Literature of the USA

Mark Twain

Biography

Mark Twain (eng. Mark Twain, pseudonym, real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens - Samuel Langhorne Clemens; 1835-1910) - outstanding American writer, satirist, journalist and lecturer. At his peak, he was probably the most popular figure in America. William Faulkner wrote that he was “the first truly American writer, and we have all been his heirs ever since,” and Ernest Hemingway wrote that “all modern American literature has come from one book by Mark Twain, called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” "". Of the Russian writers, Maxim Gorky and Alexander Kuprin spoke especially warmly about Mark Twain.

Nickname

Clemens claimed that the pseudonym “Mark Twain” was taken by him in his youth from river navigation terms. Then he was an assistant pilot on the Mississippi, and the term “Mark Twain” was used to describe the minimum depth suitable for the passage of river vessels (this is 2 fathoms, 365.76 cm). However, it is believed that in reality this pseudonym was remembered by Clemens from the days of his fun days in the West. They said “Mark Twain!” when, after drinking double whiskey, they didn’t want to pay right away, but asked the bartender to write it down on the bill. Which of the origins of the pseudonym is correct is unknown. In addition to “Mark Twain,” Clemens signed himself once in 1896 as “Mr. Louis de Conte” (French: Sieur Louis de Conte).

early years

Sam Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida (Missouri, USA). He was the third of four surviving children of John and Jane Clemens. When Sam was still a child, the family was looking for better life moved to the city of Hannibal (in the same place, in Missouri). It was this city and its inhabitants that were later described by Mark Twain in his famous works, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Clemens's father died in 1847, leaving many debts. The eldest son, Orion, soon began publishing a newspaper, and Sam began to contribute as much as he could as a printer and, occasionally, as an article writer. Some of the newspaper's liveliest and most controversial articles came from the pen of the younger brother - usually when Orion was away. Sam himself also occasionally traveled to St. Louis and New York.

But the call of the Mississippi River eventually drew Clemens to a career as a steamboat pilot. A profession that, according to Clemens himself, he would have been engaged in all his life if the Civil War had not put an end to private shipping in 1861. So Clemens was forced to look for another job.

After a short acquaintance with the people's militia (he colorfully described this experience in 1885), Clemens left the war west in July 1861. Then his brother Orion was offered the position of secretary to the governor of Nevada. Sam and Orion traveled for two weeks across the prairies in a stagecoach to a Virginia mining town where silver was mined in Nevada.

The experience of living in the Western United States shaped Twain as a writer and formed the basis of his second book. In Nevada, hoping to get rich, Sam Clemens became a miner and began mining for silver. He had to live for a long time in a camp with other miners - a lifestyle he later described in literature. But Clemens could not become a successful prospector; he had to leave silver mining and get a job at the Territorial Enterprise newspaper there, in Virginia. In this newspaper he first used the pseudonym "Mark Twain". And in 1864 he moved to San Francisco, California, where he began writing for several newspapers at the same time. In 1865, Twain had his first literary success; his humorous story “The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras” was reprinted throughout the country and called “ best work humorous literature created in America up to this point."

In the spring of 1866, Twain was sent by the Sacramento Union newspaper to Hawaii. As the journey progressed, he had to write letters about his adventures. Upon returning to San Francisco, I waited for these letters resounding success. Colonel John McComb, publisher of the Alta California newspaper, invited Twain to tour the state giving fascinating lectures. The lectures immediately became wildly popular, and Twain traveled throughout the state, entertaining the public and collecting a dollar from each listener.

Twain achieved his first success as a writer on another journey. In 1867, he begged Colonel McComb to sponsor his trip to Europe and Middle East. In June, as Alta California correspondent for the New York Tribune, Twain traveled on the Quaker City to Europe. In August, he also visited Odessa, Yalta and Sevastopol (the “Odessa Bulletin” of August 24 contains the “Address” of American tourists, written by Twain). Letters written by him while traveling around Europe were sent and published in the newspaper. And upon their return, these letters formed the basis of the book “Simps Abroad.” The book was published in 1869, distributed by subscription and was a huge success. Until the very end of his life, many knew Twain precisely as the author of “Simps Abroad.” For my writing career Twain traveled throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and even Australia.

In 1870, at the height of his success from Innocents Abroad, Twain married Olivia Langdon and moved to Buffalo, New York. From there he moved to Hartford, Connecticut. During this period he often lectured in the USA and England. He then began to write biting satire, sharply criticizing American society and politicians, most notably in the collection of short stories Life on the Mississippi, written in 1883.

Twain's greatest contribution to American and world literature The novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is considered. Many people consider this to be the best literary work ever created in the USA. Also very popular are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the collection real stories"Life on the Mississippi" Mark Twain began his career with humorous couplets and ended with macabre and almost vulgar chronicles of human vanity, hypocrisy and even murder.

Twain was an excellent speaker. He helped create and popularize American literature as such, with its distinctive themes and vibrant unusual language. Having gained recognition and fame, Mark Twain devoted a lot of time to searching for young literary talents and helping them break through, using his influence and the publishing company he acquired.

Twain was passionate about science and scientific problems. He was very friendly with Nikola Tesla, they spent a lot of time together in Tesla's laboratory. In his work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Twain introduced time travel, as a result of which many modern technologies were introduced to England during the time of King Arthur. You had to have a good understanding of science to create such a plot. And later Mark Twain even patented his own invention - improved suspenders for pants [source?].

Two more famous hobbies of Mark Twain were playing billiards and smoking a pipe. Visitors to Twain's home sometimes said that there was such tobacco smoke in his office that Twain himself could no longer be seen.

Twain was a prominent figure in the American Anti-Imperial League, which protested the American annexation of the Philippines. In response to the massacre, in which about 600 people died, he wrote The Philippine Incident, but it was not published until 1924, 14 years after Twain's death.

IN Lately In the United States, attempts were made to ban the novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" due to naturalistic descriptions and verbal expressions that were offensive to African Americans. Although Twain was an opponent of racism and imperialism and went much further than his contemporaries in his rejection of racism, his books do contain elements that in our time can be perceived as racism[source?]. Many terms that were in common use in Mark Twain's time now actually sound like racial slurs[source?]. Mark Twain himself had a humorous attitude towards censorship. When in 1885 public library In Massachusetts, decided to withdraw The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the collection, Twain wrote to his publisher: “They have excluded Huck from the library as ‘slum trash,’ because of this we will undoubtedly sell another 25 thousand copies of the book.”

From time to time, some of Twain's works were banned by American censors. various reasons. This was mainly due to active civil and social position Twain. Twain did not publish some works that could offend people's religious feelings at the request of his family. For example, " A mysterious stranger" remained unpublished until 1916. And Twain’s most controversial work, perhaps, was a humorous lecture at a Paris club, published under the title “Reflections on the Science of Onanism.” The central idea of ​​the lecture was: “If you have to risk your life on the sexual front, then don’t masturbate too much.” This was only published in 1943 in a limited edition of 50 copies. Several more anti-religious works remained unpublished until the 1940s.

Mark Twain's successes gradually began to fade. Before his death in 1910, he suffered the loss of three of his four children, and his beloved wife Olivia also died. In their later years Twain was in deep depression, but could still joke. In response to an erroneous obituary in the New York Journal, he made his famous phrase: “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Twain's financial situation also deteriorated: his publishing company went bankrupt; he invested a lot of money in new model a printing press that was never put into production; Plagiarists stole the rights to several of his books.

In 1893, Twain was introduced to oil magnate Henry Rogers, one of the directors of Standard Oil. Rogers helped Twain reorganize his financial affairs profitably, and they became close friends. Twain often visited Rogers, they drank and played poker. You could say that Twain even became a member of the Rogers family. Sudden death Rogers in 1909 was deeply shocked by Twain. Although Mark Twain publicly thanked Rogers many times for saving him from financial ruin, it became clear that their friendship was mutually beneficial. Apparently, Twain had a significant influence on softening the tough temper of the oil tycoon, who had the nickname “Cerberus Rogers.” After Rogers' death, his papers showed that his friendship with famous writer made a real philanthropist and philanthropist out of a ruthless miser. During his friendship with Twain, Rogers began to actively support education, organizing educational programs, especially for African Americans and talented people with limited physical capabilities.

Mark Twain House Museum in Hartford

Twain himself died on April 21, 1910 from angina pectoris. A year before his death, he said: “I came in 1835 with Halley’s Comet, a year later it comes again, and I expect to leave with it.” And so it happened.

In the city of Hannibal, Missouri, the house where Sam Clemens played as a boy has been preserved, and the caves that he explored as a child, and which were later described in the famous “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” are now visited by tourists. Mark Twain's house in Hartford has been turned into his personal museum and declared a national historical treasure in the United States.

Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens) is a famous American writer and journalist. Born November 30, 1835 in the family of a judge, Missouri, Florida village. When the boy was 4 years old, the family moved to the city of Hannibal. The future writer spent his entire childhood in this city, which became the main source for his subsequent works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

At the age of twelve, Sam starts working. Constant poverty forces him to go to Nevada, as did his older brother. However, to put it mildly, he was unlucky, and he got a job at the newspaper editorial office. From that moment on, he published for the first time under the pseudonym Mark Twain.

Still, luck smiled on Mark Twain; “The Famous Jumping Frog from Calaveras” brought particular success to the writer. This story was written based on folklore. This triumph was cemented by the book “Simples Abroad” (1769). Mark Twain was not only recognized by a large number of Americans, they knew the whole story of his life. And all this thanks to the book.

In 1876, the successful works of Mark Twain were published: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, and in 1885 – “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Early 90s is quite a difficult period. His publishing company suddenly went bankrupt. This fact forced the writer to take extreme measures in order to have at least some small income. He decides to speak to the readers.

TWAIN, MARK (Twain, Mark; pseudonym; present name - Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835–1910), American writer. Born November 30, 1835 in the village of Florida (Missouri). He spent his childhood in the town of Hannibal on the Mississippi. He was a typesetter's apprentice and later, together with his brother, published a newspaper in Hannibal, then in Mescatine and Keokuk (Iowa). In 1857 he became a pilot's apprentice, fulfilling his childhood dream of “exploring the river”; in April 1859 he received his pilot's license. In 1861 he moved to his brother in Nevada and worked as a prospector in the silver mines for almost a year. Having written several humorous pieces for the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City, in August 1862 he received an invitation to become its employee. For the pseudonym, I took the expression of the boatmen on the Mississippi, who called out “Merka 2,” which meant sufficient depth for safe navigation.

In May 1864, Twain left for San Francisco, worked for two years in California newspapers, incl. correspondent for the California Union in the Hawaiian Islands. On the crest of the success of his essays, he gave humorous lectures about Hawaii during a three-month tour of American cities. From the Alta California newspaper, he took part in a Mediterranean cruise on the Quaker City steamship, collected material for the book The Innocents Abroad, became friends with C. Langdon from Elmira (New York) and got married on February 2, 1870 on his sister Olivia. In 1871, Twain moved to Hartford (Connecticut), where he lived for 20 years, his happiest years. In 1884 he founded a publishing company, nominally headed by C. L. Webster, the husband of his niece. Among the company's first publications are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Twain and the best-selling Memoirs (1885) of the eighteenth US President W. S. Grant. During the economic crisis of 1893–1894 the publishing house went bankrupt.

In order to save money and earn money, in 1891 Twain and his family moved to Europe. In four years, the debts were paid off, the family’s financial situation improved, and in 1900 they returned to their homeland. Here in 1904 his wife died, and on the eve of Christmas 1909 in Redding (Connecticut) his daughter Jean died of an attack of epilepsy (back in 1896, his beloved daughter Susie died of meningitis). Mark Twain died in Redding on April 21, 1910.

Twain was proud public recognition, especially appreciated the award of the degree of Doctor of Literature from Oxford University (1907), but he also learned the bitterness of life. His last, most caustic denunciation of the “damned human race” is Letters from the Earth, not published by his daughter Clara until 1962.

Twain came to literature late. At the age of 27 he became a professional journalist, and at the age of 34 he published his first book. His early publications (he began publishing at the age of 17) are interesting mainly as evidence of a good knowledge of the crude humor of the American outback. From the very beginning, his newspaper publications bore the features of an artistic essay. He quickly got tired of reporting if the material did not lend itself to humor. The transformation from a gifted amateur to a true professional occurred after a trip to Hawaii in 1866. Lecturing played an important role. He experimented, looked for new, more diverse forms of expression, calculated pauses, achieving an exact match between the idea and the result. The careful polishing of the spoken word remained in his work. The trip to Quaker City continued the Hawaiian school. In Innocents Abroad (1869), the book that made him famous in America, an extremely simple leitmotif of Twain's work was defined - travel in space. Justified in Simpletons by the travel route itself, it will also be preserved in the books Hardened (Roughing It, 1872, in Russian translation - Lightly, 1959), A Tramp Abroad on Foot (1880) and Following the Equator (1896). It is used most impressively in Huckleberry Finn.

The approach to literary prose was gradual and cautious. The first novel, The Gilded Age (1874), was co-written with C.D. Warner. The novel, conceived as a modern social satire, stumbles over poorly fitting pieces of standard Victorian plots. Despite its artistic imperfections, the novel gave its name to the period of Grant's presidency. At the same time, a meeting with a childhood friend reminded Twain of their childhood adventures in Hannibal. After two or three unsuccessful attempts, including a narrative in the form of a diary, he found the right approach and in 1874–1875, intermittently, wrote the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ( The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876), which established his reputation as a master of character and intrigue and a wonderful humorist. Tom, in Twain's words, is "the epitome of boyishness." The background of the story is autobiographical, St. Petersburg is Hannibal. However, the characters are by no means flat copies, but full-blooded characters born from the imagination of a master remembering his youth.

From January to July 1875, Old Times on the Mississipi was published in the Atlantic Monthly; in 1883, they were included in the book Life on the Mississipi, chapters IV–XVII. Almost immediately after the completion of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn was conceived. It was begun in 1876, delayed several times, and finally published in 1884. Huckleberry Finn, Twain's crowning achievement, is told in the first person through the mouth of a twelve-year-old boy. First colloquial American outback, previously used only in farce and satire on the morals of the common people, has become a means artistic image verticals of pre-war southern society - from the aristocracy to the “bottom”.

Books that preceded Huck include The Prince and the Pauper (1881), the first attempt at historical storytelling. Limited by the era, place and historical circumstances, the author did not go astray and did not stray into burlesque, and the book still captivates young readers.

On the contrary, in A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, 1889, Twain gave free rein to his satirical temperament. His most serious historical prose, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, 1896 ), failed. Twain also tried to revive the world of his masterpieces in Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer, Detective, 1896, but again failed.

From stories published in last years life, most notably The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg (1898), as well as sharp, accusatory pamphlets. Treatise What is a person? (What Is Man, 1906) – an excursion into philosophy. The works of recent years are mostly unfinished. Large fragments of the autobiography (he dictated it in 1906–1908) were never united into a single whole. The last satirical work, the story The Mysterious Stranger, was published posthumously in 1916 from an unfinished manuscript. Fragments of the autobiography were published in 1925 and later.

American writer, journalist and public figure. His work covers many genres - humor, satire, philosophical fiction, journalism and others, and in all these genres he invariably takes the position of a humanist and democrat.

William Faulkner wrote that Mark Twain was “the first truly American writer, and we have all been his heirs ever since,” and Ernest Hemingway believed that all modern American literature came from one book by Mark Twain, called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” " Of the Russian writers, Maxim Gorky and Alexander Kuprin spoke especially warmly about Mark Twain.

Nickname "Mark Twain"

Clemens claimed that the pseudonym Mark Twain was taken by him in his youth from river navigation terms. Then he was an assistant pilot on the Mississippi, and the cry of “mark twain” (literally “mark two”) meant that, according to the mark on the lotline, the minimum depth suitable for the passage of river vessels had been reached - 2 fathoms (≈ 3 .7 m).

However, there is a version about the literary origin of this pseudonym: in 1861, a humorous story by Artemus Ward was published in Vanity Fair magazine ( Artemus Ward) (real name Charles Brown) "North Star" is about three sailors, one of whom was named Mark Twain. Samuel was very fond of the humorous section of this magazine and read Ward's works in his first appearances.

In addition to “Mark Twain,” Clemens once signed himself in 1896 as “Sieur Louis de Conte” (French: Sieur Louis de Conte) - under this name he published his novel “Personal Memoirs of Joan of Arc of Sir Louis de Conte, her page and secretary."

Childhood and youth

Samuel Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in the small town of Florida (Missouri, USA); he later joked that being born increased its population by one percent. He was the third of four surviving children (there were a total of seven) of John Marshall Clemens (11 August 1798 – 24 March 1847) and Jane Lampton (1803-1890). The family had Cornish, English and Scots-Irish ancestry. The father, being a native of Virginia, was named after Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall. The parents met when John moved to Missouri and were married on May 6, 1823 in Columbia, Kentucky.

In total, John and Jane had seven children, of whom only four survived: Samuel himself, his brothers Orion (July 17, 1825 - December 11, 1897) and Henry (1838-1858), and sister Pamela (1827-1904). His older sister Margaret (1833-1839) died when Samuel was three years old, and his other older brother Benjamin (1832-1842) died three years later. His other older brother, Pleasant (1828-1829), died before Samuel was born at the age of six months. When Samuel was 4 years old, the family moved to the city of Hannibal (also in Missouri) in search of a better life. It was this city and its inhabitants that were later described by Mark Twain in his famous works, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Clemens's father died of pneumonia in 1847, leaving him with many debts. The eldest son, Orion, soon began publishing a newspaper, and Sam began to contribute to it as a typesetter and sometimes as an article writer. Some of the newspaper's liveliest and most controversial articles came from the pen of the younger brother - usually when Orion was away. Sam himself also occasionally traveled to St. Louis and New York.

Before starting a literary career

But the call of the Mississippi River still led Clemens to work as a pilot on a steamship. It was a profession that Clemens himself admitted that he would have practiced all his life if the Civil War had not put an end to private shipping in 1861. So Clemens was forced to look for another job.

Twain joined Freemasonry in the lodge " Polar Star» No. 79 at St. Louis May 22, 1861. During one of his travels, he sent a “gavel” from Palestine to his lodge, to which was attached a letter in a humorous spirit. Twain informed the brothers that “The handle of the hammer was carved by Brother Clemens from the trunk of a Lebanese cedar tree, at one time planted by Brother Geoffrey of Bouillon near the walls of Jerusalem.”

After a short acquaintance with the people's militia (he colorfully described this experience in 1885), Clemens left the war west in July 1861. Then his brother Orion was offered the position of secretary to the governor of the Nevada Territory. Sam and Orion traveled for two weeks across the prairies in a stagecoach to a Virginia mining town where silver was being mined in Nevada.

In the West

The experience of living in the Western United States shaped Twain as a writer and formed the basis of his second book. In Nevada, hoping to get rich, Sam Clemens became a miner and began mining for silver. He had to live for a long time in a camp with other miners - a lifestyle he later described in literature. But Clemens could not become a successful prospector; he had to leave silver mining and get a job at the Territorial Enterprise newspaper there, in Virginia. In this newspaper he first used the pseudonym "Mark Twain". In 1864, he moved to San Francisco, where he began writing for several newspapers at the same time. In 1865, Twain had his first literary success, his humorous story “The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras” was reprinted throughout the country and called “the best work of humorous literature created in America up to that time.”

In the spring of 1866, Twain was sent by the Sacramento Union newspaper to Hawaii. As the journey progressed, he had to write letters about his adventures. Upon returning to San Francisco, these letters were a resounding success. Colonel John McComb, publisher of the Alta California newspaper, invited Twain to tour the state giving fascinating lectures. The lectures immediately became wildly popular, and Twain traveled throughout the state, entertaining the public and collecting a dollar from each listener.

First book

Twain achieved his first success as a writer on another journey. In 1867, he begged Colonel McComb to sponsor his trip to Europe and the Middle East. In June, as a correspondent for Alta California and the New York Tribune, Twain traveled to Europe on the Quaker City. In August, he also visited Odessa, Yalta and Sevastopol (the “Odessa Bulletin” of August 24, 1867 contains the “Address” of American tourists, written by Twain). As part of the ship's delegation, Mark Twain visited the residence of the Russian Emperor in Livadia.

Letters written by Twain while traveling through Europe and Asia were sent to his editor and published in the newspaper, and later formed the basis of the book “Simps Abroad.” The book was published in 1869, distributed by subscription and was a huge success. Until the very end of his life, many knew Twain precisely as the author of “Simps Abroad.” During his writing career, Twain had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

In 1870, at the height of his success from Innocents Abroad, Twain married Olivia Langdon and moved to Buffalo, New York. From there he moved to Hartford (Connecticut). During this period he often lectured in the USA and England. He then began to write biting satire, sharply criticizing American society and politicians, most notably in the collection Life on the Mississippi, written in 1883.

Creative career

One of the things that inspired Mark Twain was the writing style of John Ross Brown.

Twain's greatest contribution to American and world literature is considered to be the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Also very popular are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the collection of autobiographical stories Life on the Mississippi. Mark Twain began his career with unpretentious humorous couplets, and ended with sketches of human morals full of subtle irony, sharply satirical pamphlets on socio-political topics and philosophically deep and, at the same time, very pessimistic reflections on the fate of civilization.

Many public appearances and lectures have been lost or not recorded. individual works and the letters were banned from publication by the author himself during his lifetime and for decades after his death.

Twain was an excellent speaker. Having gained recognition and fame, Mark Twain devoted a lot of time to searching for young literary talents and helping them break through, using his influence and the publishing company he acquired.

Twain was passionate about science and scientific problems. He was very friendly with Nikola Tesla, they spent a lot of time together in Tesla's laboratory. In his work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Twain introduced time travel, as a result of which many modern technologies were introduced to England during the time of King Arthur. The technical details given in the novel indicate that Twain was well acquainted with the achievements of contemporary science.

Cover of the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

Mark Twain in 1871

Mark Twain and the young poetess Dorothy Quick

First edition of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)

Mark Twain's other two most famous hobbies were playing billiards and smoking. Visitors to Twain's house sometimes said that there was such thick tobacco smoke in the writer's office that the owner himself could hardly be seen.

Twain was a prominent figure in the American Anti-Imperial League, which protested the American annexation of the Philippines. In response to these events, in which approximately 600 people died, Twain wrote a pamphlet, The Philippine Incident, but the work was not published until 1924, 14 years after his death.

From time to time, some of Twain's works were banned by American censors for various reasons. This was mainly due to the active civic and social position of the writer. Twain did not publish some works that could offend people's religious feelings at the request of his family. For example, The Mysterious Stranger remained unpublished until 1916. One of Twain's most controversial works was a humorous lecture at a Paris club, published under the title "Reflections on the Science of Onanism." The central idea of ​​the lecture was: “If you have to risk your life on the sexual front, then don’t masturbate too much.” The essay was published only in 1943 in a limited edition of 50 copies. Several more anti-religious works remained unpublished until the 1940s.

Twain himself treated censorship with irony. When the Massachusetts public library decided to retire The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885, Twain wrote to his publisher:

They kicked Huck out of the library as "slum trash" and we'll no doubt sell another 25,000 copies because of it.

In the 2000s, attempts were again made in the United States to ban the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn due to naturalistic descriptions and verbal expressions offensive to blacks. Although Twain was an opponent of racism and imperialism and went much further in his rejection of racism than his contemporaries, many words that were in common use in Mark Twain's time and used by him in the novel do now sound like racial slurs. In February 2011, the first edition of Mark Twain’s books “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was published in the United States, in which such words and expressions were replaced with politically correct ones (for example, the word «nigger»(negro) replaced in the text by "slave"(slave)).

Last years

Before his death, the writer experienced the loss of three of his four children, and his wife Olivia also died. In his later years, Twain was deeply depressed, but he could still joke. In response to an erroneous obituary in the New York Journal, he famously said: “Rumors of my death are somewhat exaggerated”. Twain's financial situation also deteriorated: his publishing company went bankrupt; he invested a lot of money in a new model of printing press, which was never put into production; Plagiarists stole the rights to several of his books.

In 1893, Twain was introduced to oil magnate Henry Rogers, one of the directors of Standard Oil. Rogers helped Twain reorganize his financial affairs profitably, and they became close friends. Twain often visited Rogers, they drank and played poker. You could say that Twain even became a member of the Rogers family. Rogers' sudden death in 1909 deeply affected Twain. Although Mark Twain publicly thanked Rogers many times for saving him from financial ruin, it became clear that their friendship was mutually beneficial. Apparently, Twain had a significant influence on softening the tough temper of the oil tycoon, who had the nickname “Cerberus Rogers.” After Rogers' death, his papers showed that his friendship with the famous writer turned a ruthless miser into a true philanthropist and philanthropist. During his friendship with Twain, Rogers became an active supporter of education, organizing educational programs, especially for African Americans and talented people with disabilities.

Samuel Clemens, known throughout the world as , died on April 21, 1910, at the age of 75, from angina pectoris. A year before his death, he said: “I came in 1835 with Halley’s Comet, a year later it comes again, and I expect to leave with it.” And so it happened.

The writer was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Memory

• In the city of Hannibal, Missouri, the house where Twain played as a boy remains; and the caves that he explored as a child and which were later described in the famous “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Tourists come there now. Mark Twain's house in Hartford has been turned into his personal museum and declared a national historical treasure in the United States.
• In Volgograd there is the only street in Russia named after Mark Twain.
• A crater on Mercury was named in honor of Twain in 1976.
• On November 8, 1984, in honor of Mark Twain, the asteroid discovered on September 24, 1976 by N. S. Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory was given the name “(2362) Mark Twain.”
• Google Doodle in honor of the writer’s 176th birthday.

Views

Political Views

Mark Twain's views on the ideal form of government and political regime can be found by reading his speech “The Knights of Labor - a New Dynasty,” which he delivered on March 22, 1886 in Hartford, at a meeting of the Monday Night Club. This speech, entitled “The New Dynasty,” was first published in September 1957 in New England Quarterly.

Mark Twain took the position that power should belong to the people and the people alone:

The power of one man over another means oppression—invariably and always oppression; albeit not always conscious, deliberate, deliberate, not always harsh, or heavy, or cruel, or indiscriminate, but one way or another - always oppression in one form or another. Whoever you give power to, it will certainly manifest itself in oppression. Give power to the Dahomey king - and he will immediately begin to test the accuracy of his brand new rapid-fire rifle on everyone who passes by his palace; people will fall one after another, but neither he nor his courtiers will even think that he is doing something inappropriate. Give power to the leader christian church in Russia - to the emperor - and with one wave of his hand, as if driving away midges, he will send countless young men, mothers with babies in their arms, gray-haired elders and young girls into the unimaginable hell of his Siberia, and he himself will calmly go to breakfast, without even feeling what I just committed a barbarity. Give power to Constantine or Edward IV, or Peter the Great, or Richard III - I could name a hundred more monarchs - and they will kill their closest relatives, after which they will fall asleep perfectly, even without sleeping pills... Give power to anyone - and this power will be oppress.

But this king is a born enemy of those who intrigue and speak beautiful words, but do not work. He will be our reliable defense against socialists, communists, anarchists, against vagabonds and selfish agitators who advocate “reforms” that would give them a piece of bread and fame at the expense of honest people. He will be our refuge and protection against them and against all types of political illness, infection and death.

How does he use his power? First - for oppression. For he is no more virtuous than those who ruled before him, and does not want to lead anyone astray. The only difference is that he will oppress the minority, while they oppressed the majority; he will oppress thousands, and they oppressed millions. But he will not throw anyone into prison, will not whip, torture, burn or exile anyone, will not force his subjects to work eighteen hours a day and will not starve their families. He will make sure everything is fair - a fair day's work, a fair wage.

Attitude to religion

Twain's wife, a deeply religious Protestant (Congregationalist), was never able to “convert” her husband, although he tried to avoid sensitive topics during her lifetime. Many of Twain's novels (for example, A Yankee in King Arthur's Court) contain extremely harsh attacks on the Catholic Church. In recent years, Twain wrote many religious stories in which he satirized the Protestant ethic (for example, “Curious Bessie”).

Now let's talk about the true God, the real God, the great God, the highest and supreme God, the true creator of the real universe... - a universe not handcrafted for an astronomical nursery, but sprung into existence in the limitless extent of space at the command of the true God just mentioned, a God unimaginably great and majestic, in comparison with which all the other gods, swarming in myriads in the pitiful human imagination, are like a swarm of mosquitoes lost in the infinity of the empty sky...

When we explore the countless wonders, splendor, brilliance and perfection of this infinite universe (we now know that the universe is infinite) and are convinced that everything in it, from the blade of grass to the forest giants of California, from the unknown mountain stream to the boundless ocean, from the course of the tides and ebb tides to the majestic movement of the planets, unquestioningly obeys a strict system of precise laws that know no exceptions, we comprehend - we do not assume, we do not conclude, but we comprehend - that God, who with a single thought created this incredible complex world, and with another thought he created the laws that govern him - this God is endowed with limitless power...

Years of life: from 30.11.1835 to 21.04.1910

Outstanding American writer, satirist, journalist and public figure. He is best known for his works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Real name: Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

early years

Born in the small town of Florida (Missouri, USA) in the family of merchant John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens. He was the sixth child in a family of seven children.

When Mark Twain was 4 years old, his family moved to the town of Hannibal - River port on the Mississippi River. Subsequently, it was this city that would serve as the prototype for the town of St. Petersburg in famous novels"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." At this time, Missouri was a slave state, so already at this time Mark Twain encountered slavery, which he would later describe and condemn in his works.

In March 1847, when Mark Twain was 11 years old, his father died of pneumonia. IN next year he begins to work as an assistant in a printing house. Since 1851, he has been typing and editing articles and humorous essays for the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his brother Orion.

The Orion newspaper soon closed, the brothers' paths diverged for many years, only to cross again towards the end Civil War in Nevada.

At the age of 18 he left Hannibal and worked in a printing shop in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and other cities. He educated himself, spending a lot of time in the library, thus gaining as much knowledge as he would have received after graduating from a regular school.

At the age of 22, Twain left for New Orleans. On his way to New Orleans, Mark Twain traveled by steamship. Then he had a dream of becoming a ship captain. Twain carefully studied the route of the Mississippi River for two years until he received his diploma as a ship's captain in 1859. Samuel recruited his younger brother to work with him. But Henry died on June 21, 1858, when the steamship he was working on exploded. Mark Twain believed that he was primarily to blame for the death of his brother and the feeling of guilt did not leave him throughout his entire life until his death. However, he continued to work on the river until the Civil War broke out and shipping on the Mississippi ceased. The war forced him to change his profession, although Twain regretted it until the end of his life.

Samuel Clemens had to become a Confederate soldier. But since he has been accustomed to being free since childhood, two weeks later he deserts from the ranks of the army of the inhabitants of the South and heads his way west, to his brother in Nevada. There was just a rumor that silver and gold had been found on the wild prairies of this state. Here Samuel worked for a year in a silver mine. In parallel with this, he wrote humorous stories for the newspaper "Territorial Enterprise" in Virginia City and in August 1862 received an invitation to become its employee. This is where Samuel Clemens had to look for a pseudonym for himself. Clemens claimed that he took the pseudonym "Mark Twain" from river navigation terms, which referred to the minimum depth suitable for the passage of river vessels. This is how the writer Mark Twain appeared in the spaces of America, who in the future managed to win world recognition with his work.

Creation

For several years, Mark Twain wandered from newspaper to newspaper as a reporter and feuilletonist. In addition, he earned extra money by publicly reading his humorous stories. Twain was an excellent speaker. As a correspondent for Alta California, he spent five months on a Mediterranean cruise on the Quaker City, during which time he collected material for his first book, Innocents Abroad. Its appearance in 1869 aroused some interest among the reading public due to its combination of good southern humor and satire, which was rare for those years. Thus, Mark Twain's literary debut took place. In addition, in February 1870, he married the sister of his friend Charles Langdon, whom he met during a cruise, Olivia.

Mark Twain's next successful book, co-written with Charles Warner, was The Gilded Age. The work, on the one hand, is not very successful, because the styles of the co-authors were seriously different, but on the other hand, it became so popular with readers that the reign of President Grant was dubbed by its name.

And in 1876, a new book by Mark Twain saw the world, which not only established him as the greatest American writer, but also forever brought his name into the history of world literature. These were the famous "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". In essence, the writer did not have to invent anything. He remembered his childhood in Hannibal and his life in those years. And so, on the pages of the book, the town of St. Petersburg appeared, in which one can easily discern the features of Hannibal, as well as the features of many other small settlements located along the banks of the Mississippi. And in Tom Sawyer you can easily recognize young Samuel Clemens, who really did not like school and was already smoking at the age of 9.

The success of the book exceeded all expectations. The book, filled with simple humor and written in accessible language, was liked by the general public ordinary Americans. Indeed, in Tom many recognized themselves in the distant and carefree childhood. Twain consolidated this recognition of readers next book, also not designed for sophisticated minds literary critics. The story “The Prince and the Pauper,” which was published in 1882, takes readers to Tudor-era England. Exciting adventures are combined in this story with the dream of an ordinary American to get rich. The average reader liked it.

The historical topic interested the writer. In the preface to his new novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Twain wrote: “If anyone is inclined to condemn our modern civilization, well, it cannot be prevented from doing so, but it is good to sometimes draw a comparison between it and what has been going on in the world.” earlier, and this should reassure and inspire hope.”

Until 1884, Mark Twain was already a famous writer, and also became a successful businessman. He established a publishing firm, nominally headed by C. L. Webster, the husband of his niece. One of the first books published by his own publishing house was his “The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin.” The work, which, according to critics, became the best in the work of Mark Twain, was conceived as a continuation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. However, it turned out to be much more complex and multi-layered. It reflected the fact that the writer created it for almost 10 years. And these years were filled with a constant search for the best literary form, polishing the language and deep thoughts. In this book, Twain for the first time American literature used the colloquial language of the American hinterland. Once upon a time, its use was allowed only in farce and satire on the customs of the common people.

Among other books published by Mark Twain's publishing house, one can name “Memoirs” of the eighteenth US President V.S. Grant. They became a bestseller and brought the desired financial well-being to the family of Samuel Clemens.

Mark Twain's publishing company existed successfully until the famous economic crisis of 1893-1894. The writer's business could not withstand the severe blow and went bankrupt. Back in 1891, Mark Twain was forced to move to Europe in order to save money. From time to time he comes to the United States, trying to improve his financial situation. After the ruin, he does not recognize himself as bankrupt for a long time. Ultimately, he manages to negotiate with creditors to defer payment of debts. During this time, Mark Twain wrote several works, including his most serious historical prose - “Personal Reminiscences of Joan of Arc by Sieur Louis de Comte, Her Page and Secretary” (1896), as well as “Simp Wilson” (1894), “ Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer the Detective (1896). But none of them achieved the success that accompanied Twain's previous books.

Later years

The writer's star was inexorably sliding towards decline. IN late XIX centuries in the USA they begin to publish a collection of Mark Twain’s works, thereby elevating him to the category of classics of days long past. However, the bitter boy who sat inside the elderly, already completely gray-haired Samuel Clemens did not think of giving up. Mark Twain entered the twentieth century with a sharp satire on powerful of the world this. The writer marked the stormy revolutionary beginning of the century with works designed to expose untruth and injustice: “To the Man Who Walks in Darkness,” “United Lynching States,” “Monologue of the Tsar,” “Monologue of King Leopold in Defense of His Dominion in the Congo.” But in the minds of Americans, Twain remained a classic of “light” literature.

In 1901 he received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Yale University. Next year, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Missouri. He was very proud of these titles. For a man who left school at the age of 12, the recognition of his talent by the pundits of famous universities flattered him.

In 1906, Twain acquired a personal secretary, who became A.B. Payne. The young man expressed his desire to write a book about the life of the writer. However, Mark Twain had already sat down to write his autobiography several times. As a result, the writer begins to dictate the story of his life to Payne. A year later he was again awarded an academic degree. He receives an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford University.

At this time, he was already seriously ill, and most of his family members were dying one after another - he survived the loss of three of his four children, and his beloved wife Olivia also died. But even though he was deeply depressed, he could still joke. The writer is tormented by severe attacks of angina pectoris. Ultimately, the heart gave out and on April 24, 1910, at the age of 74, Mark Twain died.

His latest work is satirical story The Mysterious Stranger was published posthumously in 1916 from an unfinished manuscript.

Information about the works:

Mark Twain was born in 1835, on the day when Halley's Comet flew near the Earth, and died in 1910, on the day of its next appearance near the Earth's orbit. The writer foresaw his death back in 1909: “I came into this world with Halley’s Comet, and next year I will leave it with it.”

Mark Twain foresaw the death of his brother Henry - he dreamed about it a month before. After this incident, he became interested in parapsychology. He subsequently became a member of the Society for Psychical Research.

At first, Mark Twain signed with a different pseudonym - Josh. Behind this signature were printed notes about the lives of prospectors who flocked to Nevada from all over America when the Silver Rush began there.

Twain was passionate about science and scientific problems. He was very friendly with Nikola Tesla, they spent a lot of time together in Tesla's laboratory. In his work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Twain describes a journey through time that brought many modern technologies to Arthurian England.

Having gained recognition and fame, Mark Twain devoted a lot of time to searching for young literary talents and helping them break through, using his influence and the publishing company he acquired.

A crater on Mercury is named after Mark Twain.

Bibliography

Film adaptations of works, theatrical productions

1907 Tom Sawyer
1909 The Prince and the Pauper
1911 Science
1915 The Prince and the Pauper
1917 Tom Sawyer
1918 Huck and Tom
1920 Huckleberry Finn
1920 The Prince and the Pauper
1930 Tom Sawyer
1931 Huckleberry Finn
1936 Tom Sawyer (Kyiv Film Studio)
1937 The Prince and the Pauper
1938 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1938 Tom Sawyer, detective
1939 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1943 The Prince and the Pauper
1947 Tom Sawyer
1954 Million Pound Bank Note
1968 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1972 The Prince and the Pauper
1973 Completely Lost
1973 Tom Sawyer
1978 The Prince and the Pauper
1981 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
1989 Philip Traum
1993 Hack and the King of Hearts
1994 Eva's Magical Adventure
1994 Million for Juan
1994 Charlie's Ghost: Coronado's Secret
1995 Tom and Huck
2000 Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain- American writer, journalist and public figure.

Samuel Clemens is born November 30, 1835 in a small town in Florida (Missouri, USA). The family then moved to the city of Hannibal, whose inhabitants he later described in his works. When the father of the family died in 1847, the eldest son began publishing the newspaper and Samuel made his overwhelming contribution to it - he worked as a typesetter and wrote articles.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the young man went to work as a pilot on a steamship, and even wanted to become a captain. In July 1861, he moved away from the war to the west, where silver was being mined at that time. Not finding himself in the career of a prospector, he again took up journalism. He got a job at a newspaper in Virginia and began writing under the pseudonym Mark Twain.

Success as a writer came to him in the late 1860s, when, after traveling to Europe, he published the book “Simps Abroad.”

In 1870, at the height of his success from Innocents Abroad, Twain married Olivia Langdon (English) Russian and moved to Buffalo, New York. From there he moved to Hartford (Connecticut). During this period he often lectured in the USA and England. He then began to write biting satire, sharply criticizing American society and politicians, most notably in the collection Life on the Mississippi, written in 1883.

In 1876, a novel was published about the adventures of a boy named Tom Sawyer. The continuation of this novel was “ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"(1884). Mark Twain's most famous historical novel is " Prince and the Pauper"(1881).

In addition to literature, Mark Twain was fascinated by science. He was friends with Nikola Tesla and often visited his laboratory.

Before his death in 1910, he suffered the loss of three of his four children and his wife Olivia. In his later years, Twain was deeply depressed.

Twain himself died April 21, 1910 from angina pectoris. A year before his death, he said: “I came in 1835 with Halley’s Comet, a year later it comes again, and I expect to leave with it.” And so it happened...