The Life and Biography of Mark Twain.

Essay by onefasthonda December 2005

download word file, 1 pages 4.3

Mark Twain is the pseudonym of Samuel Clemens, who was born on November 30th, 1835. Mark Twain was an American writer, journalist and humorist, who won many awards for his two most famous pieces: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

He was born in the city of Florida, Missouri. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. When his father died in 1847, he began working as a printer for his brother's newspaper. This was not his only profession before being an author, because he was also a licensed navigator for the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, the Mississippi River was no longer used as extensively so he decided to move to Virginia City, where he became an editor for a magazine called the Territorial Enterprise. The pseudonym 'Mark Twain' was officially initiated when he made a travel account using it.

Clemens was interested in editing, as seen by the fact that he later moved to San Francisco, California where he worked as a reporter. He enjoyed traveling and would travel to places such as Hawaii, France, and Italy. During these trips he would publish letters and keep accounts of his travels. The publishing of "The Innocents Abroad", a journal containing his recordings, was what set him off as a renowned author. It gained him popularity with the public because of his humorous insights on European and American ways.

In 1870, he married Olivia Langdon and they moved together to Hartford, Connecticut. Throughout the next several years, Twain published several of his more famous works, such as "The Prince and the Pauper", "Life on the Mississippi", and "Huckleberry Finn".

In the 1890s Twain lost a big portion of his financial wealth due to poor financial decisions and the attempt at...