him led to his leaving the frontier for good at the age
of 31. A San Francisco newspaper offered him a neat sum to describe a tour of the
Mediterranean and Palestine.
As he traveled, he was not afraid to express thoughts that were uniquely
his own as he confronted the culture of the Old World. He dared to laugh at some of the
most famous points of interest, and he made fun of American tourists who admired whatever
the guidebooks praised. Twain compared everything to what was in the New World, and
boasted of the New World's superiority. His observations were first published as letters
to newspapers, and then he used them in lectures. They later appeared in 1869 in book form
as The Innocents Abroad, and readers all over America welcomed the jokes, satiric
comments and Twain's fresh observations and descriptions. The publication of the
book paved the way for Twain's second career as a popular lecturer. By the time he was 34,
he had become a national figure. In 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon, of Elmira, New
York. They lived in Hartford, Connecticut from 1871 to 1891. They had four children:
Langdon, who died as an infant, Susy, Clara, and Jean.
While in Hartford, Twain and his wife built one of the most spectacular
homes of their day. It was a great, rambling house, adn its porch, staircase, and
soem other parts of the house suggested a steamboat. The family had a coachman and several
servants. They entertained lavishly and took several trips to Europe. These activities,
along with his lecturing, kept Twain busy. He also wrote some of his most popular
books during this time. The best of these were based on his own experiences. Roughing
It (1872) was a humorous account of his years in the Far West. His two most popular
books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn (1884). Tom Sawyer brings many of Twain's boyhood adventures in
Hannibal to life. Huckleberry Finn is a result of Twain's time on the
Mississippi. The book reflects Twain's intimate knowledge of the river. It helps the
reader picture the towns along the Mississippi from Missouri to Arkansas. It
preserves the flavor of the vanished frontier for those of us who never experienced it as
he did. He tied to cram as many classes of people, and as many customs and
scenes as possible into the book as possible.
Many of Twain's later books were influenced by the literary models popular
in the East rather than on his own experiences. The most popular of these, The Prince
and the Pauper, was published in 1882. His last great book, A Connecticut Yankee
in King Arthur's Court, was written in 1889. By the 1890's he had become both famous
and wealthy. But from there things began to go downhill, and his last twenty years were
not happy ones. Although he possessed a wonderful sense of humor, he had always been a
basically depressed person. He was also torn between contraditory feelings and ideas.
Sometimes his social beliefs were liberal, and sometimes they were conservative. He wanted
to have faith in God, but wasn't sure he existed. Although he attacked people whom
he thought were too concerned with making money, he had tried to increase his own wealth
in many different ways, some of which were unfruitful get-rich-quick schemes.
In 1893 there was a national financial crisis which left him deep in debt.
His writing and lecturing helped him make a financial comeback, but his family life began
to be full of misfortune. His favorite daughter Susy died while he was on tour. His wife's
health, which had never been good, got worse, and she died in 1904. His youngest daughter,
Jean, died in 1909. His own health began to decline as well. His writings began to reflect
his unhappiness and bitterness over his losses. He was depressed, cynical, and
disillusioned. He began to believe that people's actions were all guided by
selfishness. He finally died on April 21, 1910, and was buried in Elmira. He was
mourned more universally than any other American writer before him. And his books have
become some of the most widely read in America.
© Barbara Radisavljvic, Barb's People Builders, August, 2002
 Mark
Twain: Young Writer, by Miriam E. Mason. Part of the Childhood of
Famous Americans Series. For children eight and up. Focuses on the story of the
childhood experiences and values that influenced the Twain's development. The biography
contains important facts with some fictionalized details and conversations to make the
story come alive for the children who will read it. Paper. 192 pages with lots of white
space around the child-friendly print size.
Cat. #COF-714807. $4.49-D
 My
Mark Twain by William Dean Howells. Trade paper, 187 pages. This memoir by
the great American novelist was first published in 1910. Dover reprinted it in 1997 with a
new introduction by Thomas Wortham. Howells was an intimate friend of Mark Twain for 40
years, and they spent much time together. In addition to his personal reminiscenses of
Twain, Howells also reviews some of Twain's most well-known books. The book is full of
affection and humorous anecdotes, and also captures the spirit of a rare friendship
between two gifted writers. For teens and adults.Cat. #D-206407. $7.16-D |
