Mark Twain Biography

Mark Twain (1835-1910) - pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

American writer, journalist, and humorist..
Genre(s): Novels; humor/satire; short stories;plays; essays; letters.

Birth: November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, USA
Death: April 21, 1910 in Redding, comté de Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Father: John Marshall Clemens (August 11, 1798- March 24, 1847).
Mother: Jane Lampton Clemens (June 18, 1803- October 27,1890).

He was the sixth of seven children. Only his brother Orion ( July 17, 1825 - December 11, 1897) and his sister Pamela (September 18, 1827 - August 31. 1904) survived childhood. Sister Margaret died when Mark Twain was 4 years old, brother Benjamin died when Mark Twain was 7 years old, another
brother Pleasant only lived 3 months, before Mark Twain was born. He had one younger brother Henry.

When Mark Twain was four, the whole family moved to Hannibal (a port town on the Mississippi River).

1870: Twain married Olivia 'Livy' Langdon (1845-1904). with whom he would have four children. Three died before they reached their twenties but Clara (1870-1962) lived to the age of eighty-eight.

The last written statement of Mark Twain has been: "Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved".

American author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature".

His quotes are as shrewd as his entire work:

"Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it."

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old."

"When red-haired people are above a certain social grade their hair is auburn."

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."

A small selection of his work:

(1867) The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (fiction)
(1872) Roughing It (non-fiction)
(1873) The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (fiction, made into a play)
(1876) Old Times on the Mississippi (non-fiction)
(1876) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (fiction)
(1880) A Tramp Abroad (travel)
(1882) The Prince and the Pauper (fiction)
(1883) Life on the Mississippi (non-fiction)
(1884) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (fiction)
(1889) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (fiction)
(1892) Those Extraordinary Twins (fiction)
(1894) The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (fiction)
(1896) Tom Sawyer, Detective (fiction)
(1900) The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (fiction)
(1900) A Salutation Speech From the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth (essay)

Mark Twain Biography

1839: The Twain family moved to their Hill Street home, in the port city of Hannibal, Missouri (now the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum with its famous whitewashed fence).

1847 : His father died. He left the family in a difficult situation.

1847: Mark Twain then 12 years old ceased his studies and began to work as a typesetter for local newspapers.Worked with his brother Orion. They, too, have to face a series of business failings.

Mark Twain decided to leave and to travel.Wandered from the Midwest to the East Coast. Support himself by writing and publishing his observations. Rejoined his brother in Keokuk, Iowa to work again in the newspaper business.

1857: Left Keokuk. Wanted to travel down the Mississippi River to New Orleans,Louisiana. (From New Orleans he wanted to go to South America where he was sure he would amass a fortune). He did not go. He met a steamboat captain Horace Biby. Sailed with him down the Mississippi River as "captain's apprentice".

1859: He obtained his own pilot's license. Spent his time traveling up and down the Mississippi River.

His initial publication as Twain is a lampoon of an account published by riverboat captain Isaiah Sellers under the pseudonym Mark Twain.

After the Civil War Mark Twain was unable to continue working as a riverboat captain. Briefly served in the Confederate Army. Rejoined his brother Orion (had won a position in the Nevada territory government. It was a reward for his work on President Abraham Lincoln's re-election campaign.

Mark Twain and his brother traveled to Nevada. Were looking for gold and silver.Basis for his volume "Rough It".

Fled to San Francisco (A rival journalist whom he "teased" insisted on a duel: To avoid imprisonment for the town anti-dueling statute). Because offending the city's police department he had to face a lawsuit). He fled again to the Sierras searched again for gold).

Mark Twain Biography

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Mark Twain Biography

1860: Twain traveled widely. Contributed his observations to variousWest Coast publications. Served as an official correspondent for the San Francisco Daily Morning. Correspondant for the Alta California.

His book "The Innocent Abroad" enjoyed considerable commercial and critical success. The Innocents Abroad still ranks among Twain's most accomplished works. While completing The Innocents Abroad, Twain received an invitation to New York City by his friend, Charles Langdon. He fell in love with Langdon's sister Olivia.

1870: Twain married Olivia 'Livy' Langdon 1845-1904). They will have 4 children. Three died before they reached their twenties but Clara (1870-1962) lived to the age of eighty-eight. Olivia's father, Jervis Langdon, provided Twain with a sizeable shareholding of a newspaper in Buffalo, where the newlyweds intended to live. In plus, Langdon housed the couple in a furnished mansion. Jervis Langdon died within a year of his daughter's marriage to Twain .

Twain moved the family from Buffalo. Settled briefly at Quarry Farm (his sister-in-law's residence)then moved to Hartford, Connecticut where he completed "Roughing It". It was sold, like "The Innocents Abroad", on a subscription basis. Proved a popular work with the American public. The Twains lived in Hartford for twenty years.

After completing "Roughing It", he conducted a successful lecture tour of England. Returned home to collaborate with neighbor Warner on "The Gilded Age". The novel does not stand with Twain's more distinguished works.

Home again in Hartford, he began writing "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". After publishing "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" he immediately began work on a novel about Huckleberry Finn. (He will need 7 years to write this book). In the meantime he traveled in Europe. He published his observations from that trip as "A Tramp Abroad".

1881: Published The Prince and the Pauper (won acclaim as a compelling and convincing tale of historical England). It was not a "hit" (Mark Twain was again in trouble financially speaking).

1883: "Life on the Mississippi" was as well a "flop". And his financial problems aggravated.

Mark Twain Biography

1884: He finally completed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
is considered one of the greatest works in American literature.

1889: Started another novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" which was published in 1889.
This book realized only scant success when it appeared.

He started the production of another novel "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson" and the "Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins". They are generally not considered one of Twain's greatest successes.

1890: His financial situation improved. But his and his wife's health suffered.Their daughter Olivia Susan died of meningitis in 1896. His wife's health was constantly declining.

1901: Yale University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

1903. Doctors said she was well enough to accompany Mark Twain to Florence. But her health declined drastically and she died in spring of the following year (1904).

1905, 30 November : On his 70th birthday he was fêted at Delmonico's restaurant in New York, where he delivered his famous birthday speech, wearing his "trademark all-year round" white suit.

1905: Was as well a guest of Theodore Roosevelt (American President) at the White House.

1907: He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Oxford University.

1907: "A Horse's Tale and Christian Science" were published.

1908: Twain had moved to his home 'Stormfield' in Redding, Connecticut.

In his last years Twain sustained his misanthropy in proclamations and public appearances. He conducted another prosperous tour of Europe, then settled in New York City.

In New York City he enjoyed a great celebrity (as a prominent writer and general and malicious wit). Despite all of this, he remained mean and pessimistic. His health worsened. He suffered from angina. Hoping to find some relief he traveled to Bermuda. But his health continued to decline and he
returned to the USA.

21 April 1910: Mark Twain died in Redding, Connecticut. Rests in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Livy's hometown of Elmira, New York State, buried beside her and the children.

There is too a memorial statue and cenotaph in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park of Los Angeles, California states.