Creativity Mark Twain summary. Brief biography of Mark Twain, an outstanding American writer

The biography of the American writer Mark Twain, who devoted many of his books to adventure, is itself full of various journeys and unexpected twists of fate. The writer's full name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born at the end of the autumn of 1835, during the period when Halley's comet swept over the Earth. By a mysterious coincidence, the second flight of a celestial body over the planet will take place exactly on the day of the writer's death.

The family of the future writer lived in a small Florida village, Missouri. The parents were John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens. The family experienced difficulties, although the father served as a judge. And soon they were forced to move to the navigable city of Hannibal, which was located on the banks of the American Mississippi River. Sam has the warmest memories of his childhood with this place. They formed the basis of the most popular works of the prose writer.

After the death of his father in 1847, when Sam was only 12 years old, the family was left on the verge of ruin. The children had to leave school and start working. The boy was lucky: his older brother Orion just opened his own printing house, and the future writer went there as a typesetter. Occasionally, he managed to print his own articles, which did not leave readers indifferent.

Youth years

At the age of 18, Samuel Clemens sets out on a trip around the country. He reads avidly, visiting the best library halls. A boy who was forced to drop out of school as a child fills in the educational gaps in New York's book depositories. Soon the young man gets the position of assistant pilot on the ship.

According to the writer himself, he could have devoted his whole life to working on the Mississippi River, if the civil war had not begun in 1861. For a while, Sam falls into the ranks of the Confederates, but soon goes to the Wild West to the gold and silver mines.

First attempts at pen

The work of extracting precious metals did not bring Samuel a lot of money, but here for the first time he is revealed as an observant and witty writer of small pamphlets and stories. And in 1863, for the first time, the writer signs his works with the pseudonym Mark Twain, taken from shipping practice. The prose writer never signed his books with his real name. It must be said that Samuel immediately becomes popular, and his first major humorous work, The Famous Jumping Frog from Calaveras, gained fame in all states.

For several years in a row, the newly-made feuilletonist changes one edition after another, where he publishes his reviews and stories, honing his skills. Mark Twain speaks to audiences a lot. At the same time, one more of his talents as an excellent speaker and storyteller is revealed. During the next move, he meets his future wife Olivia, the sister of his close friend. The photo of those times shows that we have a successful and self-confident person. Everything in him speaks about this: his look, height and posture. Samuel is having the best time of his life.

The heyday of creativity

Inspired by changes in his personal life, the writer easily creates several works in the style of realism, which fixed his name among the classics of the 19th century. In the mid-70s, the famous story “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” appears, in which the childhood of the writer himself is described somewhat differently. Then the story "The Prince and the Pauper" saw the light, which came to the taste of the American people. A Connecticut Yankee in Arthur's Court also appears, where the historical theme is intertwined with the theme of traveling in a time machine.

In the mid-80s, Samuel Clemens opened his own publishing house, and the first book was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this novel, Mark Twain for the first time vividly criticizes the established order in society. The writer also publishes the bestseller "Memories", enlightened by US President V.S. Grant. Own printing house lasted until the mid-90s, until it finally went bankrupt due to the economic collapse in the country.

The last books of the writer, which were written in an already honed, verified style, did not have the same success as the first. His characters, while still being witty adventurers, find themselves in ambiguous situations that require a philosophical approach and an uncompromising choice. During these years, Mark Twain was awarded a number of doctoral degrees from leading US universities. It was very flattering for a man who had long ago been forced to leave school.

Writer's friends

Samuel Clemens greatly valued his friendship with Nikola Tesla. The age difference of more than 20 years did not interfere with their creative communication. Together they participated in the daring experiments of the physicist, and in his spare time the writer often made fun of his serious friend. But once Nicola still managed to laugh it off. He offered the aged Samuel some means of rejuvenation, having happily tried which the writer felt that he was getting younger before his eyes. But after a while he rushed to the restroom due to severe pain in his stomach. According to him, the remedy had a radical cleansing effect on him.

In 1893, fate brought Mark Twain to the financial tycoon Henry Rogers, who was known as a great misanthrope and miser. But a close friendship with the writer changed him. The banker not only helped the writer's family overcome financial difficulties, but also became a real donor and philanthropist, which was discovered after his death. Henry spent a lot of money to support young talents. He also organized jobs for people with disabilities.

Quotes

Samuel Clemens was a very articulate man. This manifested itself both in his literary work and in colloquial speech. Many of his statements have become catchphrases that have not lost their relevance to this day. Here are some of them:

“Quitting smoking is easy. I myself threw a hundred times "

“Be careful when reading health books. You can die from a typo"

“First of all, facts are needed, and only then they can be distorted”

Sunset years

The last decade of the writer's life turned out to be poisoned by the bitterness of irreparable losses: since the beginning of the new century, Mark Twain has experienced the death of three children and his beloved wife Olivia. At the same time, he finally established himself in his views on religion.

In his last works, The Mysterious Stranger and Letter from the Earth, which were published only years after his death, Twain sings of atheism with his characteristic sarcasm. The cause of his own death was angina pectoris. Her next attack claimed the life of the great writer in the middle of spring 1910 in the city of Redding, Connecticut.

Bibliography

• The famous jumping frog from Calaveras - 1867
• Simpletons Abroad - 1869
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - 1876
• The Prince and the Pauper - 1882
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -1884
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -1889
• American Pretender - 1892
• Tom Sawyer Abroad - 1894
• Dupe Wilson - 1894
• Tom Sawyer - detective - 1896
• Personal Memoirs of Joan of Arc by Sieur Louis de Comte, Her Page and Her Secretary - 1896
• The Mysterious Stranger - 1916

The famous American writer Mark Twain (Samuel Lenghorne Clemens), who lived later than Whitman, had the opportunity to see with even greater clarity how far his homeland was from the ideal of genuine democracy. Despite this, Twain in most of his works remained a cheerful writer, a wonderful humorist.

Most of Twain's works are connected with the traditions of American folk humor, which gives his numerous stories a special charm, a bright national coloring. In the most insignificant phenomena, Twain notices the funny and talks about the most ordinary things inventively and witty. It shows the mercantile spirit of the bourgeoisie, the thirst for profit and the unscrupulousness of politicians. In the short story "How I Was Chosen for Governor" he ridicules the election campaign, which has turned into a competition of slanderers. In the story "Journalism in Tennessee" depicts the rude morals of the American press, the pursuit of sensation, the unprincipled struggle of competing newspapers. In such world-famous stories as “A Conversation with an Interviewer”, “My Watch”, “How I Edited an Agricultural Newspaper”, etc., the ingenuity of the author attracts, who creates situations that are unusually funny in their unexpectedness and absurdity.

Twain is a very observant writer, an excellent connoisseur of the psychology and life of ordinary people in America, the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois environment. On his life path he met people of various professions. The son of a provincial judge, he began working at the age of 12: as an apprentice in a printing house, as a typesetter, as a pilot on a steamboat, and, finally, as a journalist. From the memories of the steamer on which he sailed along the Mississippi, the writer's pseudonym arose: "Mark Twain" - a term used to measure the depth of the river.

Twain's childhood memories provided the material for two world-famous favorite children's books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Tom and his friends are looking for romantic adventures and freedom away from the bourgeois provincial town, from the boredom of religious Sunday schools, from the tedious instructions of school teachers. With observation and subtle humor characteristic of Twain, the customs of the American provinces of the first half of the 19th century are outlined. And Tom's childhood experiences are revealed by the writer with touching love and penetration into the psychology of a teenager.

Tom Sawyer is one of the most charming characters in children's literature. Although in his inventions and pranks he sometimes does not know the measure, but in serious, and sometimes dangerous alterations, Tom remains a faithful and courageous friend. Speaking at the trial as a witness, Tom was not afraid to take the old man accused of murder under protection and tell the truth about the real killer - the terrible and vengeful Indian Joe. He is by no means always truthful, but we believe much more in his affection for Aunt Polly, who replaces his mother, than in the love for her of Tom's "exemplary", but selfish, sometimes treacherous and prudent brother Sid.

When Mark Twain wrote the books about Tom and Huck, slavery had already been abolished in America. But the oppression of the Negroes and racial inequality remained, as they continue to exist today. Twain could not be indifferent to this shameful phenomenon of American life.

In the story about a little tramp, freedom-loving Huck Finn, his friend, a black slave, a runaway Negro Jim, is constantly next to him. They travel on a raft along the Mississippi River: Huck escaped from a rich widow who sheltered him, but tortured him with her annoying instructions, and Jim seeks to get to free states where there is no slavery.

Twain is not only a cheerful humorist, but also a brilliant satirist. His book A Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) exposes the feudal-monarchical survivals that still survive in some of the bourgeois countries of Europe. The writer, just like his hero, comes to the conclusion that only a revolution can give freedom to an oppressed person. And when the Russian revolution of 1905 took place, it met with warm sympathy from Twain.

Almost all children in our country know the most interesting story written by M. Twain - "The Prince and the Pauper" (1882). It tells about the fate of the little ragamuffin Tom Canty and the English Prince Edward. The action takes place in the 16th century. By pure chance, Tom becomes the heir to the throne for a while, and Prince Edward, instead of Tom, finds himself among the beggars. Then the little prince will learn the truth about the bitter fate of his people, about the cruel arbitrariness of kings, their ministers and officials. Gradually, the views and attitude to life of a child who was previously spoiled and did not know human grief are changing. And, returning again to his palace, Edward becomes a kind king who cares about the welfare of his people. And Tom Canty, although sometimes he got into ridiculous situations, not knowing court life, delights the reader: a beggar boy from the people, without realizing it, was often much wiser than all important and experienced ministers.

Many of Twain's works were not published in his homeland until recently. His statements about American "democracy" and colonial policy are too harsh.

Only recently did Twain's letters and diaries, his unfinished autobiography, pamphlets, etc., see the light of day. They tell that an honest artist, who passionately loved his people, experienced excruciating disappointments, seeing how democratic ideals were trampled in his country.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American writer, public figure and journalist.

Childhood

Mark Twain's real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born November 30, 1835. At the time of his birth, his parents, John and Jane Clemens, lived in a small town in Florida, the US state of Missouri. The city was so small that Mark Twain later jokingly said: "I was born and the population of Florida increased by one percent".

Four children survived in the Clemens family, Sam was the third of them. Although doctors for him almost up to the age of 7 said that he was not a tenant, the boy grew up so sickly and frail.

The family lived modestly, sometimes they even felt need. Sam was still very young when his parents decided to move to another city of Hannibal in search of a better job and life. My father worked as a judge and opened a small law office in the town. It was this settlement that many years later Mark Twain would describe in his famous work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Young Sam was not yet twelve years old when his father died of pneumonia. He left a lot of debts, and his older brother Orion had to deal with them, as well as earn a living for the family. He took up the publishing house of the newspaper, where Samuel also contributed his labor contribution. The future writer worked as a typesetter, but sometimes, when his brother was away, he showed his authorship and printed articles.

Youth

But at a young age, Sam Clemens was still more attracted not by literature, but by the majestic Mississippi River flowing nearby. To know its waters was his childhood dream. He got a job on a steamer, which made regular trips along the river, first as an apprentice, then as a pilot's assistant. It was here, on the ship, that his future pseudonym, Mark Twain, appeared. In English, these two words mean a marine term - a mark of two fathoms. On the steamer they often shouted “mark twain”, which meant that the river was deep enough for the ship to pass.

If not for the civil war that began in America in 1861, Twain might have spent his entire life on the water. But the river shipping company was closed, and I had to quit my career on the ship.

In search of work and happiness, the young man went to Nevada, where for some time he worked in the silver mines. He lived for a long time in the camp with other prospectors, and this period of life was later reflected in his literary works. He also tried himself as a gold digger in California, but did not achieve much success in this field. But with literature, things were quite different.

creative path

Mark Twain began his career in literature and journalism with the Territorial Enterprise publishing house in Virginia. Here he did not stay long and left for San Francisco, where he worked in several newspapers at once. His first literary success is considered to be the short humorous story "The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras", published in 1865. The work was reprinted throughout America and was recognized as "the best humorous literary work."

In 1866, the publishing house sent Mark Twain on a business trip to Hawaii. During the trip, he wrote essays, which, after publication, were a resounding success.

In 1867, Twain traveled around Europe, visited France and Greece, Turkey, Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta. In Livadia, he even visited the residence of the Russian emperor. As a result, in 1869, a collection of travel stories, Simpletons Abroad, was published. The book became a bestseller, readers especially liked that the writer narrates with irony and humor.

With such success, Mark Twain began to give public humorous lectures. He was an excellent orator, the audience during his speeches sobbed with laughter.

In 1870, the name of the writer and journalist Mark Twain was already known to all of America. Several times the country reread the stories from his collections:

• "Hardened";
• "The Gilded Age";
• "Life on the Mississippi".

In 1876, Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published, thanks to which he entered the list of major American writers. This book is still a desktop book for many girls, boys and even their parents, as it combines wisdom, wit and philosophy in an excellent way.

Twain's second novel, The Prince and the Pauper, was published in 1880. In 1884, a work was published that turned American literature upside down, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, about the life of a poor, small, defenseless boy. The hero of this work had a prototype - a boy with whom the writer was friends in childhood when the family lived in Hannibal. He was four years older than Twain, and his name was Tom Blankenship. Their family lived in extreme poverty, and their father, a handyman, was known as the city's first drunkard. The boy was illiterate, unwashed and constantly hungry, but with the kindest heart in the world.

The last significant work of the writer was the novel "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court".

Family and last years of life

Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870. They had four daughters.

The writer adored cats; several of these fluffy and affectionate animals always lived in his house. He chose the most incredible names for them - Zoroaster, Beelzebub, Sauer Mash, Chatterbox, Satan, Buffalo Bill.

Another hobby in his life was billiards, he taught his daughters the game.

Mark Twain earned a decent fortune from his novels, but he never succeeded in investing money successfully, which as a result led him to bankruptcy.

With the onset of the twentieth century, a black streak came into the life of the writer. In 1904, his wife died, he himself went bankrupt, and his three daughters tragically passed away. Mark Twain had a terrible depression, he did not leave the house, he did not communicate with people. He still continued to write, but all the works that came out from under his pen during that period are distinguished by pessimism, filled with pain and sadness.

Twain plunged into mysticism, tried to find the meaning of life in religion. But the hero of his last books was Satan, who reigns supreme in the world:

• "Deal with Satan";
• "Diary of Eva";
• "A mysterious stranger".

Mark Twain passed away on April 21, 1910 from an attack of angina pectoris. The writer is buried in Elmira, New York.

In the town of Hannibal, where the writer spent his childhood, there is still a house and caves in which Sam Clemens lived and played. Tourists visit these caves, and those who fail to visit Hannibal read about them in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Introduction

The famous American writer Mark Twain was born in the village of Florida, Missouri, in 1835. Mark Twain is only a pseudonym for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and the first note signed by the famous pseudonym dates back to 1863.

The childhood years of the writer were spent on the Mississippi, in the town of Hannibal, known to readers all over the world under the name of St. Petersburg. Samuel Clemens came from a family whose fate was closely intertwined with the American frontier - the border of the civilized lands of America. Hannibal at that time was the last outpost of civilization, followed by almost undeveloped lands. On the other side of the Mississippi, territories free from slavery began. Through Hannibal lay the path of settlers to the West, the path of slaves who were taken along the river to cotton plantations in its lower reaches, and the path of runaway slaves. History seems to have taken special care to ensure that the main conflicts of American life of the last century clearly appeared in this backwater.

Samuel Clemens from childhood worked as a printer's apprentice, sold newspapers, drove steamboats along the Mississippi, worked as a secretary for his brother in Nevada, in the governor's office, and as a gold digger. Then he joined journalism, and in 1867 his career as a professional writer began. In 1888, Clemens graduated from Yale University in New Haven (Connecticut), where he received an honorary diploma of Doctor of Literature, an honorary representative of the university.

Mark Twain was a representative of the democratic direction of US literature, it was Twain's democratic attitude that helped him create works that are a fusion of the achievements of previous American art, without becoming an imitator of authorities or a mere successor to traditions.

In the works of Twain, a completely natural synthesis of romanticism and realism arose, which is one of the conditions for the emergence of great realistic art. His work, partly prepared by both the romantics and realists of the 50s, became the point of intersection of diverse artistic trends. But romanticism was not an "appendage" to Twain's realism, but an organic quality of his worldview, which determined the entire internal structure of his works. Even with a superficial contact with them, one can feel, as in all phenomena of high realism, the ability to combine "romantic beauty" with "realistically everyday", he managed to synthesize these concepts.

In the works of Twain, American realism acquired its characteristic artistic appearance with all its defining features: grotesqueness, symbolism, metaphor, inner lyricism and closeness to nature. This produced a decisive shift in the artistic development of America.

At the same time, the heir to the great American romantics of the XIX century. was also their staunch and irreconcilable opponent. The writer's struggle with romanticism was extremely purposeful and constant and continued throughout his entire career. The reason for Twain was a different understanding of the main task of art - the task of reproducing the truth of life. Following the romantics, he sang the beauty of the "natural" phenomena of life not spoiled by civilization, shared their hatred of everything false, artificial, but he found all these features in the works of the romantics themselves.

A true son of his people, he possessed that clarity of view, that concreteness of poetic thinking, which was a characteristic feature of the people's worldview. Truly "he had a clear view of life, and he knew it better and was less deceived by its ostentatious sides than any American."

Twain's connection with working America, sealed by life experience, from the very beginning of his writing activity determined the living force of his creative imagination. These features of the worldview allowed the author to look at his country through the eyes of an open-minded person, pure and open to new ideas.

Mark Twain's first book

When Twain became a reporter for "Enterprise Territory," published in Virginia City, Nevada's capital, a literary road opened up for him. Only in our time, all his notes published there, feuilletons, essays, sketches, sketches were collected. It was at that time that Twain's humor was formed - a unique and at the same time essentially a deeply American artistic phenomenon.

Twain quickly became bored with humor, designed only for the tastes of prospectors and immigrants not spoiled by high literature. The famous jumping frog from Calaveras, against the backdrop of such humor, seemed like Mont Blanc next to small mounds. There is a quality in her that would be in vain to look for in anecdotes and fables - this is the ability to literally describe in two or three strokes not just a funny situation, but a whole way of life, a whole world in its unusualness. And this skill will grow stronger in Twain from story to story, rapidly gaining fame for him as America's best humorist.

At the same time, he needed the reader to see, behind the self-evident, violent and unrestrained grotesque, an authentically described American life with all its multicoloredness. He tried to keep the tone the way it was in an oral presentation that did not know any literary smoothness, he tried to make his story, first of all, laugh.

The cover of his very first book was decorated with a huge yellow frog, which stood out brightly against the creamy background of the cover. What is her story? Where did the story about the frog named Daniel Webster come from? Found several printed versions of this story. But still, the frog from Calaveras was glorified by none other than Mark Twain. The story is quite reliable, it could be heard in Twain's native lands or even read in newspapers published in the periphery, on the front.

Jim Smiley lost forty dollars on a bet to a stranger who showed up in Calaveras, relying on Daniel's amazing talent. Twain recorded this case almost exactly as it was stated more than once in his presence: a stranger doubted Daniel's abilities, accepted a bet, and while Smiley was catching another frog for him, he poured a handful of quail shot into the champion's mouth, so that the poor celebrity could not move from place. In general, a sad story about deceived trust and about diligence that went to dust, but such is life.

There are special signs of Twain's humor that will be seen if you read the story of a frog named Daniel Webster carefully. But Twain presented this case, which fit on several pages, in such a way that it will amuse readers for the second century, and the point is inimitable humorous gift.

This story by Twain preserves the colorful atmosphere of the life and customs of the settlers. We can clearly imagine this village in a few crooked streets leading into the endless prairie, and haphazardly dressed people who have not shaved for a long time at the entrance to the saloon.

We learn about the frog races only at the very end, and before that Twain will talk for a long time about various incidents in Smiley's life. Twain? No, the narrator will be a certain Simon Wheeler, who is entrusted with the narration. This Wheeler himself is from Calaveras, he saw her with his own eyes and remembered everything.

The subtext of this ultra-comic short story, which is an adaptation of one of the anecdotal Western plots, was the antithesis of the "unpolished" West and the "sleek" East. Beneath the ingenuous narration of the clumsy frontiersman Simon Wheeler, entertaining his gentleman listener with a guileless tale of the "exploits" of dogs and frogs, lurked the idea of ​​a special world with its own illegitimate scale of values, in principle as legitimate as it was dominant.

The names of the characters also hinted at this. Daniel Webster - the frog and Andrew Jackson - the dog were the namesakes of famous statesmen. Wheeler's story proves that he doesn't care about these celebrities. Outlining his frog epic, he "never smiled, never frowned, never changed that softly murmuring tone to which he tuned in from the very first phrase, never once showed the slightest excitement; his whole story was imbued with amazing seriousness and sincerity. This clearly showed me that he does not see anything funny or funny in this story, treats it without jokes at all and considers his heroes tricksters of the highest flight.

Is Simon Wheeler really that simple? After all, in essence, in this story there are not one, but two narrators - a clown and a gentleman, and it is not known which of them is a true "simpleton" and who is fooling whom. Only one thing is clear, that of the two storytellers, the frontiersman is the more skillful. He tells better, brighter, juicier and, just like the author, he knows how to see things and feel their inner life. In other words, he speaks the language of Mark Twain. This way of presentation leads the reader to some additional conclusions regarding the nature of both the narrator and the listener.

Grotesque in Twain's early writings

The art of young Twain is the art of the grotesque. But the grotesque is also very different in its forms, and in essence. The whole humorous flavor of the stories of the young Mark Twain is based on the imaginary seriousness of the author. In those days, it was believed that literature must certainly be sublime, profound and emphasizing its profoundness, refined in language, built in accordance with the strict rules and laws of artistic narrative. And Twain came across rude and simply slang words, sophistication was ridiculed mercilessly, and the story itself most of all resembled a fable or an anecdote.

Fables and anecdotes necessarily required exaggerations, circumstances presented as genuine, absolutely reliable reality, phenomena that were completely unthinkable, but considered true in every detail.

We read how collegiate assessor Kovalev's nose disappeared. Poor Kovalev saw his nose - just think! - in a carriage that rolls down the street. And when a suspicious traveler was detained at the post station, it turned out that the nose had already managed to acquire a passport. Artifice? Certainly. All this is pure fantasy. Gogol does not at all want the reader to suspect even for a second that he is dealing with an event, even remotely plausible. Maybe all this is just a terrible dream of the unfortunate Kovalev, maybe his delirium, an obsession (“the devil wanted to play a trick on me”), or just some kind of inexplicable mystery of nature. For Gogol, this is not so important. More importantly, the whole of life, as it is presented in The Nose, is absurd and terrible to the last limit, turned upside down.