Meet the Writer: Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born in November 30, 1835, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. 

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to the newspaper . He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his singular lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention.

Twain began his career writing light, humorous verse, but later evolved into a chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies and murderous acts of mankind. At mid-career, with Huckleberry Finn, he writing style included combined rich humor, sturdy narrative and social criticism. Twain was a master at rendering colloquial speech and helped to create and popularize a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language. Many of Twain's works have been suppressed at times for various reasons, for example, in Huckleberry Finn, racial themes and slurs were often repeated throughout.