Where did Mark Twain come from? What works are there?

Mark Twain, formerly known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens; (1835,165438+1October 30-191April 00, 2 1) American humorist, novelist, writer and famous speaker. Although his family wealth is not much, it does not damage his humor, wit and fame. He is one of the most famous people in America. He has a wide range of friends, including William Dean Howells, Booker Washington, nikola tesla, Helen Keller and Henry Roger. He was once called Lincoln in the history of literature. Helen Keller once said, "I like Mark Twain-who doesn't like him?" Even God will love him, give him wisdom and draw a rainbow of love and faith in his heart. William faulkner called Mark Twain "the first real American writer, and we all inherited him". He died in 19 10 at the age of 75 and was buried in Aymara, new york.

Writing style: combining humor and satire, full of unique personal wit and one-liners, and there is no lack of profound social insight and analysis. It is not only a humorous and pungent masterpiece, but also a serious work of compassion!

pen name

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"Mark Twain" is his most commonly used pseudonym. It is generally believed that this pen name originated from his early sailor career. Samuel (that is, "Mark Twain") was once a navigator. When measuring the water depth with my partner, my partner shouted "Mark Twain!" , which means "the second standard", that is, the water depth is Erxun (1 Xunxun is about1.8m), which is a necessary condition for the safe navigation of ships.

Another reason is that his captain Cyrus is a respected navigator. From time to time, he writes sketches about the Mississippi River for newspapers and signs them as "Mark Twain".

1859, Captain Cyrus published an article predicting that New Orleans would be flooded. Naughty Samuel decided to play a joke on him and wrote a very sharp satirical sketch after imitating his style. Who knows that this game article deeply hurt the old captain's heart, and the old captain gave up writing, and the pseudonym "Mark Twain" disappeared from the newspaper.

Four years later, Samuel, who became a journalist, learned the bad news of Captain Cyrus' death, regretted the prank of that year and was determined to make up for it. So he inherited the pseudonym "Mark Twain" and started his famous career.

But there is also a saying that when he was wandering in the west, he often bought two glasses of wine in the hotel and asked the bartender to write "two marks" on the bill. However, whether it is true or false, or both, is impossible to verify. His real name is Samuel Creaghan.

Running for governor

Tom sawyer (1876)

The Prince and the Beggar (1882)

Street children (1884)

The famous frog in Ka County

Millions of pounds

The man who destroyed Hadleyburg

Thirty thousand yuan Heritage

A case in a case

asceticism

The story of a bad boy

Eating people on the train

The fact that I recently resigned.

Tennessee press

The story of a good boy

How do I edit agricultural newspapers?

The whole story of the bulk beef contract

My experience as a senator's secretary

American Adventures in Connecticut (1889)

Goldsmith's friend has gone abroad again.

Mysterious interview

True story

The duel of the French people

Strange experience

The story of Californians

Is he still alive

Go on the road with those who change customs.

Dog's self-report

Gilded age

Five talents of human beings

Fool travel

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Life on the Mississippi

Chronology of creation

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In May 1852, 1, the playboy who was surprised by the settlers was published in the handbag of humor weekly in Boston. This is Samuel Clemens' first novel. Mark Twain, a self-taught student, began to practice writing as an apprentice and typesetting in a printing factory. He was 17 years old when he published his first novel. )

June 1864 Moved to San Francisco and worked in the Morning Post. He started writing for San Francisco, when he was the editor-in-chief of novelist Brett Hart.

1865165438+1October18 new york's Saturday Post published Mark Twain's The Famous Jumping Frog of Karavila Hill. Reprinted everywhere, Mark Twain began to become famous in China.

1867 On April 25th, Charles Webb published Mark Twain's first book, The Famous Jumping Frog and Other Essays, in Rakhil, Karaoui.

1869 July, Mark Twain's Fool's Travel Abroad was published by Alicia Boris.

In February, 1872, The Difficult Journey was published by Boris Publishing Company of the United States.

/kloc-in the winter of 0/873, Mark Twain wrote The Gilded Age in collaboration with the writer Charles Terry Warner. Warner is Hartford's neighbor.

The Gilded Age was published in February. The publisher is Boris of American publishing company. It is universally acknowledged that there is no precedent in American history to give an era a humorous and sarcastic name.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/874, Mark Twain began to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and made The Gilded Age into a play. It was at Quarry Farm near Elmira, New York.

1876 65438+ 10 The Documentary of Crimes at the Recent Carnival in Connecticut was published in Atlantic Monthly.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/876, Mark Twain began to write Berry Finn's Adventures in haeckel at Quarray Farm.

1876 10 co-wrote the comedy A Xing with Brett Hart. /kloc-was completed in October/February, but the friendship between them was difficult to maintain.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published by Boris in February. It was more than a year after the submission, which didn't catch up with the good business season of Christmas. Mark Twain began to consider publishing his works in another publishing house.

On July 3rd, Kloc-0/877, A Xing performed in new york Fifth Street Theater. The performance stopped after five weeks and the performers lost money.

1877 65438+1October 65438+1October began to write about the prince and the poor child.

From the spring of 1878 to the summer of 1879, the whole family traveled to Europe, especially to Germany. Collected overseas travel materials.

In March, 1880, travel abroad was published. The publisher is Boris of American publishing company.

188 1 65438+ The Prince and the Poor Child was published in February. The publisher is James Le osgood in Boston.

1882 In April, Mark Twain revisited the Mississippi River to collect materials for the rest of his life on the Mississippi River. By the end of May, he had traveled all over the Mississippi Valley.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/883, Mark Twain finished the Adventures of Hakberg Finn in Quarray Farm. Osgood published Life on the Mississippi River.

The Adventures of Harburg Finn is published by Webster Publishing Company.

1In March, 885, the Book Committee in Gulton, Massachusetts called The Adventures of Harburg Finn "a boring work that only slum dwellers can read". Never put it on the shelf, thus starting a history of banning books, and its influence has been so far. Nevertheless, by May, Huck had sold 5 1000 copies. (Such banned books are for individual units, not for the whole country)

1885 65438+1On October 2nd, Hewlett-Packard Company published Grant's memoirs, and the Grant family benefited 400,000 yuan, which saved them from bankruptcy. Mark Twain also believed that he had a gift for business. (General Grant,1October 65438+869—1October 65438+877. Grant has a deep friendship with Mark Twain)

10 Mark Twain started writing Yankee in Arthur's Connecticut.

1889 12 Yankee in Connecticut written by Arthur was published by Whipster Publishing Company.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published by Hewlett Packard Company.

1894 165438+ October Fool Wilson was published by American Publishing Company.

1896 In May, Jean Ducker was published by Harper Company.

1 896 65438+1October1Detective tom sawyer is published by Harper Company.

1 897 65438+1October1Equatorial Travels is published by American publishing company.

1901February 2, 2000, To the Man Sitting in the Dark was published in the North American Review. This is a famous article by Mark Twain against imperialist aggression all over the world.

19 10 Mark Twain's health deteriorated in winter and spring.

1910 April 2 1 Day Rimark Twain died of angina pectoris.

The Historical Fate of Mark Twain

In America, it seems that there are two Mark Twain, one is Mark Twain in the eyes of readers and the other is Mark Twain in the eyes of critics. In the reader's view, Mark Twain is humorous, witty, humorous, exaggerated as hell, but quite real, sometimes with some thorns; His American flavor is full, and men, women and children like to read it. Things are complicated for critics. What kind of writer is Mark Twain? Harmless comedian or social satirist? So optimistic in the early days, why so pessimistic later? Is he a genius who gives full play to his creativity, or a mediocre person who plays with the wind? Does he love America or hate America? ..... These issues related to his overall evaluation have not stopped arguing for nearly a hundred years, and they are a major research topic, which is called "Mark Twain Problem" in America.

In 1960s, Mark Twain appeared as an expert in telling jokes in American literature. In general review articles or literary yearbooks, he is always classified as "funny writer", "humorist" and "funny sketch author", and his specialty is "providing harmless entertainment for most people".

The most violent attack on Mark Twain was after the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This work was first published in the UK (1884), and then selected into the American Century magazine (1885). In order to "protect the reader's interest", the editor deleted a lot of "rude words" and "low-level descriptions". Even though epidemic prevention measures were taken, elegant readers protested that Century magazine, which is famous for its exquisite writing, published such vulgar things. However, Mark Twain did not seem to hear such criticism, and he was not afraid of being labeled as "the main representative of destroying English style". When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in the United States, he didn't change a word.

The Traveler of Kansas announced: "This book is condemned for its vulgarity and roughness" because "the era of vulgar humor is over" and "exaggerated humor will not last long because readers are becoming more and more elegant. The humor of the future must be pure and faithful. "

Alcott, the author of Little Women (1868- 1869), suggested Mark Twain: "If Mr. Clemens can't find anything good, then it's best not to write for us simple-minded boys and girls."

Why is it a masterpiece of America19th century and received such a cold reception at that time?

Mark Twain is a western writer, and all his creative materials were obtained in the west. Rough, open and humorous artistic features are also western. But at that time, the cultural center of the United States was in the East, and the fate of western writers was in the hands of eastern critics. Oriental critics sometimes appreciate western humorous works, but that's out of curiosity and recreation. They don't think it's serious literary creation. In their eyes, there is no difference between a humorist and a comedian. His specialty is gag, which is incomparable with Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes and others at that time. Their literary taste spread to America in an era called Victoria. At that time, rude Americans made a fortune at once, and had to seek some codes of conduct to cover up their rudeness and take some fashionable men and women as examples. Books must tell people what decency is, as writers do. "(1) this is basically the so-called sven tradition. How can a gentleman critic with a gentle tradition approve of taking vagrants and slaves as the main characters? How can infidelity, feud and fighting become literary themes? What is the literary language of swearing, swearing and swearing? Oriental critics can appreciate Mark Twain's humorous ability, but they don't admit that he has any serious creative purpose.

The turning point appeared in the late 1980s. At that time, Mark Twain had published four important works, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi River (1883), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Americans in King Arthur's Court (1889). Through creative practice, he gradually realized the role of humor and knew how to defend himself in theory. He pointed out that "the humorist, though relaxed, has a serious purpose"-"mocking hypocrisy and exposing disguise", and that the humorist is "the natural enemy of princes and nobles, privileged people and all deceptive things, and a natural friend of human rights and freedom". (2) Some outstanding critics and writers of Mark Twain, such as C.H. Weber, Brett Hart and Di Wei howells, have been recognized for a long time, and their original opinions are increasingly accepted by most people, especially W·d· Howells. As an influential critic, he pointed out that Mark Twain is different from ordinary humorists because "jokes contain serious meanings, which is the expression he adopted after repeatedly thinking about the absurdity of politics and society". 19 10 year, that is, the year when Mark Twain died, howells gave Mark Twain the highest evaluation at that time in his book My Mark Twain: