Mark Twain

DOWNLOAD REFERAT

Preview referat: Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer.

Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (among other works), and his numerous quotes and sayings.

He was the best known author in the United States, the most popular stand-up comedian and monologist, and simultaneously the friend of presidents, artists, leading industrialists, and even European royalty.

Mark Twain's the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of the Great American Novel.

He enjoyed immense public popularity and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner later called Twain "the father of American literature."[5]
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, to Tennessee country merchant, John Marshall Clemens (August 11, 1798 - March 24, 1847), and Jane Lampton Clemens (June 18, 1803 - October 27, 1890).[6] Twain was the sixth of John and Jane's seven children.

He had three older brothers and two older sisters, though only two of these survived childhood, his brother Orion Clemens (July 17, 1825 - December 11, 1897 and sister Pamela (September 19, 1827 - August 31, 1904). His sister Margaret (May 31, 1830 - August 17, 1839) died when Twain was only four years old and his brother Benjamin (June 8, 1832 - May 12, 1842) died three years later. Another older brother, Pleasant (1828 - 1829), only lived three months before Twain was born. In addition to his older siblings, Twain had one younger brother, Henry Clemens (July 13, 1838 - June 21, 1858).

When Twain was four, his family moved to Hannibal,[8] a port town on the Mississippi River that would serve as the inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[9] At that time, Missouri was a slave state in the union and young Twain was familiar with the institution of slavery, a theme he later explored in his writing.
Twain was colorblind, a condition that fueled his witty banter in the social circles of the day.[citation needed] In March of 1847 when Twain was eleven, his father died of pneumonia. [citation needed] He had a meager education. The following year, Twain became a printer's apprentice and in 1851 began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his older brother, Orion. When he was eighteen, he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.

When he was 22 years old, Twain returned to Missouri. On a voyage to New Orleans down the Mississippi, the steamboat pilot, "Bixby", inspired Twain to pursue a career as a steamboat pilot, the third highest paying profession in America at the time earning $250 per month ($155,000 today), a "princely amount". Because the steamboats at the time were constructed of very dry flammable wood no lamps were allowed, making night travel a precarious endeavor.

A steamboat pilot needed a vast knowledge of the ever-changing river to be able to stop at any of the hundreds of ports (to take on and discharge passengers and freight) and wood-lots along the river banks (to purchase fuel for the steam boilers).


Twain meticulously studied 2000 miles of the Mississippi for more than two years until he finally received his steamboat pilot license in 1859. While training for his pilot's license, Twain convinced his younger brother Henry Clemens to work with him on the Mississippi. Tragically, Henry was killed when the steamboat he was working on exploded. Henry died on June 21, 1858. Twain was guilt stricken over his brother's death and held himself responsible for the rest of his life. Twain would continue to work on the river however and served as a river pilot until the American Civil War broke out in 1861 and traffic along the Mississippi was curtailed.


Traveling in the West
Missouri, although a slave state and considered by many to be part of the South, declined to join the Confederacy and remained loyal to the Union. When the war began, Twain and his friends formed a Confederate militia (an experience he depicted in his 1885 short story, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed"), and got involved in one battle where a man was killed. Mark Twain could not bear to kill a man, and deserted. His friends joined the Confederate Army; « mai multe referate din Engleza