The Talented Mr. Twain in Samuel Clemens' Body

Many writers write about what they know and Mark Twain was no exception. His novels are often reminiscent of earlier times, yet his use of satire never gets old. While reading A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court I was interested in knowing what events or thoughts really belonged to the writer and I often wish I can a biographical reference. So here I have compiled a bit of facts about Twain’s life for your literary enjoyment.

Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. His father John Marshall Clemens came from Virginia, although his family was not wealthy they were minor slave holders and John Clemens did inherit three slaves. Later, John Clemens moved to Kentucky where he met Jane Lampton who would later become Samuel Clemens’ mother. When Samuel was a child the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. Samuel Clemens’ time here would later turn out to be the basis of his novels Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Hannibal of Samuel Clemens’ childhood was slave holding, although the town was not part of the south many citizens were southerners and as such they possessed household servants. Yet, Clemens’ did not recall many instances of slave cruelty. He however did recall never fully being able to be friends with African American children because of a color and culture barrier. These childhood years can be said to have been the happiest for young Samuel Clemens.

Samuel’s father died on March 1847, after the death young Clemens begun working as a printer in different publications in Hannibal. From 1853 to 1867 Clemens traveled throughout the United States working as a printer and summiting short stories to different publications. At this time Clemens was also granted a license to pilot steamboats. In December 1867, Clemens met Olivia Langdon and in February 2, 1870 they were married. Samuel went on to have three daughters Susy, Clara and Jean. He only had one son Langdon who died at the age of two.

Samuel Clemens had a very prosperous literary career as Mark Twain. Twain wrote many pieces including Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. At the time in which Twain was writing Connecticut Yankee he was also in a five thousand dollar investment with the Paige typesetting machine and invested in the Webster publishing company. He expected to become very rich from these investments. He saw the Paige typesetting machine as the way of the future, he could not believe that something so marvelous could exist and so he put all his time and energy into this machine. He was unaware of the existence of other machines much like this typesetter in London and Baltimore. The typesetter had many costly breakdowns, delays and needed much improvement, yet Twain still organized a company out of his own pocket to manufacture, perfect and sell the Paige typesetter, this eventually left Twain almost bankrupt. As a way to bring income to his investments Twain begun writing Connecticut Yankee, the novel was intended to be an elaboration of Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. As Twain, continued writing, however, the novel changed course and became a narrative of Twain’s concerns and nostalgia. Neither the Paige typesetter nor Connecticut Yankee obtained mass success. Twain later moved to Europe with his family and wrote many short essays while abroad. He continued writing the rest of his life but never wrote something that was popular as his earlier novels. In April 21, 1910 after the deaths of his daughters Susy and Jean and his wife Olivia, Mark Twain died in New York.

There is tons of biographical information that would be interesting to know so if you have time you should check out this website: http://etext.virginia.edu/railton

Work Cited

Kaplan, Justin. Mark Twain and his World. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1974. Print.

---.Mr.Clemens and Mark Twain. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1966. Print.

Long, E.Hudson. Mark Twain Handbook. Hendricks House: New York, 1957. Print.

Railton, Stephen. “Writing Connecticut Yankee” Mark Twain in his Own Times. The University of Virginia Library. Web. 2009