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MARK TWAIN

MARK TWAIN. 1835-1910. "We recognize that there are no trivial occurences in life if we get the right focus on them.". The Early Years. Born Samuel Langhorn Clemens on Nov. 30, 1835 in Florida, MO. 6 th son of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Moved to Hannibal, MO in 1839.

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MARK TWAIN

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  1. MARK TWAIN 1835-1910

  2. "We recognize that there are no trivial occurences in life if we get the right focus on them."

  3. The Early Years • Born Samuel Langhorn Clemens on Nov. 30, 1835 in Florida, MO. • 6th son of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton • Moved to Hannibal, MO in 1839 “The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.” – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Earliest Known Photo of Clemens

  4. Twain’s Childhood Dream • Hannibal was located along the Mississippi River. • Steamboats landed in the town 3x a day. • Twain was fascinated and wanted to be a steamboat pilot. “One gets large impressions in boyhood, sometimes, which he has to fight against all his life.” - The Innocence Abroad

  5. Clemens the Printer • 1st Job – printer’s apprentice to Joseph Ament, Missouri Courier • New York City in 1853 to work as a printer • Published travel letters in Hannibal Journal “ I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one.” - Galaxy magazine

  6. Clemens the Pilot “I wish I was back there piloting up & down the river again. Verily, all is vanity and little worth – save piloting.” - Letter to Jane Clemens “A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth.” - Life on the Mississippi • 21 years old: apprenticed for Horace Bixby in New Orleans as a club pilot • Received pilot’s license in 1859 • Civil War broke out and traffic on river stopped, Clemens lost his job

  7. Clemens to Twain • In 1863 Sam Clemens began signing his works with the pseudonym Mark Twain. • “Mark Twain” means “two fathoms deep”. • This was the name he was known by for the rest of his life.

  8. Jumping Frog • Mark Twain’s “big break” was a short story entitled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” written in 1865.

  9. MARK LIVY ‘S • Mark Twain met Olivia (Livy) Landon in 1869. • The couple secretly courted for a year. • Mark and Livy were married in 1870 in Buffalo, New York. “Love seem the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.” - Notebook, 1894

  10. The Kids • Langdon (1870)– born premature, lived only two years in a sickly state  • Susy – contracted meningitis and died August, 1896 • Clara (1874) • Jean (1880) – developed epilepsy and died of a seizure in 1909 on Christmas Eve “…what are they in the world for I don’t’ know, for they are of no particular value as far as I can see. If I could beget a typewriter – but no, our fertile days are over.” - Letter to W.D. Howells

  11. Tragedy Strikes • Death of Livy • In 1903 Livy became seriously ill and moved to Florence, Italy. • Twain remained in US • Livy died June 1904 in Florence. • Death of Jean • Developed epilepsy in the late 1890’s • Died of a seizure on Christmas Eve • Twain grieved by writing The Death of Jean and when finished vowed never to write again.

  12. BERMUDA • Twain’s health was failing him so in January 1910, he went to Bermuda. • This, however, did not improve his health so he went back home.

  13. “Dying is nothing to a really great and brave man.” • Mark Twain slipped into a coma. • That night his heart failed and he died in bed. • Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910, the same night Halley’s Comet appeared in the sky.

  14. Twain’s Works • Innocents Abroad (1869) • Humorous look at aspects of European culture • Roughing It (1872) • early adventures as a miner and journalist • A Tramp Aboard (1880) • The Prince and the Pauper (1882) • Children’s book when a rich and poor boy switch places • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) • The American Claimant (1892) • The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)

  15. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) Celebrates boyhood in a small Mississippi River town The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) Twain’s masterpiece Sequel to Tom Sawyer Huck Finn flees his father and journeys the Mississippi with a runaway slave named Jim. Twain’s Adventures

  16. Twain’s Writing Style • Common word usage – deliberately misspelled words and incorrect grammar to properly display dialect • Relatively short, simple sentences • Descriptive detail is straightforward “To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous false of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself…Anybody can have ideas – the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.”

  17. Accomplishment • Honorary Degrees • Yale University (1901) • Master of Arts • University of Missouri (1902) • Oxford University (1907) • Doctrine of Literature • Owned publishing company Charles L. Webster & Comp. • World renowned for speeches and lectures • Great American Author

  18. Halley’s Comet “ I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next yea (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointments in my life if I don’t’ go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’” - Mark Twain, a Biography

  19. "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."

  20. Let’s see what we see. . . Virtual Tour • Twain’s boyhood home • www.hannibal.net/multimedia/virtual/livingdining_room1f.shtml • Downtown Hannibal • www.hannibal.net/multimedia/virtual/downtown_plaza2f.shtml

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