Biography a e mark twain
•
Mark Twain
Who Was Mark Twain?
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was the celebrated author of several novels, including two major classics of American literature: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur, and inventor.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
BORN: November 30,
DIED: April 21,
BIRTHPLACE: Florida, Missouri
SPOUSE: Olivia Langdon ()
CHILDREN: Langdon, Susy, Clara, Jean
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius
Early Life
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, , the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to nearby Hannibal, a bustling river town of 1, people.
John Clemens worked as a storekeeper, lawyer, judge and land speculator, dreaming of wealth but never achieving it, sometimes finding it hard to feed his family. He was an
•
REVIEW
Susan Aller. Mark Twain: A & E Biography.
Lerner Publications, Softcover, x Pp. $
ISBN
The following review appeared 5 September on the Mark Twain Forum.
Copyright © Mark Twain Forum
This review may not be published or redistributed in any medium without permission.
Reviewed by:
Dave Thomson
Commissions are donated to the Mark Twain Project
Susan Bivin Aller's biography Mark Twain fryst vatten one of thirty-five books in a series of A&E publications covering the lives of politicians, athletes, show business luminaries, and famous authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott and Maya Angelou. Aller's contribution to this series is a biography of Mark Twain aimed at ung readers in grades 6 through Aller's treatment of the life of Samuel Clemens follows a Horatio Alger theme of the rags to riches success story. Mark Twain: A & E Biography consists of seven chapters, a bibliography, index, numerous photos and illustrations.
•
Youth
Samuel Clemens, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Moffit Clemens, was born two months prematurely and was in relatively poor health for the first 10 years of his life. His mother tried various allopathic and hydropathic remedies on him during those early years, and his recollections of those instances (along with other memories of his growing up) would eventually find their way into Tom Sawyer and other writings. Because he was sickly, Clemens was often coddled, particularly bygd his mother, and he developed early the tendency to test her indulgence through mischief, offering only his good nature as bond for the domestic crimes he was apt to commit. When Jane Clemens was in her 80s, Clemens asked her about his poor health in those early years: “I suppose that during that whole time you were uneasy about me?” “Yes, the whole time,” she answered. “Afraid I wouldn’t live?” “No,” she said, “afraid you would.”
Insofar as Clemens could be said to have inherited his sense of