Mark Twain, an avowed opponent of slavery and racial segregation, was the father of modern American literature. He had a profound influence on later great writers such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. His most popular books are known to most children. Twain’s books combine exciting and authentic stories about the Mississippi, the river to the banks of which Twain returned again and again, and which became for him the flow of his life.
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who achieved worldwide renown as a writer under the pseudonym of Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri on 30 November 1835. He left school at just eleven years old and began an apprenticeship as a typesetter. In 1857, one of his life’s dreams came true – he had himself trained as a steersman and for several years piloted a Mississippi steamboat. It is from this period that his literary pseudonym emerged: in sailors’ language, the cry of “Mark Twain” signalled a navigable depth of “two fathoms”.
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Having actually worked as a gold-digger in Nevada for a short period, Mark Twain wrote his first travel reports and short stories. Over the years, more than 30 works followed, including “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.
He produced his materpiece, however, in 1884 with the story of a young runaway and a black slave, who, on a small raft on the Mississippi, prove that trust and friendship can break down all racial barriers. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is Mark Twain’s literary legacy, a work that has lost none of its potency and relevance over time.
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Its influence was captured perfectly in Ernest Hemingway’s words: “All modern American literature comes from a book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”
The pinnacle of Twain’s literary achievements came with the title of “Master of Arts” and the honorary doctorate awarded to him by Yale University in 1901. Mark Twain died in Redding, Connecticut, at the age of 74.
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