Explore the captivating life story of Mark Twain, the pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, America’s revered humorist and prolific writer. Delve into his influential books, including ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ as we uncover the brilliant mind behind the pen name ‘Mark Twain’ and his lasting impact on literature.
Mark Twain, the pseudonym adopted by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), stands as America’s preeminent humorist and one of its most celebrated authors. Renowned for his masterful portrayal of boyhood life along the Mississippi River during the mid-19th century, Twain’s crowning achievements are the novels “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” These literary works vividly capture the essence of boyhood, weaving tales of play, pleasure, and youthful escapades.
Mark Twain’s profound connection to the Mississippi River, where he spent his own formative years, infuses his writing with an indelible sense of nostalgia for childhood and its carefree joys. However, Twain’s ability to craft these timeless stories goes beyond personal reminiscence. The creation of iconic characters such as Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer is deeply rooted in Twain’s extensive literary apprenticeship and diligent work as a writer.
Early Life
Samuel Langhorne Clemens came into the world in the quaint village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. Born to John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens, both descendants of slave-holding Virginians, the couple had journeyed from Kentucky through Tennessee to settle in Missouri. When Sam turned four, his father, an idealistic man harboring grand dreams of wealth, relocated the family to Hannibal, Missouri—an enchanting place where “the great Mississippi, the majestic Mississippi [rolled]its mile-wide tide along.” It was here, on the river’s west bank, amidst the regular comings and goings of steamboats, that Sam experienced his formative years.
By the age of 18, Sam had undergone an apprenticeship as a printer under his brother Orion’s guidance and had dabbled in writing juvenile burlesque. His humorous sketch, “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter,” even saw publication in B. P. Shillaber’s Carpet Bag, a New York periodical. Over the next decade, from 1853 to 1862, he persisted in his endeavors as a humorist, adopting various pseudonyms such as Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, W. Epaminandos Adrastus Blab, Sergeant Fathom, and Josh.
Simultaneously, during those same ten years, Sam pursued another demanding craft—working as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi. His trajectory in this profession might have continued had it not been for the intervention of the Civil War. The conflict shut down river traffic, prompting Sam to spend a brief and eventful period in the Confederate Army, an experience he wryly labeled as his “resignation” due to desertion. Subsequently, he ventured to Nevada with his brother, who held an abolitionist stance and had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor by President Lincoln. Thus, as the Civil War raged in the Eastern states, Samuel Clemens found himself traversing the Western landscape in search of silver—a son of his father, harboring dreams of fortune.
The Western Years
Clemens’ venture into prospecting and mining proved to be a resounding failure, leading him to pivot back to journalism as a profession. In 1862, he secured a position with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, where his aptitude as a reporter and humorist quickly came to the fore. A pivotal moment occurred in February 1863 when he adopted the pseudonym “Mark Twain,” a river term signifying “two fathoms deep.”
The adoption of this pen name seemed to unleash Clemens’ creative genius, marking the beginning of his dedicated pursuit as a professional humorist. While the transition from Samuel Clemens to Mark Twain wasn’t sudden or dramatic, approximately half of Clemens’ work continued to be straightforward reporting. Nevertheless, humor consistently asserted its dominance.
Twain’s humor, characteristic of frontier practitioners of the time, bore a literary violence akin to the physical violence prevalent on the frontier. Consequently, Twain left Virginia City when a heated exchange with a rival journalist threatened to escalate into a duel involving pistols rather than words.
His journey led him to San Francisco, where his repeated criticisms of the city government embroiled him in a feud with the police force. As a result, he recalled fleeing with Steve Gillis to Angels Camp in Tuolumne County, an area dotted with exhausted mines and inhabited by disillusioned prospectors. It was here that Twain encountered the story of the jumping frog, which he transformed into “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Published in the New York Saturday Press in the autumn of 1865, this humorous masterpiece rightfully earned Twain acclaim in the East.
The publication of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog” marked a turning point in Twain’s fortunes. His career as a humorist was officially underway, and despite any restlessness he might later experience in this role, he remained dedicated to it. Twain not only contributed humorous sketches to various magazines and newspapers, including Bret Harte’s Californian, but also expanded his journalistic horizons. In 1866, he accepted an assignment as a travel correspondent for the Sacramento Union in Hawaii, allowing him to exercise his talents as a roving humorous reporter. Upon his return, Twain made his debut as a lecturer, achieving success in Virginia City. Following this, he bid farewell to the West forever, embracing his identity as a writer, journalist, lecturer, and, above all, a humorist.
The pivotal event that unified Twain’s diverse activities and brought him worldwide attention was his 1867 voyage on the Quaker City, the first organized pleasure trip from the New World to the Old, bound for the Holy Land. The chronicle of this journey, initially conveyed through dispatches to the San Francisco Alta California and later revised into “The Innocents Abroad” (1869), not only brought him fame but also the long-sought fortune he had pursued during his mining days.
Marriage
However, Twain aspired to more than just fame and fortune; he sought a life partner, and upon his return from abroad, he embarked on a quest to find one. His chosen one was Olivia Langdon of Elmira, New York. From the moment he laid eyes on her picture in her brother’s stateroom on the Quaker City, Olivia remained a constant presence in Twain’s thoughts—or so he always claimed.
His courtship got off to a rocky start, much like his earlier prospecting endeavors. Initially rebuffed by the delicate Olivia, Twain used the period of his initial defeat to write “The Innocents Abroad” on one hand and countless love letters on the other. By the time the book was completed, his heartfelt letters had secured Olivia’s consent to marry him. Throughout their engagement, he subjected proofs of “The Innocents Abroad” to her scrutiny and approval, a practice that persisted throughout their 34 years of married life.
Olivia served as his primary censor, although she was not the first; Mary Mason Fairbanks, a fellow passenger on the Quaker City, held that distinction. Subsequently, Twain relied heavily on William Dean Howells for similar services. While critics, scholars, and admirers of Mark Twain have occasionally lamented his acceptance of such censorship, it can be viewed as a strategic element of his humor. In gaining indulgent approval, the “low” humorist found a way to release subversive feelings without appearing threatening.
Twain’s marriage in 1870, shortly after the release of “The Innocents Abroad,” became an integral part of his professional journey, akin to his adoption of a pseudonym or his early triumphs as a writer. The newlyweds initially resided in Buffalo, where Twain assumed the role of editor at the Buffalo Express. However, the demanding work took a toll on him, the paper faced financial losses, and his wife’s health suffered. After two years, he gladly sold his interest in the paper, incurring a loss of $10,000.
The Hartford Years
However, Twain hadn’t lost everything. During this time, he penned “Roughing It” (1872), a remarkable autobiographical account of his Western experiences. Though not as popular as “The Innocents Abroad,” it positioned him in direct literary competition with the successful Bret Harte, whose tales of Western life were widely acclaimed. Supplementing his income with occasional lecture tours, Twain comfortably settled in his preferred city, Hartford, Connecticut. There, he could keep a close eye on his publisher, Elisha Bliss, and immerse himself in a center of literary activity. In the cozy, informal literary neighborhood of Nook Farm, next to Harriet Beecher Stowe, he constructed a flamboyant home, a parody of Victorian gingerbread architecture, exuding the studied gaudiness of a steamboat.
Mark Twain’s years in Hartford were undeniably his most creative. Following “Roughing It,” he swiftly published “The Gilded Age” (1873), a satirical collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner; “Old Times on the Mississippi” (1875), a series of sketches for the Atlantic magazine that transported him back in time to the heyday of steamboating, showcasing a complete mastery of humorous autobiography; and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876), a novel delving into his own childhood. Finally, there was his masterpiece, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” initiated in 1876 but not completed until 1884.
During the intervening years, Twain engaged in numerous projects. He collaborated on a play with Bret Harte, returned to Europe attempting to replicate the success of “The Innocents Abroad” but produced only “A Tramp Abroad” (1880), one of his less captivating travel books. He wrote “The Prince and the Pauper” (1882), a popular and respectable children’s book but deemed inferior to “Tom Sawyer,” and revisited the Mississippi River region in an attempt to craft a lengthy travel book.
The immediate outcome of the Mississippi trip was “Life on the Mississippi” (1883), with the best part being the first quarter of the volume—the “Old Times” sketches. However, the principal result was the completion of “Huckleberry Finn.” Published in 1884, Twain not only realized the highest possibilities of his humorous art but also approached the pinnacle of his financial success.
From the outset of his career, Twain had been fascinated with business and inventions, investing in numerous uncompleted projects. By 1884, he had placed most of his money into the publishing firm of Charles L. Webster and Company and the Paige typesetting machine. One of the first books published by Webster was, indeed, “Huckleberry Finn.” Recognizing its success, Twain conceived the idea of publishing General Ulysses S. Grant’s “Personal Memoirs” (1885-1886). Learning that Grant, in poor health and in need of money, was about to accept a conventional royalty contract, Twain offered much more generous terms and secured the deal. This audacious generosity proved to be a sound business move: the Memoirs experienced enormous sales, and Twain presented Grant’s widow with a single royalty check of $250,000, likely the largest of the 19th century.
While publishing intrigued Twain, the Paige machine captivated him more, and by 1887, it consumed all his available capital. The machine’s influence on him was so profound that, at one point, he wanted to complete “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (1889) on the very day the machine was scheduled for completion. However, according to Twain, James Paige, the machine’s inventor, was a perfectionist, endlessly dismantling his creation in an attempt to improve its mechanism and never quite finishing the project. Consequently, Twain intensified his writing efforts to finance his other ventures. Even the profits from “A Connecticut Yankee,” “An American Claimant” (1892), “Tom Sawyer Abroad” (1893), “Pudd’nhead Wilson” (1894), and numerous other publications couldn’t prevent him from bankruptcy.
Twain did go bankrupt, but Henry Huttleston Rogers, a Standard Oil tycoon, rescued him from complete ruin. Rogers aided him in business matters and advised him to transfer his copyrights to Olivia, thereby preserving his most valuable property. With Rogers managing his financial affairs, Twain was free to write “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc” (1896), which he regarded as his greatest work, though critics often deemed it his most lifeless extended work.
Not content with just writing, Twain embarked on a round-the-world lecture tour to pay his creditors in full. Almost completed, the tour was marred by devastating news: his beloved daughter, Susy, had died of meningitis in Hartford. This tragedy, following closely on his bankruptcy, plunged him into a black mood that persisted from 1896 until 1904. Filled with despair and self-reproach, Twain produced rooms full of manuscripts during this dark period, mostly fragments. His comic genius, ill-suited to the symbols of despair, was unmistakably waning. Even “The Mysterious Stranger,” the most intriguing work of the period, was left unfinished and pieced together by his secretary, Albert Bigelow Paine—Twain’s chosen official biographer—and published in 1916.
Paradoxically, the bleak period ended with Olivia’s death in 1904 in Florence, where Twain had taken her in an attempt to restore her health. With her passing, Mark Twain entered the last phase of his career. Although his active writing days were essentially over, the realm of personality remained, and he ruled it with absolute authority. White-haired, white-mustached, clad in his iconic white suit, and showered with honors from an admiring world, he settled triumphantly into his final residence—Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut—and humorously passed judgment on the entire human race. His chief literary work during this period was his autobiography, published posthumously in 1924, which he garrulously dictated to Paine.
After his daughter Clara’s marriage in October 1909 and the death of his youngest daughter, Jean, in December of the same year, Twain found himself truly alone. Ravaged by age and failing health, he passed away in Redding on April 21, 1910.
