the autobiography of mark twain. (1835–1910) born on november 30, 1835, in florida, missouri,...
TRANSCRIPT
The Autobiography of Mark Twain.
(1835–1910)
Born on November 30, 1835, in Florida,
Missouri, Samuel Langhorne Clemens
wrote under the pen name Mark Twain and
went on to pen several novels, including
two major classics of American
literature, The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer and The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. He was also a riverboat
pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and
inventor. Twain died on April 21, 1910, in
Redding, Connecticut.
When he was 4 years old, his family moved to nearby Hannibal, a port town on the Mississippi River of 1,000 people.
Sam Clemens lived in Hannibal from age 4 to age 17.
Steamboats arrived there three times a day, tooting their whistles; circuses, street shows and revivalists paid visits; a decent library was available; and tradesmen such as blacksmiths and tanners practiced their entertaining crafts for all to see.
However, violence was common in the place, and young Sam witnessed much death: When he was 10 years old, he watched a slave die after a white overseer struck him with a piece of iron.
Clemens, age 15
Sam kept up his schooling until he
was about 12 years old, when his
father died unexpectedly and the
family started needing a source of
income. He found employment as an
apprentice printer at the Hannibal
Courier, which paid him with a
miserable ration of food.
In 1851, at 15, he got a job as a
printer and occasional writer and
editor at the Hannibal Western Union,
a little newspaper owned by his
brother, Orion.
Clemens, age 15
Then, in 1857, 21-year-old Clemens
fulfilled a dream: He began learning
the art of piloting a steamboat on
the Mississippi.
He became a licensed pilot by 1859
and loved his career. It was exciting,
well-paying and high-status.
However, his service was cut short in
1861 by the outbreak of the Civil
War, which stopped most civilian
traffic on the river.
As the Civil War began, the people of
Missouri angrily split between support for
the Union and the Confederacy.
Clemens opted for the latter, joining the
Confederate Army in June 1861 but
serving for only a couple of weeks until
his volunteer unit disbanded.
Where, he wondered then, would he find
his future? What venue would bring him
both excitement and cash? His answer:
the great American West…
In July 1861, Twain climbed onboard a
stagecoach and headed for Nevada
and California, where he would live for
the next five years. At first, he
prospected for silver and gold,
convinced that he would become the
savior of his struggling family and the
sharpest-dressed man in Virginia City
and San Francisco. But nothing
panned out, and by the middle of
1862, he was flat broke and in need of
a regular job.
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society”
Mark Twain.
Twain became one of the best-known
storytellers in the West. He possessed
a distinctive narrative style (friendly,
funny, irreverent, often satirical).
He got a big break in 1865, when one
of his tales about life in a mining
camp, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog,"
was printed in newspapers and
magazines around the country. (the
story later appeared under various
titles).
His next step up the ladder of success
came in 1867, when he took a five-
month sea cruise in the
Mediterranean, writing humorously
about the sights for American
newspapers with an eye toward
getting a book out of the trip. And so
it came to pass that in 1869 The
Innocents Abroad was published,
and it became a bestseller.
On February 2nd 1870, he married 24-year-
old Olivia (Livy) Langdon, the daughter of a
rich New York coal merchant. Writing to a
friend shortly after his wedding, "I have ...
the only sweetheart I have ever loved ...
she is the best girl, and the sweetest, and
gentlest, and the daintiest, and she is the
most perfect gem of womankind.“
Twain hoped that she would "reform" him, a
mere humorist, from his rustic ways.
The couple settled in Buffalo and later had
four children.
At 34, this handsome, red-haired,
affable, smart, egocentric and
ambitious journalist and traveler had
become one of the most popular and
famous writers in America.In 1885, he triumphed as a book publisher by issuing the bestselling memoirs of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who had just died. He lavished many hours on this and other business and was certain that his efforts would be rewarded with enormous wealth, but he never achieved the success he expected. His publishing house eventually went bankrupt.
Some of these later works have enduring merit, and his unfinished work The Chronicle of Young Satan has fervent admirers today.
In 1889, Twain published A
Connecticut Yankee in King
Arthur's Court, a
science-fiction/historical novel about
ancient England. His next major work,
in 1894, was The Tragedy of
Pudd'nhead Wilson, a somber novel
that some observers described as
"bitter." He also wrote short stories,
essays and several other books,
including a study of Joan of Arc.
Mark Twain's last 15 years were filled
with public honors, including degrees
from Oxford and Yale. Probably the
most famous American of the late
19th century, he was much
photographed and applauded
wherever he went. Indeed, he was
one of the most prominent celebrities
in the world, traveling widely
overseas, including a successful
round-the-world lecture tour in
1895-'96, undertaken to pay off his
debts.
On June 5th 1904, while Twain traveled,
his wife died after a long illness. "The
full nature of his feelings toward her is
puzzling," writes scholar R. Kent
Rasmussen. "If he treasured Livy's
comradeship as much as he often said,
why did he spend so much time away
from her?" But absent or not,
throughout 34 years of marriage, Twain
had indeed loved his wife.
"Wheresoever she was, there was
Eden" he wrote in tribute to her.
Olivia Langdon Clemens 1845-1904
Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years. Even projecting to be friendly in public, in private he demonstrated a stunning insensivity to friends and loved ones.
He was unable to finish most of his projects. He had volcanic rages and nasty bouts of paranoia, and he experienced depression, which he tried to fight by smoking cigars, reading in bed and playing endless hours of billiards and cards.Samuel Clemens died on April 21st, 1910, at the age of 74, at his country home in Redding, Connecticut. He was buried in Elmira, New York.