Brief biography of Mark Twain, an outstanding American writer

Brief biography of the writer Mark TwainThe famous writer Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was born on November 30, 1835 in an American large family. His parents were John and Jane Clemens, natives of Missouri. Samuel was the sixth child, in addition to him, four more boys and two girls grew up in the family.

But not all children were able to survive the difficult years, three of them died at an early age. When Sam was four years old, the Clemens family moved in search of a better life in the city of Hannibal. Later, this city with its funny inhabitants and Samuel’s funny adventures in it will be reflected in the famous work of the writer “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.

From a young age, Mark Twain was attracted by the water element, he could sit for a long time on the banks of the river and look at the waves, he even drowned several times, but he was safely rescued. He was especially interested in steamships, Sam dreamed that when he grew up, he would become a sailor and sail on his own ship. It was thanks to this predilection that the pseudonym of the writer was chosen – mark twain, which means “deep water”, literally “measure two”.

Mark Twain in his youth In Hannibal, Samuel met Tom Blankenship, the son of an old tramp and alcoholic who lives in a cabin near the river. They became best friends, over time, a whole company of the same adventure lovers gathered. Tom became the prototype for Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist of many of the author’s popular children’s books.

When Sam was 12 years old, his father died suddenly of pneumonia. Shortly before his death, John Clemens took on the debts of a close friend, but was never able to pay them in full. Samuel was forced to look for work to help his family. His older brother Orion got him a job as a typesetter in the printing house of a local newspaper. Sam tried to publish his own poems and articles in the newspaper, but at first this only irritated Orion. In addition to the local press, the young writer sent his first works to other editorial offices, where they were willingly printed.

Youth and early career

In 1857, Mark Twain became a pilot’s apprentice, and two years later received the rights to his own driving a ship. However, due to the civil war that broke out in 1861, he was forced to leave his favorite job and look for a new job. In the same year, Mark Twain went with his brother Orion to the west, to the state of Nevada. There he worked for almost a year in the silver mines in a mining town, hoping to get rich, but luck was not on his side.

In 1862, Twain got a job at the editorial office of a local newspaper, in which he first used his creative pseudonym for a signature. A few years later, his works and articles were published in several publications. In 1865, Mark Twain became famous, his humoresque “The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras” became popular throughout America, many publishing houses published it repeatedly.

The first book and the creation of a family

At the height of his writing career, Mark Twain traveled a lot, visited England, Australia, Africa and even Odessa, traveled all over Europe. During these wanderings, he sent letters to his hometown, which were then published in the newspaper. Later, these letters will become the basis for the book “Simples Abroad”, which was the first serious creation of the writer. She saw the light in 1869 and brought Twain a well-deserved great success.

At the height of his fame from publishing his first book, Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a successful entrepreneur. But first, the writer had to try hard to win over Olivia’s parents. In 1870 they got engaged. Mark Twain madly loved his wife and considered her a perfect and ideal woman, took care of her and never criticized her. Olivia, on the other hand, considered him an eternal boy who would never grow up. In 30 years of marriage, they had four children.

In 1871, Mark Twain and his wife moved to Hartford, where he spent the most peaceful and happy years of his life. In this city, he founded his own publishing company, which began to bring good income. Mark Twain himself in these years became interested in satire, wrote long stories, ridiculing the vices of American society.

The heyday of a creative career

The heyday of a creative career The idea to create an autobiographical novel has matured with the writer for a long time, and after several unsuccessful attempts, in two years with short breaks, Mark Twain created The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The novel is based on childhood memories of the author. But the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is considered the most significant contribution of the writer to literature. Some critics call this work the pinnacle of American literary art, the characters of the novel’s characters were so vividly and vividly written.

All his life, Mark Twain was interested in the Middle Ages, he was worried about some of the questions and problems of those years. In 1882, the writer’s story “The Prince and the Pauper” was published, where Twain denies the world of social inequality with great enthusiasm and aplomb. And in 1889, another historical novel, A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, was published, on each page of which there was enough sharp irony and satire.

Mark Twain was personally acquainted with Nikola Tesla, his lively mind was interested in the scientific achievements of our time. They often carried out experiments and experiments in the Tesla laboratory. Some technical details in his novels, for example, about time travel, appeared precisely due to close communication with Nikola Tesla.

Also, the writer’s contemporaries noted his addiction to pipe smoking. According to many, often in Twain’s office there was such a rich tobacco smoke that nothing could be seen in it, as if in a fog.

The death of his wife and the late years of the writer

In 1904, Olivia, Twain’s beloved wife, died suddenly. Even in her youth, having unsuccessfully fallen on the ice, she became disabled, and with age her condition only worsened. The writer suffered the loss of his wife very hard, his physical and mental health deteriorated. He did not want to live without his beloved Olivia. After the death of his wife, Mark Twain completely stopped communicating with the female sex, although there were contenders for his heart, but he remained faithful to his wife. In addition, three of his children were tragically killed. All these sad events led to the fact that the writer began a severe depression. The works published at the end of his life were slightly different in genre from the previous ones, poisonous irony and even sarcasm were noticeable in them, or, conversely, bitterness and fatigue. Mark Twain’s financial situation also worsened – his publishing company, in which he invested most of his funds, collapsed.

Summary The Prince and the PauperOne of the most famous and read works of Mark Twain One of the most famous and read works of Mark Twain “The Prince and the Pauper” is the adventures of two poor boy and prince, who temporarily changed their roles.

In the image of Huck in his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain tried to convey the image of a carefree and noble boy, whose low social position does not prevent him from enjoying life.

Some of the writer’s works never saw the light of day, many manuscripts were rejected because of their harsh content. So, for example, Twain liked to write all sorts of essays and poems with an erotic bias, but such creations were distributed only in a narrow circle of close people. The most famous work in this genre is the essay “1601: conversations by the fireplace”, which deals with the English queen herself and her subjects

End of life path

Mark Twain passed away in April 1910 after suffering from angina pectoris. Shortly before his death, he predicted to himself that he had a year to live.

In the city of Hannibal, the house in which little Samuel grew up is still preserved, those caves that he carefully explored with his friends, these places have become popular for tourists of the city. The house in which he lived for 20 years in Hartford is now the Mark Twain Museum, and is named in America a national treasure of the country’s history.