Samuel Langhorne Clemens
- Born:
- November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, USA
- Died:
- April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut, USA
- Nationality:
- American
- Profession(s):
- Author, Humorist, Publisher, Lecturer
- Pen Name:
- Mark Twain
Early Life and Education
- Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri.
- Moved to Hannibal, Missouri, at age four, which served as inspiration for many of his works.
- Apprenticed to a printer at age 12 after his father's death.
- Worked as a printer and contributed articles to his brother Orion's newspaper.
- Briefly trained as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the Civil War halted river traffic.
Career and Major Achievements
- Adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" around 1863 while working as a reporter in Nevada.
- Gained national recognition for his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (1865).
- Traveled extensively, documenting his experiences in travel books.
- Founded his own publishing firm, Charles L. Webster and Company.
- Achieved financial success and acclaim for his novels, lectures, and travel writing.
- Experienced financial hardship later in life due to business ventures and the Panic of 1893 but recovered through lecturing and writing.
Notable Works
- The Innocents Abroad (1869)
- Roughing It (1872)
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
- The Prince and the Pauper (1881)
- Life on the Mississippi (1883)
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)
- Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)
Legacy and Impact
Mark Twain remains one of the most celebrated figures in American literature. His works are known for their humor, satire, and social commentary. His impact extends beyond literature to American culture and the development of distinctively American voices in writing. This bio information about Mark Twain barely scratches the surface of his contributions.