Biography Of Mark Twain
Mark Twain (November 30, 1835, April 21, 1910 ) was an American writer, publisher, and charismatic comedian. Twain is regarded in the eyes of many as being the “Father of American Literature‘ – his most well-known novels include ‘ The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as well as ‘ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‘.
The early existence of Mark Twain
Samuel Clemens (later better known as Mark Twain, his pseudonym Mark Twain) was born in Florida, Missouri in 1835 to the son of a Tennessee businessman from Tennessee. Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, a town located on the Mississippi River. At the age of eleven, his father passed away and in the following year, Twain was required to find work as an apprentice printer. At an early age, Twain began contributing cartoons and articles for The Hannibal Journal. When he was 18 He left Missouri and moved on to New York, Philadelphia, and St Louis. He continued his studies in libraries in the public sector and joined the print unions. He was a strong supporter of unions throughout his entire life, observing the way that businesses could offer low working conditions and low wages to employees.
He was born in 1859 and was a river pilot along the Mississippi River. The position was a lucrative position that paid a wage of $250 per month. It required a deep understanding of the river that was accumulated by him over time.
He continued working on the river until the onset of the American Civil war in 1861. He then traveled with his brother, Orion, across the Great Plains to the West of America. He ended up in Virginia City, Nevada where he briefly worked as a miner before becoming a writer for the local Virginia City newspaper.
In 1865, he was able to have his first significant publication success – ” The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County“. It was a humorous story that earned the author a lot of success. The widespread acclaim of the first publication’s success brought about further opportunities for travel such as a trip to Europe as well as The Middle East. The trip provided him with material for his hilarious travel journal ‘ The Innocents Abroad’ (1869). Humor was a major aspect of Twain’s writings as well as his speeches.
“Humor is the greatest thing, the only thing that can save us. Once it is present every hardness we have sunk into to a smile, and all our frustrations and bitterness go away and a jolly spirit fills their space.” (1899)
The wit of Twain helped create one of America’s most well-known Americans of his time.
“Always acknowledge your fault. This will put people in charge off guard and provide you the chance to do more.”
Biography Of Mark Twain
— Mark Twain
It was in 1870 that Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon. Olivia came from a prestigious as well as liberal NY family that had the friendship of a large group of progressive and liberal activists. With his partner, she introduced him to individuals like Harriet Beecher Stowe and the utopian socialist William Dean Howells. It was a completely different world from the traditional slavery-ridden state of Missouri in which he was raised. He also made friends and was a friend of Helen Keller; Twain played a key role in helping in financing Keller’s education. He was impressed by her strength in overcoming her hearing loss.
Twain said that he grew more radical in his later years. He noted that after an initial period of optimism for imperialism, Twain began to be skeptical of the motives of imperialism, e.g., he opposed American interventions into the Philippines. Twain was appointed vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League in 1901 until he died in 1910.
Twain is also known as a firm advocate of abolition as well as black freedom. He believed that Lincoln’s Proclamation “Not only set slaves of blacks but let the white man be free too.’
The first works by Twain were often light-hearted and funny. But as his writing and his life progressed his writings and articles were becoming much more serious, and more focused on pressing social issues confronting America.
“I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. What I am interested in is that man has a soul and that’s enough for me. He cannot be more different.”
Harper’s Magazine, Sept. 1899
With the same skillful touch and comical twist, Twain became a satirist of the injustices and ill-treatment of the world and gave expression to his deep-seated convictions.
It’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn which are regarded as the greatest accomplishments of Twain. Hemingway later wrote:
“All of the modern American literature is derived from a book by Mark Twain called, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
After a brief stint at an insignificant amount of time for the Buffalo Express newspaper, Twain moved his family along with three daughters to Hartford, Connecticut. The family stayed there for 17 years and this provided Mark Twain with a firm base for writing. He was there that Twain wrote his most famous books such as the Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1864) In the years as his fame and fame was growing, Twain gained a substantial income from his writing. Unfortunately, Twain lost a tiny fortune due to a misplaced investment in the Paige typesetting machine. It is believed that he lost $350,000 before the machine was replaced by the new technology of Linotype.
Together with the loss of money through his own publishing company, Twain faced bankruptcy but was saved through the help of the financier Henry Rogers. Twain continued to work hard, organizing a worldwide lecture tour to repay his debts fully.
Despite his successful career in writing and a worldwide reputation that included an honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Oxford – Twain suffered from depression triggered by painful personal tragic events. In his early years, Twain lost his son. However, it was the loss of his daughter Sudsy in 1896 which led to the beginning of a depression that was real. The situation was further complicated by the passing of his wife Olivia in the year 1901.
Biography Of Mark Twain
Twain and Religion
“If Christ were here now there’s one thing that He would not be: a Christian”
— Mark Twain
Twain wrote several articles about religion. Many of them were not published in his time because they were thought to be too insensitive to religion. Twain critiqued the many aspects of organized religions as well as Christianity. He stated that he believed in the existence of God but not in the revelations or messages that were often believed to come from God. His views on the matter aren’t exactly as he had diverse opinions in different periods. He was raised in a Presbyterian and later worked to build the first Presbyterian congregation for his younger brother.
Even though he was nearing the end of his days, Twain remained as witty as ever. One of the most-repeated quotes is:
“James Ross Clemens who is a cousin of mine, became sick two or three days ago London however is doing well right now. My illness was a result of his illness. the account about my demise was exaggerated.”
Twain also poked fun at elements of the Gilded Age of America and the unrestrained pursuit of wealth and material goods through corrupt and monopoly-like practices. The year was 1973 and he published (with Charles Dudley Warner) The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873). The novel was his only collaboration, and while not very well-known The title was used to be used to describe the whole period of greed and corruption that typified aspects of America during the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.
Twain died on the 21st of April in 1910, from a heart attack, the day after the Hailey Comet closes to Earth. (Twain was born close to the Hailey Comet’s previous orbit in 1835.) In 1909, Twain had predicted he was likely to die near Hailey’s Comet.
In addition to being an author, Mark Twain had a love of science. He invented three inventions that received patents. One of them was self-pasting scrapbooks.
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