Mark Twain

Renowned Author and Humorist

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

• Regarded as one of the greatest American writers

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• He said he would have

preferred to spend his life

as a Mississippi riverboat

pilot.

Twain as a Young Man

• Grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri

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• Grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River and had a true love of its riverboats

Twain as a Young Man cont.

• His father died when Twain

was 11, so he left school to

become a printer’s apprentice.

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• He so loved life on the river

that he left his printing job

at age 21 and worked as a riverboat pilot

for several years.

Twain the Name

• Twain was his pen name→ his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

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• Felt so close to the river that he chose this pen name because it’s actually a river man’s call meaning “2 fathoms deep”

A Traveling Man

• When the Civil War closed traffic on the Mississippi River, Twain went west to Nevada.

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• There he supported

himself as a journalist

and lecturer.

Twain began to gain fame when his story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865.

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• This was his version of a tall tale he heard while working as a prospector in a mine in CA.
• Story made him an international celebrity because of his unique writing style.

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Unique Style

Inspiration

• He used his travels and past experiences as the basis for all of his novels.

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• His childhood on the Mississippi inspired “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” two of his most famous works.

Influence of the Mississippi

• He was so infatuated with this river that it became the basis for many of his most famous works.

Writing Style

• Twain was best known for his infusion of humor in his stories

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• He used a variety of techniques to make his stories humorous and, at times, almost ridiculous, but the readers LOVED them!

Humor

• Writing intended to evoke

laughter

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• Humorists use a variety of techniques to make their writing amusing, including:
• Exaggerating/embellishing incidents to build comedy
• Using a narrator who takes a serious tone, adding humor by suggesting that the teller of the tale is unaware of its ridiculous qualities

Regional Dialect

• Language specific to a particular area of the country

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• This can also add to the humor of a story

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• Twain was a master at adding this dialect as colorful language to his stories

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The Final Years

• After the death of Twain’s wife and 3 of his 4 children, he never really could reproduce the mix of pessimism and humor he was most famous for.

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• His later works showed an increasingly pessimistic view of society and human nature.

Language/ Dialect = Change Over Time

Some language in the book is not appropriate for modern-day audiences. Reading that type of language can and should make you feel uncomfortable. Try to understand that certain words were a part of people’s vocabulary in this time and place, but it doesn’t mean that those hurtful and hate filled words should now be a part of ours.

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• Twain's first book, The Innocents Abroad, was published in 1869.
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885.
• He wrote 28 books and numerous short stories, letters and sketches.
• http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/index.html

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Works