Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), more widely known as Mark Twain, was an American writer. He was born in Florida, Missouri.  He worked mainly for newspapers and as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before he became a writer. He married in 1870, and raised his family in Hartford, Connecticut. In later life he invested and lost the money that his writing had made, and toured the world giving lectures that brought him enough money to pay his debt and recover his fortune. 

Clemens was  best known for his works in fiction, and especially for his use of humour. His first published story, in 1865, was The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be Clemens' best work.  This story of a white boy who helps a black man escape slavery in the southern United States is known for its humanity.

Clemens's style was usually informal and humorous. This made him different from many important 19th century writers whose books he disliked. For example, he greatly disliked Jane Austen's works, such as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, and famously remarked, "She makes me detest (hate) all her people, without reserve."

Actor Hal Holbrook played Mark Twain on stage in a one-man show called Mark Twain Tonight.

Halley's Comet appeared in the sky during the year Twain was born and the year he died. This periodic comet comes back every 74 years, which is how long he lived.

 Bibliography 
 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
 The Prince and the Pauper (1882)
 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)

 References 

 Other websites 




 The Mark Twain Papers and Project of the Bancroft Library (Archive of Mark Twain's papers and writings)
 Samuel Langhorne Clemens collection of papers at New York Public Library

Category:1835 births
Category:1910 deaths

Category:19th-century American novelists
Category:American autobiographers
Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction
Category:Pen names
Category:Comedians from Connecticut
Category:Comedians from Missouri
Category:Journalists from Missouri
Category:Comedians from Nevada
Category:Journalists from Nevada
Category:Journalists from Connecticut