MARK TWAIN: 100th anniversary of his death

HIS LIFE.

Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, writer who was born in the state of Missouri in 1835 and died in Connecticut in 1910.

When he was twelve his father died and he had to leave school. Soon he started working as a trainee typographer. Some years later he decided to live as a wanderer travelling around some southern states. Then he was a pilot taking steamships along the Mississipi River. When the Civil War broke out he went to the west, where he became a gold searcher in Nevada.

In 1862 he started to write for a newspaper in Virginia - The Enterprise - and signed his articles with the nick name of Mark Twain. This name comes from an old river navigation expression which meas 'mark two fathons' - 4 metres - expression used to say that the waters were safe.
After travelling around Europe and Holy Land, he got married and went to Connecticut, where he would live for the rest of his life. It was here where he wrote his best novels and short stories. Filled with humor and sadness, his stories reflect the good and the evil in human nature, the joy and difficulties of human experience.

Mark Twain died on 21st April, in 1910 when he was seventy-four years-old.

HIS WORK

1865 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Short stories published by the Enterprise.

1869 The Innocents Abroad.

Book in which he tells us about his journey around Europe.

1872 Roughing it.

Humorous novel based on his experiences in the west.

1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

1883 Life of the Mississipi.
1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

These three novels were influenced by Twain's experiences in Missouri and the Mississipi River.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and it is considered to be his marterpiece. It is told in first person by its protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, a young boy, who running away from his cruel father, lives exciting and dangerous adventures.

1881 The Prince and the Pauper.

1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Both of them historical novels.

1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.

1894 Pudd'n head Wilson.

1916 published after his death. The Mysterious Stranger.

His most pessimistic and negative work.