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| Mark Twain |
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Longhorne Clemens,
was a successful American author. Today, Mark Twain is one of the most celebrate
authors in American history. His stories represent a time in American history
when the Mississippi River was still a place of adventure and slavery was
working its way out of the system with which the still new country operated.
His most famous works are "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. When he was roughly 4 years old, the Clemens
family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a town that would later be inextricably
linked with the name Mark Twain. This move brought Mark to the river that would
play a huge role in his writing career, providing the fodder for both his pen
name and his most popular written works.
After moving to Hannibal, Mark Twain's dad, Judge John
Marshall Clemens, built a house that still stands today. He also sent his son
to private school. Unfortunately, the judge died about 8 years later of
pneumonia. Within the year, Twain had left private school and begun
apprenticing with a printer. He apprenticed for two years before going to work
at his older brother's newspaper. That lasted until he left for St. Louis at
the age of 17.
If you have ever read Twain's Huck and Tom books, you know
that, while his stories have a sense of nostalgia, they do not mimic his real
childhood. Sure, he derives places and people from his experiences, but neither
Tom nor Huckleberry had the upbringing Twain had. However, they do share a
certain level of fatherlessness, which may have stemmed from Twain's own lack
of a father in his teen years.
After moving to St. Louis, Mark Twain began working as a
pilot on the Mississippi River. This job gave him the knowledge of the river
that is apparent in some of his work. It also gave him the pen name that we
know and love. Mark Twain was a term that he and other riverboaters used to
signify a safe water depth for a boat to pass. He apparently enjoyed this job,
but it was rendered unnecessary by the Civil War. At the onset of the war, Mark
Twain returned to the newspaper biz, this time as a reporter.
In 1865, Mark Twain wrote his first popular story. In 1869,
he published the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The following year, he married his
wife, Olivia. He went on to travel, write a total of 28 novels and numerous
other works. He and his wife had four children, only one of whom survived past
her twenties. Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910, leaving a legacy of literature
behind him.
Source
Biography of Mark Twain
